King Farouk of Egypt was an absolute madman.


 In the photograph below, Sir Winston Churchill does not look particularly pleased by the Egyptian king — this is because Farouk, a chronic kleptomaniac, had just been caught stealing Churchill’s pocketwatch. Farouk had gone as far as to pardon a notorious thief to give him “pickpocketing lessons”. He was reportedly quite good at it.

In 1943, Farouk got into a serious car accident. The massively obese king was so heavy that, once placed on a stretcher, the stretcher broke and he broke an additional two ribs. He was placed in the hospital where he quickly recovered, but he pretended to still be ill as he enjoyed flirting with the nurses in the British army hospital too much… this caused him to miss the Cairo Conference.

Before his weight ballooned, Farouk was once considered one of the world’s handsomest royals, and he was a famous playboy. He had countless mistresses, none of whom were particularly impressed by his bedroom skills as he was reportedly one of the world’s laziest lovers as well. As a king, he expected to be served. He would gift them some of the jewels and trinkets he stole wherever he went... Continue reading 

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