EX-KING’S GOLD HOARD

Taranaki Daily News, 3 August 1931, Page 10

EX-KING’S GOLD HOARD

ARABIAN NIGHT’S CAREER. FATHER OF THREE KINGS. Ex-King Hussein of the Hcdjaz, father of King Feisal of Iraq and the Emir Abdullah of Transjordan, died at Amman, the latter’s capital, last mouth. The story of Hussein, who was 77, reads like a page from the “Arabian Nights.” A direct descendant of the mighty Caliph Ali, son-in-law of the Prophet Mahomet, he became Grand Sherif of Mecca in 190'8, and gradually he began to dream of becoming King of a great Arab State. The war gave him his opportunity. He threw in his lot with the Allies, and the brilliant co-operation of his forces paved the way for Lord Allenby’s victories in Palestine. Meantime,, in 1916, Hussein had made himself King. One day he had invited the diplomats at Jeddah to a tea party, and dropped a bombshell among them by announcing his new title. He was the father of three rulers, but-while his second son, Abdullah, is still Emir of Transjordan, and his third son, Feisal, still King of Iraq, his eldest son. All, was less fortunate. Ali succeeded Hussein when the latter abdicated in 1924 in face of the menacing advance of Ibn Saud, Sultan of the Nedj, and his warrior Wahibi tribesmen. In December, 1925. Ibn Saud drove him out, and himself bec.amc King*the. following month. Many stories are told of Husseins reputed hoard of gold. During and after the war he received large subsidies from Britain, said to have been more than £1,200,000.' At one time he was receiving £5OOO a month in gold not to attempt to upset .the Zionist regime in Palestine. What became of his money is a mystery, but it is related that when he, left Jeddah to go into exile in Cyprus in 1924 he took with him several ponderous trunks full of British sovereigns, estimated at £250,000. In Cyprus people refused to believe Hussein when he. said he was penniless.

The legend grew that he had a great hoard of gold, and that every night at midnight, after prayers, he made hif way with a candle to a' dark 'cellar. There he squatted and greedily counted his” gold, which he kept in petrol tins In recent years Hussein’s health gave rise to anxiety, and more than once he was erroneously rumoured to be dead. A few months before his death, when his condition became still worse, he wae moved from Cyprus to Amman. Hussein was buried ih Jerusalem under the shadow .of the famous mosque called the Dome of the Rock.