Ebook: Empire, Celebrity and Excess: King Farouk of Egypt and British Culture 1936-1965

King Farouk of Egypt was known for his extravagant lifestyle and colourful private life, immortalised in the newspaper gossip columns, comedy sketches, song lyrics and novels of post-war Britain. Stories of his excessive life captivated the British imperial officials entangled in the era of decolonization and the wider British public became intrigued by this larger-than-life character.
This book explores the narratives and representations of King Farouk found in British official and popular culture which transcended the distinction between politics and celebrity, ‘Orient’ and Europe, imperial and post-imperial worlds. Exploring Farouk as both a political and cultural figure, Francis considers diplomatic history in tandem with histories of popular culture and celebrity to study British culture during the era of decolonization in a more holistic way.
Through Farouk, Francis reveals that the varied cultural and social features of post-war Britain and the reconstitution of British identity in the aftermath of empire; sexual liberalization, ‘Americanization’, consumer affluence, increased interaction with Europe, new forms of mass leisure and the emergence of celebrity culture, did not take place independently of the dismantling of imperial rule.  Studying Farouk therefore sheds new light on the multiple and complex ways in which Britain emerged as a postcolonial nation and negotiated the postwar ‘age of affluence’.