Monarchs of Egypt and Sudan | |
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Details | |
Style | Wāli (unrecognised Khedive) of Egypt (1805–1867) Khedive of Egypt (1867–1914) Sultan of Egypt (1914–1922) King of Egypt (1922–1951) King of Egypt and the Sudan (1951–1953) |
First monarch | Muhammad Ali Pasha |
Last monarch | Fuad II |
Formation | 18 June 1805 |
Abolition | 18 June 1953 |
Residence | Cairo Citadel (1805–1874) [1] Abdeen Palace (1874–1952) [2] |
Pretender(s) | Fuad II |
Monarchs of the Muhammad Ali dynasty reigned over Egypt from 1805 to 1953. Their rule also extended to Sudan throughout much of this period, [a] as well as to the Levant, and Hejaz during the first half of the nineteenth century. [3] The Muhammad Ali dynasty was founded by Pasha Muhammad Ali, an Albanian commander in the expeditionary force sent by the Ottoman Empire in 1801 to dislodge the French occupation of Egypt led by Napoleon Bonaparte. The defeat and departure of the French left a power vacuum in Egypt, which had been an Ottoman province since the sixteenth century, but in which the pre-Ottoman Mamluk military caste maintained considerable power. After a three-year civil war, Muhammad Ali managed to consolidate his control over Egypt, and declared himself Khedive of the country. The Ottoman government refused to acknowledge this title, instead recognizing Muhammad Ali by the more junior title of Wāli (roughly equivalent to a governor or viceroy) on 18 June 1805, making Muhammad Ali the successor to Ahmad Pasha in that position. [4] In the years following his consolidation of power, Muhammad Ali extended Egypt's borders southwards into Sudan, and eastwards into the Arab-majority Mashriq, particularly the Levant. In 1840, his demand for hereditary control of Egypt and Sudan to be passed to his heirs and successors was accepted and confirmed by the Convention of London, but he was compelled to agree that, upon his death, control over his territories in the Mashreq would revert to the Porte. [5]
Muhammad Ali had a 43-year reign, the longest in the history of modern Egypt. [6] Termed the "father of modern Egypt," he is viewed in Egyptian historiography as the dynasty's most important ruler, due to his massive agricultural, administrative, and military reforms. [3] His son, Ibrahim Pasha, was the shortest-reigning monarch of the dynasty. [6] The duration of his rule varies from one source to another, depending on whether or not his reign as regent is taken into account. Contrary to what the short length of his reign might suggest, Ibrahim Pasha was far from being a historically negligible figure, although most of his significant achievements were made before his accession to the throne. His successor, Abbas Helmi I, a traditionalist described by Lord Cromer as "an Oriental despot of the worst type," [7] reverted many of his predecessors' reform-minded measures, and is considered the most controversial ruler of his family. [8]
Sa'id Pasha and Isma'il Pasha were far more open to Western influence, and continued the process of expansion and modernization set up by Muhammad Ali, but on a more lavish scale. Isma'il Pasha is especially notable for his inauguration of the Suez Canal and for his Haussmann-inspired reconscrution of Cairo. However, his costly policy of Europeanisation left the country bankrupt; as a consequence, European creditors greatly expanded their influence over Egypt and Sudan's internal affairs. [9] Isma'il's son, Tewfik Pasha, became increasingly powerless following the Urabi revolt, and was turned into a figurehead ruler following the establishment of British control in 1882. [10] After his death, his son, Abbas Helmi II, tried unsuccessfully to detach himself from the influence of the British, who ended up deposing him in 1914. The following reign, that of Hussein Kamel, lasted only three years and was thus little more than an interregnum. [11] Hussein Kamel's successor Fuad I was a far more historically significant figure. Described by historian Philip Mansel as "the last great royal patron of history," [12] his reign was marked by the Egyptian Revolution of 1919, and the United Kingdom's resultant recognition of Egyptian independence. The British, however, refused to include Sudan within the sphere of this recognition, and continued to abide by the terms of the Anglo-Egyptian Condominium. Fuad's son, Farouk I, was Egypt and Sudan's penultimate monarch. After his forced abdication following the Egyptian Revolution of 1952, his infant son Fuad II continued to reign as a nominal king-in-exile until the monarchy was formally abolished on 18 June 1953. [b]
