Abbas Hilmi II

Abbas Hilmi II was khedive of Egypt. He was born in Alexandria on 14 July 1874 and died in Geneva on 20 December 1944. ²

He studied at the Theresianum in Vienna with his brother Muhammad Ali, born 9 November 1875. He succeeded his father Muhammad Tawfiq on 8 January 1892. ²

He quarrelled with the British agents in Cairo, first Sir Evelyn Baring (Lord Cromer) and then Lord Kitchener. ²

When war broke out in August 1914 he was in Istanbul, where he had gone in the summer. He had been wounded on 25 July in an attempt on his life and stayed there for treatment. From Istanbul he called on the Egyptians and Sudanese, once Turkey had joined the Central Powers, to fight the occupiers of their country. A state of siege was declared in Cairo the same day. On 18 December the British government placed Egypt under a protectorate, and on 19 December the khedive was deposed and replaced by Husayn Kamil. ²

During the war he was kept in the background by the Young Turks and lived in Istanbul and then in Vienna, making several journeys to Switzerland, where he spent the last part of his life. In 1922 Egypt became a sovereign and independent state (British declaration of 28 February 1922), and Fuad, Husayn Kamil's successor, took the title of king on 15 March 1922. The ex-khedive was declared to have lost his rights to the throne, although the measure did not apply to his direct legitimate male descendants (royal rescript of 13 April 1922). His property was liquidated and he was forbidden to enter Egypt. Many partisans remained in Egypt, and only in May 1931 did he renounce all pretension to the throne. ³

He had two sons, Muhammad Abd al-Munim (born 20 February 1899) and Muhammad Abd al-Qadir. Abd al-Munim was appointed to the regency council when King Farouk abdicated on 26 July 1952, and in October 1952 became sole regent of the kingdom until the proclamation of the republic. ⁴