What do you think?
Rate this book
Effendina: The Story of the Young King Farouk of Egypt, 1920 - 1943
The remarkable story of the young King Farouk, a ruler widely maligned and deeply misunderstood.
King Farouk came to the throne in 1936, at the tender age of 16. The young monarch’s rule was to the be the last in a dynasty that had run this ancient land since 1805 - a relatively short time span beneath the long shadow of Giza’s pyramids.
Melekper Toussoun’s account is a history told from the inside, as someone who was part of that final dynasty. In a country whose history is fascinatingly complex and tumultuous, theirs was a family at centre stage, buffeted by joys and tragedies as intense as any that had gone before. They held the helm until the monarchy was toppled in a coup d'état in 1952 – a coup d’état that would probably not have taken place had the young king not suffered an accident that affected the neuronal pathways in his brain.
Toussoun’s evocative and highly personal narrative is a window into a secret garden. At its core is the story of the young monarch, and the account pivots on one central event that was to change everything - Farouk’s car accident on a country road in 1943.Revolutionary insight into the medical condition that changed the very personality of the young king.A rebuttal of the racist and colonially motivated British propaganda of the 'veiled protectorate' over Egypt.
King Farouk came to the throne in 1936, at the tender age of 16. The young monarch’s rule was to the be the last in a dynasty that had run this ancient land since 1805 - a relatively short time span beneath the long shadow of Giza’s pyramids.
Melekper Toussoun’s account is a history told from the inside, as someone who was part of that final dynasty. In a country whose history is fascinatingly complex and tumultuous, theirs was a family at centre stage, buffeted by joys and tragedies as intense as any that had gone before. They held the helm until the monarchy was toppled in a coup d'état in 1952 – a coup d’état that would probably not have taken place had the young king not suffered an accident that affected the neuronal pathways in his brain.
Toussoun’s evocative and highly personal narrative is a window into a secret garden. At its core is the story of the young monarch, and the account pivots on one central event that was to change everything - Farouk’s car accident on a country road in 1943.Revolutionary insight into the medical condition that changed the very personality of the young king.A rebuttal of the racist and colonially motivated British propaganda of the 'veiled protectorate' over Egypt.
383 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 21, 2023
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
October 3, 2024
An excellent treatise on the first 23 years of King Farouk’s life and the sudden transformation that happened to his personality and behavior after his car accident in 1943.
In Melekper Tousson’s book, appropriately titled “Effendina”, she presents the reader with both plausible and convincing reasons for the transformation of the King’s personality, ultimately leading to his abdication.
The story of King Farouk is reminiscent of stories about tragic heroes like Macbeth, Julius Caesar, Hamlet, etc. whose lives and achievements begin on a positive note to be later transformed by one or more disruptive events ultimately leading to a tragic end to their lives.
The author eloquently addresses important historic facts related to Egypt’s modern history and in particular the impact of the 76 years of British influence on the sociopolitical aspects of life during that period!
The author researched and provided ample evidence that, as a result of the car accident, King Farouk suffered from what is medically termed as a Frontal Lobe Syndrome (FLS) to his brain, the impact of which was the sudden transformation in his personality. The said FLS and the unfair way the British, in particular Ambassador Sir Miles Lampson, treated him, ultimately led to his fall from grace ending in his abdication in 1952.
The moral of this sad saga is that Egypt, on its way to becoming a powerful nation in the 19th century, would have continued to flourish in the 20th century and beyond had King Farouk been spared the accident and the constraints imposed by the British rule!
In Melekper Tousson’s book, appropriately titled “Effendina”, she presents the reader with both plausible and convincing reasons for the transformation of the King’s personality, ultimately leading to his abdication.
The story of King Farouk is reminiscent of stories about tragic heroes like Macbeth, Julius Caesar, Hamlet, etc. whose lives and achievements begin on a positive note to be later transformed by one or more disruptive events ultimately leading to a tragic end to their lives.
The author eloquently addresses important historic facts related to Egypt’s modern history and in particular the impact of the 76 years of British influence on the sociopolitical aspects of life during that period!
The author researched and provided ample evidence that, as a result of the car accident, King Farouk suffered from what is medically termed as a Frontal Lobe Syndrome (FLS) to his brain, the impact of which was the sudden transformation in his personality. The said FLS and the unfair way the British, in particular Ambassador Sir Miles Lampson, treated him, ultimately led to his fall from grace ending in his abdication in 1952.
The moral of this sad saga is that Egypt, on its way to becoming a powerful nation in the 19th century, would have continued to flourish in the 20th century and beyond had King Farouk been spared the accident and the constraints imposed by the British rule!
August 7, 2023
This gem of a book is a must-read, shedding light upon the true nature of a King whose reputation was deliberately besmirched not only by the military rulers who ousted him, but also by the British colonialists who feared the effect his popularity – and his love of his country – might have. Both parties concocted a smear campaign against him which persists in tarnishing his image to the present day. This is not to say that the man who started off his reign as an idealistic, enthusiastic young ruler did not turn into an incompetent shadow of his former self, but the reason for this volte face is convincingly explained by the tragic, life-changing accident that damaged his brain beyond repair.
The book also contains the most accurate and damning exposition of the arrogance and presumptuousness of British colonial rule, whose detrimental effect had a far-reaching impact on Egypt and the Egyptian people. Even the claims of the one or two redeeming aspects of British rule (which I myself, being half English, had swallowed unquestioningly) turned out to be myths. Building railways? Egypt already had over three thousand kilometres of railway when the British invaded. Education? Egypt had already begun a process of educational reform fifty years beforehand, while Cromer actually cut funding to schools and universities, thus undoing years of progress. He had the temerity to say, ‘It would be inadvisable to educate Egyptians…’ fearing that education would lead to calls for independence!