Rulers of the Muhammad Ali Dynasty governed Egypt and Sudan as absolute monarchs until constitutional rule was established in August 1878. [13] Following the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, the Egyptian and Sudanese monarchy emerged as the most important in the Middle East and the wider Arab world. [14] Finding themselves as mere figureheads during the period of British control, Egypt and Sudan's monarchs saw their powers increased following the recognition of independence, and the subsequent adoption of the 1923 Constitution, the most liberal in the country's history. [15] Although King Fuad I often ruled as an autocrat, partly because he repeatedly overrode some provisions of the Constitution, Egypt and Sudan had the freest parliament in the region. [16] During Fuad's reign and that of his son, Farouk, the country witnessed six free parliamentary elections and enjoyed a free press as well as an independent judiciary. [17] According to historian Philip Mansel, "the Egyptian monarchy appeared so splendid, powerful and popular that King Farouk's ignominious end seems inexplicable." [18] The Muhammad Ali Dynasty's downfall is often regarded as having begun with the Abdeen Palace Incident of 1942, which greatly discredited the King. [19] It accelerated with the growing discontent of Egypt's armed forces following the country's defeat in the First Arab-Israeli War. Disgruntled members of the military formed the Free Officers Movement, which led a coup d'état on 23 July 1952, thereby marking the beginning of the Egyptian Revolution of 1952. [20] The toppling of the monarchy, and the resultant establishment of a revolutionary republican government, was the first of its kind in the modern Arab world, and was a crucial event in the region's history; it accelerated dramatically the rise of Pan-Arabism, and had a domino effect leading to similar military overthrows of the monarchies of Iraq (1958), North Yemen (1962), and Libya (1969). [21] Egypt has had a republican form of government since the end of monarchical rule. Although the establishment of genuine democratic rule was one of the six core principles of the Revolution, [22] political parties were banned in 1953 and the country was turned into a military dictatorship. [23] The thriving pluralism that characterized political life during the latter period of the Muhammad Ali Dynasty's rule was thus brought to an end. Even though a multi-party system was officially restored in Egypt in 1976, the country has never recovered the level of political freedom it had enjoyed during the monarchy. [24] In common with most deposed royal families, the Muhammad Ali Dynasty was initially vilified by the new revolutionary regime. Nonetheless, it has undergone re-evaluation in recent years; nostalgia for the former monarchy has been growing among some in Egypt, largely fuelled by the airing in 2007 of a hugely successful serial about the life of King Farouk I. [25]
From 1805 to 1867, Egypt remained legally a nominal Ottoman province governed by a Wāli on behalf of the Ottoman Sultan, although it was de facto virtually independent, with its wālis styling themselves as Khedives. Despite their legally subservient status, Egypt's wālis enjoyed far more political power than their descendants, who were to rule the country as nominally independent sultans and kings decades later. Throughout the 19th century, the legal fiction of Ottoman suzerainty was nonetheless symbolically maintained through Egypt's payment of an annual tribute. Moreover, although the Muhammad Ali Dynasty became a hereditary monarchy in 1840, each new ruler had to receive a firman (Arabic word for decree) from the Ottoman Sultan appointing him as Wāli in order to be formally invested with his office. Until 1866, Egypt's laws of succession followed the principle of agnatic seniority, which means that the reigning wāli always had to be the eldest male member of the dynasty. [26] Rulers thus inherited the throne based on their age, not on their degree of proximity. This explains why none of Ibrahim Pasha's successors was directly succeeded by his own son.
