KING FUAD DEAD

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 182, 30 April 1936, Page 11

KING FUAD DEAD

Determined Fight For Life GREAT RESISTANCE Crown Prince Proclaimed New Monarch By Telegraph—Press Assn. —Copyright. (Received April 29, 9.20 p.m.) Cairo, April 28. King Fuad I died this morning. The funeral will take place on April 30. The Crown Prince Farouk has been proclaimed King. He will leave London on Thursday,' and will arrive at Alexandria on May 5. Cabinet has decided to exercise the Royal prerogative until after .Saturday’s elections, when a Regency Council will be formed to rule the country during the boy king’s minority. King Fuad rallied this morning, and received a number of palace officials. Doctors stated that his resistance was superhuman. The King’s Australian dentist, Mr. Bret Day, kept solitary vigil in the bedchamber during the last four nights. The King, full qf confidence in him, refused other nursing assistance. Fuad told the doctors this morning: “I am not going to die.” He read the newspapers and discussed the general situation, confident that he would overcome his illness by sheer willpower. Picturesque crowds of all

classes, learning of his gallant tight, assembled in the square facing the pallace and shouted “God preserve the King.” Great political importance is attached to the death owing to the part the throne played in the complicated party struggles. King Fuad during the last four days was unable to eat or drink and suffered acute pain from a gangrenous throat. The British United Press Agency says': “King Fuad died while reading a telegram from Prince Farouk, which fell from his hands. One of the King's last acts was to sign a new agreement dealing with the Suez Canal.” Prince Farouk could not believe the news of the King’s death until he telephoned his mother. He hopes to be allowed to return to England after the appointment of regents. He was preparing to enter the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich. WORK FOR EDUCATION King Fuad’s Achievements The late King Fuad differed in almost every respect from the Oriental potentate tf tradition. He kept id the closest possible touch with all that went on in Egypt, and set his face against any of that laxity of administration which is supposedly characteristic of Oriental eountries. At heart, however, he was very little interested in politics, and edu-cation-was his lifelong hobby. By the foundation of the Egyptian University, and in many other directions, he gave a powerful stimulus to the better education of the young people of his country —both men and women. In Egypt, as in Turkey, the old usages fast disappeared before the onslaughts _of modernity, which the King carried right into the home. He caused the veil to be abandoned, he was the originator of education for women, and he formed the Museum of Hygiene in Cairo, which is specially designed for the training of mothers and the upbringing of children. Despite the work he ultimately accomplished for his country in this direction, Fuad lived for much of his life an exiled prince, without a country and without

a future. Born in 1868, he was the youngest son of the Khedive Irnail, during whose short reign of 15 years Egypt was reduced from solvency to bankruptcy and misery. When Fuad was a mere child Ismail’s debts began to smother him. and in 1876 French and British financial commissioners arrived to take charge on behalf of the European bondholders, and for two years they strove vainly to bring order into the country’s finances. But when a crisis arose in which the commissioners all but . lost their lives, ismail had to abdicate, and his eldest son, Tewfik, succeeded him as Khedive, while his youngest, Fuad, accompanied him into exile in Italy. The young prince ./as educated simply at Naples and later graduated through the Military College of Turin into the Italian Corps of Artillery. But the death of his father in 1895 wrought a great change in his life. Permission was given him to return to Egypt, and a post was found for him in the Egyptian Court of his nephew, young Abbas Hilmi. who had succeeded to the Khedivate. On the outbreak of the Great War. Abbas Hilmi threw in his lot with Turkey and Germany, and was deposed, being succeeded by his uncle, Hussein, another brother

of Prince Fuad. Britain declared its protectorate over Egypt, which simultaneously became a Sultanate. With the death of Hussein in 1917 Fuad succeeded as Sultan. The end of the war saw the rise of Egyptian nationalism, which demanded the summary abolition of the British protectorate. Early in 1919 tl(is agitation came to a head, and for three terrible weeks Egypt was plunged in revolution. The revolt was suppressed, but the work of pacification was a slow and difficult process. Its ultimate success was due in no small part to Sultan Fuad. Unostentatiously, he somehow kept government going, and eventually reaped where lie had sown. In February, 1922, the British Government removed the protectorate, and recognised the independence of Egypt, and Sultan Fuad became her first king. Trouble came to King Fuad periodically thereafter. lu 1930, as the result of further agitation by the Nationalist movement, a new constitution was granted, but it was abrogated in 1934. Another constitution was promised at the same time and was sought by Wafdists late last year. In December King Fuad agreed to the restoration of the 1923 constitution. Treaty negotiation with Britain in an endeavour to settle future relations between the countries are now in progress. FRENCH PRESS FEARS Relations With England May Be Unsettled (Received April 30, 12.48 a.m.) Paris, April 29. The French Press fears that King Fuad’s death will unsettle Anglo-Egyp-tian relations and strengthen the hand of the Wafd. It could not have hapened at a more critical time. BRITISH SYMPATHY Tributes to Fuad’s Work (British Official Wireless.) Rugby, April 28. The news of the death of King Fuad, which occurred at 1 p.m. local time, to-day at the age of 68 years, was received in London with great regret. An assistant of the Diplomatic Corps. Mr. M. J. B. Monk, called nt the Egyptian Legation this afternoon and also at Kenry House. Kingston-on-Thames, where the Heir-Apparent, Prince Farouk, is residing, to express the condolences of the Foreign Secretary. The Prince also received a private message of sympathy from King Edward. The British Government lias telegraphed a message to tlie Egyptian Government. Newspapers print long accounts of the late King’s reign and pay tributes to his work for the educational and scientific development of his country. LORD GALWAY’S MESSAGE A message has been dispatched by the Governor-General of New Zealand, Lord Galway, through the appropriate channel, expressing the sympathy of his Excellency and the Government and people of this Dominion with the Royal Family and the Government and people of Egypt in the death of his Majesty King Fuad.