Farida of Egypt

Queen Farida
Queen of Egypt
Father	Yusuf Zulfikar
Mother	Zeynep Hanim Mehmet Sait

Queen Farida, born Safinaz Zulfikar (September 5, 1921-October 16, 1988) was the Queen of Egypt and the first wife of King Farouk.

Personal life

She was born in 1921 to an Egyptian Noble Family in Gianaclis , Alexandria, Egypt. Her father , judge Yusuf Zulfikar, was vice president of the Alexandria Mixed Court of Appeals. She had as a maternal grandfather prime minister Mohammed Saiid Pasha and was the niece of renowned artist Mahmoud Saiid. Zulfikar attended elementary and primary education at the Dame de Sion school in Alexandria which is supervised by French nuns.

At the age of sixteen, she married King Farouk on 20 January 1938 at the saraya Kubba in Cairo. She was renamed Farida in accordance with the tradition that Family members shall bear the same initials. She had three daughters: HRH Princess Feriyal, HRH Princess Fawziya and HRH Princess Fadia. After the birth of a third daughter, Farouk divorced her, on 19 November 1948. Thereafter she lived most of her life in Paris until she returned to Egypt, then ruled by Sadat, in 1974. She remained unmarried after the divorce and eventually died of Leukaemia on the 17th October 1988, aged 68, in Cairo, Egypt.

Public role

Queen Farida was born in a time in which motherhood was the only priority of a woman. The birth of a throne heir was especially important. However due to rising influence of the west, the role of the first lady rose to higher grounds. The first lady became an honorary title bearing with it duties of attending charities, fundraisers, commemorations and receiving foreign dignitaries. Queen Farida accepted chair of the Red Crescent Society and was also honorary president of the Feminist Union and the New Woman Alliance. She was also patron of the Egyptian Girl Guide Company which had an important role in community affairs.