No. | Portrait | Wāli | Reign | House | Claim (relationship with predecessor) | ||
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Name (Birth–Death) | |||||||
Reign start | Reign end | Duration | |||||
1 | Muhammad Ali Pasha (1769–1849) | 18 June 1805 | 20 July 1848 | 43 years, 32 days | Muhammad Ali | Seized power in the Eyalet of Egypt | |
— | Ibrahim Pasha (1789–1848) | 15 April 1848 | 20 July 1848 [c] | 96 days | Muhammad Ali | Regent For Muhammad Ali Pasha | |
2 | 20 July 1848 | 10 November 1848 | 113 days | Presumed son of Muhammad Ali [d] Pasha | |||
3 | Abbas Helmi I Pasha (1812–1854) | 10 November 1848 | 13 July 1854 (Assassinated) [e] | 5 years, 245 days | Muhammad Ali | Nephew of Ibrahim Pasha | |
4 | Muhammad Sa'id Pasha (1822–1863) | 14 July 1854 | 18 January 1863 | 8 years, 188 days | Muhammad Ali | Half-uncle of Abbas Helmi I Pasha | |
5 | Isma'il Pasha (1830–1895) | 19 January 1863 | 8 June 1867 | 4 years, 140 days | Muhammad Ali | Half-nephew of Muhammad Sa'id Pasha |
On 8 June 1867, Ottoman Sultan Abdülaziz formally recognized Isma'il Pasha by the title Khedive, which ranked higher than that of Vizier but lower than that of Caliph. The Khedivate of Egypt was still nominally a subject of the Ottoman Sultan, and its rulers were still technically appointed and dismissed by an imperial firman . Nevertheless, the Khedive actually exercised most sovereign powers, including the appointment of his council of ministers, the rector of Al-Azhar, and high-ranking military and naval officers. He could also sign treaties with foreign powers and borrow money for the state treasury. On 17 May 1866, the rule of succession in Egypt was changed from one based on agnatic seniority to one based on male primogeniture in the direct line of Isma'il Pasha. After the British occupied the country in 1882, the Khedive's exercise of power was limited greatly on the advice of the British agent and consul general, who became the de facto ruler of the country. [27]
No. | Portrait | Khedive | Reign | House | Claim (relationship with predecessor) | ||
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Name (Birth–Death) | |||||||
Reign start | Reign end | Duration | |||||
(5) | Isma'il Pasha (1830–1895) | 8 June 1867 | 26 June 1879 (Deposed) | 12 years, 18 days | Muhammad Ali | Half-nephew of Muhammad Sa'id Pasha | |
6 | Muhammad Tawfiq Pasha (1852–1892) | 26 June 1879 | 7 January 1892 | 12 years, 195 days | Muhammad Ali | Son of Isma'il Pasha | |
7 | Abbas Helmi II Pasha (1874–1944) | 8 January 1892 | 19 December 1914 (Deposed) [f] | 22 years, 345 days | Muhammad Ali | Son of Muhammad Tawfiq Pasha |
On 19 December 1914, Abbas Helmi II was deposed by the British government while he was on a visit to Vienna due to his anti-British stance. The British severed Egypt's nominal ties to the Ottoman Empire, thus ending the country's status as a khedivate. Prime Minister Hussein Rushdi Pasha served as acting head of state until Abbas Helmi II's half-uncle Hussein Kamel was chosen as the country's new monarch. [28] For a brief while, the British had considered putting an end to the Muhammad Ali Dynasty and installing Aga Khan III as ruler. [29] Hussein Kamel took the title of Sultan of Egypt (preceded by the style of Sa Hautesse or His Highness), thereby putting him on an equal footing with the Ottoman Sultan. However, the end of nominal Ottoman suzerainty over Egypt did not result in genuine independence; the Sultanate of Egypt was a British protectorate where real power lay in the hand of the High Commissioner. [30]
