Troubled Egypt Dreams of the Old Monarchy

TUT TUT TUT

King Farouk, deposed in 1952, may have gone down in history as a lousy ruler. But these days Egyptians are inclined to say, ‘Compared to what?’

Published Mar. 7 2016 12:01AM EST

articles/2016/03/07/troubled-egypt-dreams-of-the-old-monarchy/160405-schwartzstein-last-egypt-king-tease_xukvo3 — Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast

CAIRO — The late monarch’s birthday was on a Thursday in February, and as the morning progressed, the messages began to flood in.

“Many happy returns, your majesty,” Maha Ahmed from Cairo wrote in a Facebook group dedicated to Farouk, the king of Egypt who was deposed in a military coup...

Peter Schwartzstein

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Troubled Egypt Dreams of the Old Monarchy

King Farouk, deposed in 1952, may have gone down in history as a lousy ruler. But these days Egyptians are inclined to say, ‘Compared to what?’

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Peter Schwartzstein