Princess Fathia of Egypt

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Princess Fathia
Born	(1930-12-17)17 December 1930 Koubbeh Palace, Cairo, Kingdom of Egypt
Died	10 December 1976(1976-12-10) (aged 45) Los Angeles, California, United States
Burial	Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, California, United States
Spouse	Riyad Ghali ​ ​ (m. 1950; div. 1973)​
Issue	Rafiq Ghali Rayed Ghali Rania Ghali
House	Muhammad Ali
Father	Fuad I
Mother	Nazli Sabri

Princess Fathia (Arabic: الأميرة فتحية; 17 December 1930 – 10 December 1976) was the youngest daughter of Fuad I of Egypt and Nazli Sabri, and the youngest sister of Farouk I.

Fathia was born on 17 December 1930 at the Koubbeh Palace, El-Quba, Cairo.^{[citation needed]} Her father, Fuad I died when she was five years old. She was raised mostly close to her mother, Nazli, and her sister Faika. In 1948, she travelled with her sister Faika and her mother to the United States for her mother needed to undergo a kidney surgery.

After her mother's successful surgery, Fathia settled in the United States. In 1949, her sister Faika married Fuad Sadek. In 1950, she herself married Riyad Ghali, their Royal Advisor, who was 11 years her senior, and was a Coptic Christian.^[1] Ghali converted to Islam to try and gain favor with King Farouk during the wedding.^[2] She married at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco, California, United States on 25 April 1950 in a civil ceremony and 24 May 1950 in a Muslim ceremony by an Imam.^[3][4][5] Fathia converted to Catholicism.^[6]

King Farouk was shocked and humiliated by the scandal and sacrilege^{[clarification needed]}: in effect, he excommunicated both women, confiscating their extensive lands and banning them from Egypt forever.^[7][8]

Faika went back to Egypt in 1951 to get back her title, and she did, and her husband Fuad Sadek received the "Bekdom"^{[clarification needed]} or held the title "Fuad Bek Sadek". Fathia and Riad Ghali had three children, two sons and a daughter:

• Rafik (born 29 November 1952)
• Rayed (born 20 May 1954)
• Ranya (born 21 April 1956)

Fathia and her mother settled in the United States for the rest of their lives, having money troubles that eventually led to living in a small flat in California. Later in 1973, Fathia divorced Riyad Ghali because of bad investments that made them lose almost everything they owned. Later, her mother's jewelry was sold for $1,500,000. Fathia also worked as a cleaning lady to pay her debt.

Some time later^[when?], her mother sent a request to President Anwar El-Sadat to retrieve their Egyptian passports, which he granted.^{[citation needed]} However, a few days before returning to Egypt, Fathia was killed.

An unconfirmed story by an Egyptian journalist states that on 10 December 1976, the day she was returning to Egypt, she went to her ex-husband's house with the excuse of "taking Ghali's mother's (Galila) clothes, where she found Ghali drunk. Not wanting her to leave, he shot her in the head 6 times with his revolver before attempting to take his own life. Ghali survived and was promptly investigated. Some reports say he only served a year in prison, due to poor health. He died in 1987.