No. | Portrait | Sultan | Reign | House | Claim (relationship with predecessor) | ||
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Name (Birth–Death) | |||||||
Reign start | Reign end | Duration | |||||
8 | Hussein Kamel (1853–1917) | 19 December 1914 | 9 October 1917 | 2 years, 294 days | Muhammad Ali | Half-uncle of Abbas Helmi II Pasha | |
9 | Ahmed Fuad I (1868–1936) | 9 October 1917 | 15 March 1922 | 4 years, 157 days | Muhammad Ali | Half-brother of Hussein Kamel |
On 28 February 1922, the United Kingdom issued a declaration through which it unilaterally ended its protectorate over Egypt. As a result, Sultan Fuad I promulgated a decree on 15 March 1922 whereby he adopted the title of King of Egypt . It has been reported that the title change was due not only to Egypt's newly independent status as the Kingdom of Egypt, but also to Fuad I's desire to be accorded the same title as the newly installed rulers of the newly created kingdoms of Hejaz, Syria and Iraq. [30]
Egyptian independence was limited severely by the continuing British presence in the country. British influence in Egypt remained strong, as evidenced by the Abdeen Palace Incident of 1942, which almost led to Farouk I's forced abdication. In October 1951, Prime Minister Mustafa el-Nahhas introduced, and Parliament approved, decrees unilaterally abrogating the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty of 1936 and proclaiming Farouk I King of Egypt and the Sudan . The move was intended to further Egypt's claims over Sudan, which had been governed as an Anglo-Egyptian condominium since 1899. [20]
No. | Portrait | King | Reign | House | Claim (relationship with predecessor) | ||
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Name (Birth–Death) | |||||||
Reign start | Reign end | Duration | |||||
(9) | Ahmed Fuad I (1868–1936) | 15 March 1922 | 28 April 1936 | 14 years, 44 days | Muhammad Ali | Half-brother of Hussein Kamel | |
— | Prince Mohammed Ali Tewfik (1875–1955) Chairman | 8 May 1936 | 29 July 1937 [g] | 1 year, 82 days | Muhammad Ali | Regency Council For Farouk I | |
— | Aziz Ezzat Pasha (1869–1961) | — | |||||
— | Sherif Sabri Pasha (1895–?) | — | |||||
10 | Farouk I (1920–1965) | 28 April 1936 | 26 July 1952 (Forced to abdicate by revolution) | 16 years, 89 days | Muhammad Ali | Son of Ahmed Fuad I | |
11 | Ahmed Fuad II (born 1952) | 26 July 1952 | 18 June 1953 (Deposed) [b] | 327 days | Muhammad Ali | Son of Farouk I | |
— | Aly Maher Pasha (1882–1960) Prime Minister | 26 July 1952 | 2 August 1952 | 7 days | — | Cabinet For Ahmed Fuad II | |
— | Prince Muhammad Abdel Moneim (1899–1979) Chairman | 2 August 1952 | 14 October 1952 | 73 days | Muhammad Ali | Regency Council For Ahmed Fuad II | |
— | Bahey El Din Barakat Pasha (1889–1972) | — | |||||
— | Colonel Rashad Mehanna (1909–1996) | — | |||||
— | Prince Muhammad Abdel Moneim (1899–1979) | 14 October 1952 | 18 June 1953 (Deposed) [b] | 247 days | Muhammad Ali | Regent For Ahmed Fuad II |
Fuad I was the Sultan and later King of Egypt and the Sudan. The ninth ruler of Egypt and Sudan from the Muhammad Ali dynasty, he became Sultan in 1917, succeeding his elder brother Hussein Kamel. He replaced the title of Sultan with King when the United Kingdom unilaterally declared Egyptian independence in 1922.