Having said that, it is also fair to mention that this deplorable attitude was not necessarily that of all the British people. What rulers do does not necessarily reflect the wishes of the ruled. Indeed, it hardly ever does. But that’s another story…
Meticulously researched, this book and its groundbreaking – and very plausible – explanation of the downfall of King Farouk is a labour of love by a member of Egypt’s royal family seeking to redeem his unfairly tarnished reputation, and, I venture to say, succeeding in doing so.
The book also contains the most accurate and damning exposition of the arrogance and presumptuousness of British colonial rule, whose detrimental effect had a far-reaching impact on Egypt and the Egyptian people. Even the claims of the one or two redeeming aspects of British rule (which I myself, being half English, had swallowed unquestioningly) turned out to be myths. Building railways? Egypt already had over three thousand kilometres of railway when the British invaded. Education? Egypt had already begun a process of educational reform fifty years beforehand, while Cromer actually cut funding to schools and universities, thus undoing years of progress. He had the temerity to say, ‘It would be inadvisable to educate Egyptians…’ fearing that education would lead to calls for independence!
Having said that, it is also fair to mention that this deplorable attitude was not necessarily that of all the British people. What rulers do does not necessarily reflect the wishes of the ruled. Indeed, it hardly ever does. But that’s another story…
Meticulously researched, this book and its groundbreaking – and very plausible – explanation of the downfall of King Farouk is a labour of love by a member of Egypt’s royal family seeking to redeem his unfairly tarnished reputation, and, I venture to say, succeeding in doing so.
July 14, 2023
This book is a must for any historian interested in Egypt or the middle east history.
Its main issue is to correct what everyone thought or wrote about the change that came over the personality of King Farouk of Egypt. All due that change to the event of February 4, 1942, when Miles Lampson surrounded the King's palace by his army and gave the choice of the king either to ask Nahas Pasha to form a government, or to abdicate the throne. He was about to abdicate, when Hassanein Pasha told him something that made him change his mind. Everyone referred to that humiliating incidence to be the reason of a change in the behavior of the King, resulting in things that separated him from the love of his people and even many of the Royal family and resulted in the events of 1952 and his abdication.
The author revealed another incident that was the real reason for the King's changes of personality. On 15 November 1943, King Farouk had an accident when his car swerved by a British army lorry and hit a tree in Quassassin suburb of Cairo. This accident caused a vicious illness that was not discovered at the time for lack of modern devices to check the brain . The incident caused what is known now as "frontal lobe syndrome", a form of brain damage that does not affect the thinking process but change the behavior and 8 major differences in one's personality that the author detailed and referenced with authoritative neurologists, psychiatrists and people who were near the king after the accident till he early death in 1965.
This is only a general review, but one has to read the book to get into all the details of that very important subject.
Its main issue is to correct what everyone thought or wrote about the change that came over the personality of King Farouk of Egypt. All due that change to the event of February 4, 1942, when Miles Lampson surrounded the King's palace by his army and gave the choice of the king either to ask Nahas Pasha to form a government, or to abdicate the throne. He was about to abdicate, when Hassanein Pasha told him something that made him change his mind. Everyone referred to that humiliating incidence to be the reason of a change in the behavior of the King, resulting in things that separated him from the love of his people and even many of the Royal family and resulted in the events of 1952 and his abdication.
The author revealed another incident that was the real reason for the King's changes of personality. On 15 November 1943, King Farouk had an accident when his car swerved by a British army lorry and hit a tree in Quassassin suburb of Cairo. This accident caused a vicious illness that was not discovered at the time for lack of modern devices to check the brain . The incident caused what is known now as "frontal lobe syndrome", a form of brain damage that does not affect the thinking process but change the behavior and 8 major differences in one's personality that the author detailed and referenced with authoritative neurologists, psychiatrists and people who were near the king after the accident till he early death in 1965.
This is only a general review, but one has to read the book to get into all the details of that very important subject.
Read
January 21, 2024An interesting book, because unlike the vast majority of books on Egypt’s King Farouk, this is a personal account of someone who is from within his family - and in the author’s case, if we follow her line - someone extremely closely related to him .. but also - perhaps more importantly - this is a book based on accounts of people who had known Farouk extremely closely, chiefly here: Princess Fatma Chirine Toussoun, the mother of the author. Farouk is certainly a dramatic character, that deserves - by those interested in Egyptian and Middle Eastern history - to be better understood. At least deserves to be given a chance to be seen in lights different from the very negative ones he was repeatedly put under in the past 70-years. This book here will not change anyone’s view of the major arcs of Egyptian history in the past seven decades. Arguably it is also of limited value to those keen only on geopolitics or political economy. But for readers interested in sociopolitics, and in the cultural history of the region, this is an interesting book. With this, I would also venture - for Arabic speakers - a bit of self-promotion and suggest checking my video-series on the Mohamed Ali dynasty, in which I have tried to put a context behind their achievements - of which there were many, including marvellous ones - as well as their acute falls, and faults: https://youtu.be/x9UTEbI29R8?si=qEvBH...
December 29, 2025
This book is a crucial piece in order to understand the tragedy that befell upon Egypt’s last reigning monarch. King Farouk was enthroned at the age of seventeen. Initially he was very popular and even entrusted by the people of his country in contrast to his father, who seemed “foreign” and disconnected with the actual people of Egypt. I have enjoyed this insightful and well researched biography that explains properly why King Farouk turned out the way he is and why Farouk ‘was no longer Farouk’, consequently I would confidently recommend it to anyone interested in Egypt’s constitutional monarchy era or to what many profound historians call it ‘Egypt’s liberal age’.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews