Ghazi ibn Faisal

1912 - 1939

King of Iraq from 1933 to 1939.

The son of King Faisal I, Ghazi ibn Faisal inherited little of his father's sophistication and political understanding. As his father's popularity began to wane at the end of the 1920s, Ghazi began to court a following of his own by identifying himself more or less openly with the opposition politicians and associating with the leaders of the Iraqi army. This continued after his accession, and as the army high command began to exert an increasing influence on the country's political life (especially after the coup organized by Bakr Sidqi in 1936). Ghazi's relations with the British Embassy, and with Britain's protégé Nuri al-Saʿid, became increasingly strained. While there was no direct evidence linking Nuri to the car accident in which Ghazi was killed, the circumstances surrounding his death always remained obscure. Nuri, Ghazi's cousin Abd al-Ilah, and Ghazi's estranged wife, Abd al-Ilah's sister Aliya, were long suspected of some form of involvement in it.

— PETER SLUGLETT