# King Farouk and Ali Khan

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/king-farouk-and-ali-khan/87704>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 16, 2001, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/king-farouk-and-ali-khan/87704 "2001-10-16T12:57:27Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![don\_willard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e57/32.png) [@don\_willard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_willard)\
**Post date:** [October 16, 2001, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/king-farouk-and-ali-khan/87704/1 "2001-10-16T12:57:27Z")

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Whatever became of King Farouk and Ali Khan? Didn’t the latter marry Rita Hayworth? What was he the khan of, the Golden Horde is what had khans,or did other nations have khans too? Did Ali Khan marry other stars, etc.? How did Farouk come to the throne and leave it? Are there any official Pretenders to the Egyptian throne from his family or other?

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**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\
**Post date:** [October 16, 2001, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/king-farouk-and-ali-khan/87704/2 "2001-10-16T19:35:02Z")

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**Ali Khan:**

[Rita Hayworth](http://us.imdb.com/Bio?Hayworth,+Rita) was indeed married for several years to Prince Aly Khan. [Aly Khan](http://us.imdb.com/Bio?Khan,+Prince+Aly) was the son of Aga Khan III and father of Aga Khan IV; the title skipped over him, and he was never himself the [Aga Khan](http://www.bartleby.com/65/ag/AgaKhan.html), that being the title of the religious leader or imam of the Nizari branch of the [Ismailis](http://www.bartleby.com/65/is/Ismailis.html), a sect of Shi’ite Muslims. The title [khan](http://www.bartleby.com/61/93/K0049300.html), of Mongol origin, originally did refer to a ruler of a Mongol or other Central Asian kingdom or tribe, but is now used as an honorific title in a variety of senses.

[William Shatner]_“KHAAAN!”_[/William Shatner]

Ahem.

**King Farouk:**

King [Farouk](http://www.bartleby.com/65/fa/Farouk.html) of Egypt was forced to abdicate and flee the country after Egyptian and Pan-Arab nationalist leader (and first president of the republic of Egypt) Gamal Abdal [Nasser](http://www.bartleby.com/65/na/Nasser-G.html)’s military coup in 1952. The _Britannica_ says that Farouk died on March 18, 1965, in Rome, Italy. It also notes that Farouk’s infant son was briefly installed as King Fu’ad II before the proclamation of a republic. [This page](http://www.geocities.com/hazemsakr/royal.html) on Egypt’s royal family doesn’t give a death date for the lad, so I guess if there were any pretenders to the Egyptian throne, it would be him. I don’t think a restoral of the monarchy in Egypt is at all likely, though.

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**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\
**Post date:** [October 16, 2001, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/king-farouk-and-ali-khan/87704/3 "2001-10-16T20:37:03Z")

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Okay, this question is _not_ about the Godfather of Qawwali, Elvis of Pakistan, [Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan](http://www.nfak.com/) or his brother, Farouk.

However, let me be the first to say that Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan kicks ass.