Ibrahim Pasha was an Egyptian general and politician; he was the commander of both the Egyptian and Ottoman armies and the eldest son of Muhammad Ali, the Ottoman Wāli and unrecognized Khedive of Egypt and Sudan. Ibrahim served as a general in the Egyptian army that his father established during his reign, taking his first command of Egyptian forces when he was merely a teenager. In the final year of his life, he was appointed Regent for his still-living father and became the effective ruler of Egypt and Sudan, owing to the latter's ill health. His rule also extended over the other dominions that his father had brought under Egyptian rule, namely Syria, Hejaz, Morea, Thasos, and Crete. Ibrahim pre-deceased his father, dying 10 November 1848, only four months after rising to power. He was succeeded as Regent by his nephew, Abbas, who upon Muhammad Ali's death the following year inherited the Egyptian throne.
Khedive was an honorific title of Classical Persian origin used for the sultans and grand viziers of the Ottoman Empire, but most famously for the viceroy of Egypt from 1805 to 1914.
Isma'il Pasha, also known as 'Ismail the Magnificent, was the Khedive of Egypt and ruler of Sudan from 1863 to 1879, when he was removed at the behest of Great Britain and France. Sharing the ambitious outlook of his grandfather, Muhammad Ali Pasha, he greatly modernized Egypt and Sudan during his reign, investing heavily in industrial and economic development, urbanization, and the expansion of the country's boundaries in Africa.
Anglo-Egyptian Sudan was a condominium of the United Kingdom and Egypt between 1899 and 1956, corresponding mostly to the territory of present-day South Sudan and Sudan. Legally, sovereignty and administration were shared between both Egypt and the United Kingdom, but in practice the structure of the condominium ensured effective British control over Sudan, with Egypt having limited local power and influence. In the meantime, Egypt itself fell under increasing British influence. Following the Egyptian Revolution of 1952, Egypt pushed for an end to the condominium, and the independence of Sudan. By agreement between Egypt and the United Kingdom in 1953, Sudan was granted independence as the Republic of the Sudan on 1 January 1956. In 2011, the south of Sudan itself became independent as the Republic of South Sudan.
Sultan of Egypt was the status held by the rulers of Egypt after the establishment of the Ayyubid dynasty of Saladin in 1174 until the Ottoman conquest of Egypt in 1517. Though the extent of the Egyptian Sultanate ebbed and flowed, it generally included Sham and Hejaz, with the consequence that the Ayyubid and later Mamluk sultans were also regarded as the Sultans of Syria. From 1914, the title was once again used by the heads of the Muhammad Ali dynasty of Egypt and Sudan, later being replaced by the title of King of Egypt and Sudan in 1922.
Damat Prince Muhammad Abdel Moneim Beyefendi was an Egyptian prince and heir apparent to the throne of Egypt and Sudan from 1899 to 1914. Upon the abdication of King Farouk following the Egyptian Revolution of 1952, he served as Regent for King Ahmed Fuad II until the declaration of the Republic of Egypt and abolition of the Egyptian and Sudanese monarchy in 1953.
Al-Rifa'i Mosque is located in Citadel Square, adjacent to the Cairo Citadel. Its name is derived from the Ali Abu Shubbak who is buried in the mosque. Now, it is also the royal mausoleum of Muhammad Ali's family. The building is located opposite the Mosque-Madrasa of Sultan Hassan, which dates from around 1361, and was architecturally conceived as a complement to the older structure as part of a vast campaign by the 19th century rulers of Egypt to both associate themselves with the perceived glory of earlier periods in Egypt's Islamic history and modernize the city.
The Kingdom of Egypt was the legal form of the Egyptian state during the latter period of the Muhammad Ali dynasty's reign, from the United Kingdom's recognition of Egyptian independence in 1922 until the abolition of the monarchy of Egypt and Sudan in 1953 following the Egyptian Revolution of 1952. Until the Anglo-Egyptian treaty of 1936, the Kingdom was only nominally independent, as the United Kingdom retained control of foreign relations, communications, the military, and Sudan. Officially, Sudan was governed as a condominium of the two states, however, in reality, true power in Sudan lay with the United Kingdom. Between 1936 and 1952, the United Kingdom continued to maintain its military presence, and its political advisers, at a reduced level.
