Queen Farida

Queen Farida, born Safinaz Zulficar (September 5, 1921-October 16, 1988) (صافيناز ذوالفقار) was the Queen of Egypt and the first wife of King Farouk. She was born in 1921 to an Egyptian noble family in Gianaclis, Alexandria. Her father, judge Youssef Zulficar Pasha, 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. She attended elementary and primary education at Notre Dame de Sion in Alexandria, a school run by French nuns. At the age of sixteen, she married King Farouk on 20 January 1938 at the Saraya el-Kubba in Cairo. She was renamed Farida in accordance with the tradition initiated by King Fuad I that members of the royal family shall bear the same initials. She had three daughters: HRH Princess Ferial, HRH Princess Fawzia and HRH Princess Fadia. After the birth of a third daughter, Farouk divorced her, on 19 November 1948. Thereafter she lived in Lebanon (in 1963-1968), and Paris (1968-1974) until she returned to Egypt, then ruled by Sadat, in 1974. She remained unmarried after the divorce and eventually died of leukemia on 17 October 1988, aged 68, in Cairo, Egypt Children : * HRH Princess Ferial (1938–2009) * HRH Princess Fawzia (1940–2005) * HRH Princess Fadia (1943–2002) 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. An artist, she had personal exhibitions in Europe and USA

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