Hussein Kamel of Egypt’s biography, fact, career, awards, net worth and life story

Sultan Hussein Kamel (Arabic: السلطان حسين كامل‎‎, Turkish: Sultan Hüseyin Kamil Paşa; November 1853 – 9 October 1917) was the Sultan of Egypt from 19 December 1914 to 9 October 1917, during the British protectorate over Egypt.

Hussein Kamel was the son of Khedive Isma’il Pasha, who ruled Egypt from 1863 to 1879. Hussein Kamel was declared Sultan of Egypt on 19 December 1914, after the occupying British forces had deposed his nephew, Khedive Abbas Hilmi II, on 5 November 1914. The newly created Sultanate of Egypt was declared a British protectorate. This brought to an end the de jure Ottoman sovereignty over Egypt, which had been largely nominal since Muhammad Ali’s seizure of power in 1805.

Upon Hussein Kamel’s death, his only son, Prince Kamal al-Din Husayn, declined the succession, and Hussein Kamel’s brother Ahmed Fuad ascended the throne as Fuad I. At the beginning of Naguib Mahfouz’s novel Palace Walk, Ahmad Abd al-Jawwad says “What a fine man Prince Kamal al-Din Husayn is! Do you know what he did? He refused to ascend the throne of his late father so long as the British are in charge.”

Stereoscope photographs of the coronation procession and burial procession of Sultan Hussein are available on the Rare Books and Special Collections Digital Library of the American University in Cairo.

Honours

• Imperial Order of the Osmans, 1st Class
• Order of Nobility, 1st Class
• Knight of the Order of Franz Joseph, 1st Class, 1869
• Grand Cross of the Order of the Sword, 1891
• Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (GCB), 1914
• Grand Cross of the Legion d’Honneur, 1916
• Grand Cross of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus, 1916
• Grand Cross of the Order of the Redeemer, 1916
• Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown, 1916
• Grand Cross of the Order of Leopold II, 1917