Princess Fathia of Egypt


Princess Fathia was the youngest daughter of Fuad I of Egypt and Nazli Sabri, and the youngest sister of Farouk I.

Early life

Fathia was born on 17 December 1930 at the Koubbeh Palace, El-Quba, Cairo. Her father, Fuad I died when she was five years old. She was raised mostly close to her mother, Nazli, and her sister Faika of Egypt|Faika]. In 1948, she travelled with her sister Faika and her mother to the United States for her mother needed to undergo a kidney surgery.

Later life

After her mother's successful surgery, Fathia settled in the United States. In 1949, her sister Faika married Fuad Sadek. In 1950, she herself married Riyad Ghali, their Royal Advisor, who was 11 years her senior, and was a Coptic Christian. Ghali converted to Islam to try and gain favor with King Farouk during the wedding. She married at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco, California, United States on 25 April 1950 in a civil ceremony and 24 May 1950 in a Muslim ceremony by an Imam. Fathia converted to Catholicism.
King Farouk was shocked and humiliated by the scandal and sacrilege: in effect, he excommunicated both women, confiscating their extensive lands and banning them from Egypt forever.
Faika went back to Egypt in 1951 to get back her title, and she did, and her husband Fuad Sadek received the "Bekdom" or held the title "Fuad Bek Sadek". Fathia and Riad Ghali had three children, two sons and a daughter:
  • Rafik
  • Rayed
  • Ranya
Fathia and her mother settled in the United States for the rest of their lives, having money troubles that eventually led to living in a small flat in California. Later in 1973, Fathia divorced Riyad Ghali because of bad investments that made them lose almost everything they owned. Later, her mother's jewelry was sold for $1,500,000. Fathia also worked as a cleaning lady to pay her debt.
Some time later, her mother sent a request to President Anwar El-Sadat to retrieve their Egyptian passports, which he granted. However, a few days before returning to Egypt, Fathia was killed.

Death

An unconfirmed story by an Egyptian journalist states that on 10 December 1976, the day she was returning to Egypt, she went to her ex-husband's house with the excuse of "taking Ghali's mother's clothes, where she found Ghali drunk. Not wanting her to leave, he shot her in the head 6 times with his revolver before attempting to take his own life. Ghali survived and was promptly investigated. Some reports say he only served a year in prison, due to poor health. He died in 1987.