Faisal II, in full Faisal ibn Ghazi ibn Faisal el Hashim 1935-58
King of Iraq

Born in Baghdad, the great-grandson of Hussein ibn Ali and cousin of King Hussein of Jordan, he succeeded his father, King Ghazi, who was killed in an accident in 1939. After an education at Harrow he was installed (1953) as the third King of modern Iraq, thus ending the regency of his uncle, Emir Abdul Illah. He paid a state visit to Great Britain in 1956. Although, in the aftermath of the Suez intervention (1956), he formally declared that Iraq would continue to stand by Egypt, rivalry later grew between the two incipient Arab blocs. In 1958 he therefore concluded (with King Hussein of Jordan) a federation of the two countries in opposition to the United Arab Republic of Egypt and Syria. In July that year, he and his entire household were assassinated during a military coup d'�tat and Iraq became a republic.