KING OF EGYPT ILL

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22403, 27 April 1936, Page 11

KING OF EGYPT ILL

SEVEN DOCTORS ATTENDING RUMOURS OF HIS DEATH (Received April 26, 5.5 p.m.) CAIRO, April 25 Seven doctors are attending King > Fuad, who is sulfering from acute stomatitis. A bulletin issued early thia morning states that a necrotic condition has developed, while hemorrhage has seriously affected His Majesty's general condition. It was strongly rumoured in Cairo that King Fuad was dead, and the flags at some Legations were flown at halfmast. Officials at the Palace, however, insist that the King is slightly better. The latest bulletin reports that King Fuad spent a quiet day following a blood transfusion. There are no newcomplications. Achmed Fuad Pasha, King of Egypt, is a son of the late Khedive Ismail Pasha. He was born on March 26, 1868. The Khedive Abbas Hilmi, deposed by - Britain after the outbreak of war, was his uncle. After receiving a military education at Turin and Rome, Fuad entered the Turkish military service, . but eventually returned to Egypt, where he administered his great estates. Education was his chief interest, and he was instrumental in founding the university at Cairo. He also resuscitated the Egyptian Geographical Society and established the Museum of Hygiene, with a section for the instruction of women in the care of children. \

After the deposition of Abbas Hilmi, Fuad's uncle Hussein was made Sultan of Egypt. On his death in 1917 Fuad succeeded to the throne. When Britain recognised Egypt as an independent sovereign State, he took the title of Fuad I. He visited England in July, 1927, and spoke of the event as the "consecration of Anglo-Egyptian friendship." Since 1928 King Fuad has been in conflict on several occasions with the anti-British Wafdists. He has used his kingly powfer on more than one critical occasion, and in October, 1930, he signed a new constitution by which the Government lost its independence and the monarch became virtual dictator. The "palace rule" has continued up to the present, but there has been continual friction. In 1934 King Fuad's health began to cause anxiety. His heir is his son, Prince Faruk.