The Muhammad Ali dynasty or the Alawiyya dynasty was the ruling dynasty of Egypt and Sudan from the 19th to the mid-20th century. It is named after its progenitor, Muhammad Ali of Egypt, regarded as the founder of modern Egypt.
Regencies in Egypt date back to Pharaonic times. Throughout Egypt's long history, there have been several instances of regents assuming power due to the reigning monarch's minority, physical illness or poor mental health. There have also been several cases of coregencies where two monarchs ruled simultaneously.
The Khedivate of Egypt was an autonomous tributary state of the Ottoman Empire, established and ruled by the Muhammad Ali Dynasty following the defeat and expulsion of Napoleon Bonaparte's forces which brought an end to the short-lived French occupation of Lower Egypt. The Khedivate of Egypt had also expanded to control present-day Sudan, South Sudan, Eritrea, Djibouti, northwestern Somalia, northeastern Ethiopia, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine, Syria, Greece, Cyprus, southern and central Turkey, in addition to parts from Libya, Chad, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Uganda, as well as northwestern Saudi Arabia, parts of Yemen and the Kingdom of Hejaz.
Pasha was a high rank in the Ottoman political and military system, typically granted to governors, generals, dignitaries, and others. Pasha was also one of the highest titles in the 20th-century Kingdom of Egypt and it was also used in Morocco in the 20th century, where it denoted a regional official or governor of a district.
Abbas Helmy I of Egypt was the Wāli of Egypt and Sudan. He was a son of Tusun Pasha, the younger son of Muhammad Ali Pasha whom he succeeded as ruler of Egypt and Sudan. The Chambers Biographical Dictionary says of him: "[b]igoted and sensual, he did much to undo the progress made under Muhammad Ali."
Melek Hassan Tourhan was the second wife of Sultan Hussein Kamel of Egypt. After her husband ascended the throne in 1914, she became known as Sultana Melek.
Prince Abbas Hilmi is an Egyptian and Ottoman prince and financial manager. A member of the Muhammad Ali Dynasty, he is the only son of Prince Muhammad Abdel Moneim and his Ottoman wife Princess Neslişah, and grandson of Khedive Abbas Hilmi II Bey.
Muhammad Ali was the Ottoman Albanian viceroy and governor who became the de facto ruler of Egypt from 1805 to 1848, widely considered the founder of modern Egypt. At the height of his rule, he controlled Egypt, Sudan, Hejaz, the Levant, Crete and parts of Greece.
The Albanian community in Egypt began with government officials and military personnel appointed in Ottoman Egypt. A substantial community would grow up later by soldiers and mercenaries who settled in the second half of the 18th century and made a name for themselves in the Ottoman struggle to expel French troops in 1798–1801. Mehmet Ali or Muhammad Ali, an Albanian, would later found the Khedivate of Egypt which lasted there until 1952. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, many other Albanians settled into Egypt for economical and political reasons. However, in later years the activities of the fedayeen, Muslim Brotherhood, as well as the greater Egyptian Revolution of 1952 resulted in the Albanian community in Egypt largely abandoning the country and emigrating to Western countries.
The Circassians in Egypt are people of Egypt with Circassian origin. For centuries, Circassians have been part of the ruling elite in Egypt, having served in high military, political and social positions. The Circassian presence in Egypt traces back to 1297 when Lajin became Sultan of Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt. Under the Burji dynasty, Egypt was ruled by twenty one Circassian sultans from 1382 to 1517. Even after the abolishment of the Mamluk Sultanate, Circassians continued to form much of the administrative class in Egypt Eyalet of Ottoman Empire, Khedivate of Egypt, Sultanate of Egypt and Kingdom of Egypt. Following the Revolution of 1952, their political impact has been relatively decreased.
It was the residence of the royal family until 1874, when Khedive Isma'il moved out of the Citadel into the newly built 'Abdin Palace.
Abdin Palace remained the official residence of the royal family from 1874 until the 1952 Revolution.