Arab cousins celebrated 18th birthdays with thrones to Iraq and Jordan

AS the 40th generation with direct descent from Prophet Muhammad, 65 years ago cousins took the throne in two Arab states.

King Faisal II of Iraq ascended the throne on his 18th birthday on May 2, 1953.

CLAIMING divine rights as the 40th generation with direct descent from the Prophet Muhammad, 65 years ago today two second cousins celebrated their coming of age by taking the thrones in adjoining Arab states.

In Baghdad, Iraq, King Faisal II, born on May 2, 1935, was enthroned on his 18th birthday, finally old enough to assume the role thrust on him, at age four, after his father died in a car accident in 1939.

In Jordan, King Hussein was enthroned as he reached age 18, according to the Islamic lunar calendar, although his birthdate was November 14, 1935. Suffering schizophrenia, his father Talal had abdicated in Hussein’s favour after his grandfather King Abdullah was assassinated.

The coronations continued monarchies endorsed by Britain in the early 1920s, a reward to Hejaz rulers in what is now Saudi Arabia who in 1916 helped end Ottoman rule. Their great-grandfather Hussein bin Ali, Grand Sharif of Mecca, had fought with Lawrence of Arabia against the Turks and proclaimed himself King of Arab lands in October 1916, only to be deposed by an Arab opponent in 1924.

King Faisal II of Iraq (left) with his uncle Prince Abd ul-llah of Iraq in July 1939. The Prince ruled as Faisal’s regent until he came of age in 1953. Picture: Getty Images

Hussein bin Ali’s sons also joined the revolt against the Ottomans. The reward for second son Abdullah was his proclamation as King of Iraq in March 1920, the same day Faisal was proclaimed King of Syria. Lawrence and fellow Brit, archaeologist and author Gertrude Bell, who travelled extensively in the Middle East, recommended both monarchs to Britain as stabilising forces in the turbulent Arab region.

Abdullah wisely refused Iraq, constructed by Britain and France from three Mesopotamian provinces — Mosul, Baghdad and Basra — as a British protectorate. In 1921 he was instead recognised as Emir of Transjordan, also a British protectorate.

Jordan became independent in 1946. In 1947 Abdullah was the only Arab ruler to accept the United Nation’s plan for Palestine, although Jordan joined the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and annexed West Bank territories.

Still considered moderate in his attitude to Israel, on July 20, 1951, Abdullah, 69, was assassinated at Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. Hussein, 15, was alongside him and also hit, but saved by a medal pinned to his chest.

King Faisal II, aged five.

In Syria, within months the French had deposed Faisal. In need of another kingdom, in 1921 he took Iraq, where in 1920 the infant League of Nations had granted Britain a mandate. At Cairo in 1921, British Colonial Secretary Winston Churchill had forced three radically different groups, Sunni Muslim Kurds, Sunni Muslim Arabs and Shi’ite Muslims, to combine under Faisal’s rule.

As a champion of tolerance, Faisal worked hard to reconcile Sunni and Shia Muslims and encouraged respect for all faiths. Unpretentious and frugal, he invested in health and education, and built no grandiose palaces. He once wrote he “would rather see a glass factory instead of a royal palace”. Frustrated as he attempted to balance British interests and Iraqi suspicions over his alleged pro-Western sympathies, in 1933 he complained “there is still — and I say this with a heart full of sorrow — no Iraqi people, but unimaginable masses of human beings, devoid of any patriotic idea, imbued with religious traditions, and absurdities, connected by no common tie, giving ear to evil, prone to anarchy, and perpetually ready to rise against any government”.

King Faisal II of Iraq, ascended the throne when he turned 18 on May 2, 1953.

King Hussein (right) on steps of Britain's Sandhurst Military Academy where he graduated as commissioned officer British Armed Forces on May 2, 1953, the day he became king of Jordan.

King Hussein, the 19-year-old monarch of Jordan, and his bride, Princess Dina Abdul Hamid, his 26-year-old cousin, shortly after their Muslim marriage in Amman, Jordan, April 19, 1955.

He died suddenly in Switzerland in 1933, officially from a heart attack although supporters suspected poison. Faisal’s heir Ghazi, 21, was an immature playboy who resented British domination and allowed the army greater access into Iraqi politics. Ghazi married his first cousin Aliya bint Ali in 1934 but separated after Faisal II’s birth. When Ghazi died in a car crash in April 1939, politician Nuri as-Said was suspected of foul play, with funeral crowds chanting, “You will answer for the blood of Ghazi.” Nuri was suspected of being in contact with Queen Aliya and plotting with her brother, Abd al-llah, to depose Ghazi.

Nuri supported Abd al-llah as regent for Faisal II, who as Iraq’s “boy king” was a photographic favourite for foreign magazines”.

King Faisal II shortly before a pro-Egyptian military junta staged a coup against him and his family and they were executed on July 14, 1958.

Faisal II was educated at Harrow in Britain along with Hussein. Considered intelligent, Faisal appeared destined for greatness. Hussein, heir to a penniless empire, was described as “not a success at Harrow”.

Although Faisal II invested in dams, bridges and irrigation works, there was growing opposition from the poor and middle class, who felt only the wealthy had power.

In February 1958, Iraq and Jordan united as a federation to counter Syria and Egypt’s United Arab Republic. In July, Hussein asked Faisal for military aid for a crisis in Lebanon. Iraqi troops under Abd al-Karim Qasim were ordered to Jordan. Instead they marched on Baghdad and mounted a coup on July 14, 1958. Faisal quickly surrendered and, along with his uncle and most of the royal family, he was executed in the palace courtyard.

Hussein reigned until his death in 1999.