Aḥmad Fuʾād I (1868–1936) was appointed sultan of Egypt (r. 1917–22) under the British protectorate and king of Egypt (r. 1922–36) under British military occupation. He was the sixth living son of Khedive Ismāʿīl (r. 1863–79). Fuʾād’s mother, Firyal, was a Circassian slave in the harem. After studying in Cairo, Geneva, and Turin, Fuʾād entered the Italian military academy in 1885. He befriended the Italian royal family and, in the late 1880s, joined the Italian army. Fuʾād then became a military a…