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Ghazi of Iraq
King of Iraq
Reign	8 September 1933 – 4 April 1939
Full name	Ghazi bin Faisal
Born	12 March 1912
Birthplace	Mecca
Died	April 4, 1939 (aged 27)
Predecessor	Faisal I
Successor	Faisal II
Consort	Princess Aliya bin Ali
Offspring	HM Faisal II, King of Iraq
Royal House	Iraq
Dynasty	Hashemite
Father	Faisal I
Mother	Huzaima bint Nasser
Religious beliefs	Sunni Islam [1]

Ghazi bin Faisal (Arabic: غازي ابن فيصل‎ Ġāzī bin Fayṣal) (March 21, 1912 - April 4, 1939) was the King of the Hashemite Kingdom of Iraq from 1933 to 1939. He was born in Mecca (in present-day Saudi Arabia), the only son of Faisal I,^[2] the first King of Iraq.

Contents 1 Early life 2 As King of Iraq 3 Marriage and Children 4 The flying carpet 5 See also 6 References 7 External references

[edit] Early life

As Ghazi was the only son of Faisal I, he was left to take care of his grandfather, Hussein bin Ali, the Grand Sharif of Mecca, while his father was busy in his campaigns and travels. He therefore grew up, unlike his worldly father, a shy and inexperienced young man. He left the Hijaz to Jordan with the rest of the Hashimites in 1924. He came to Baghdad at the same year and was appointed as the crown prince. When he was 16 Ghazi was taken for his first airplane flight by the American adventurer Richard Halliburton and pilot Moye Stephens. They buzzed the school yard so his school mates could see him in the biplane and stopped in Samarra to have a picnic atop the famed spiral minaret.

[edit] As King of Iraq

On the 8 September 1933, King Faisal I died and Ghazi was crowned as King Ghazi I. On the same day, Ghazi was appointed Admiral of the Fleet in the Royal Iraqi Navy, Field Marshal of the Royal Iraq Army, and Marshal of the Royal Iraqi Air Force. A staunch pan-Arab nationalist, opposed to British interests in his country,^[3] Ghazi's reign was characterized by tensions between civilians and the army, which sought control of the government. He supported General Bakr Sidqi in his coup, which replaced the civilian government with a military one. This was the first coup d'état to take place in the Arab world. He was rumored to harbor sympathies for Nazi Germany and also put forth a claim for Kuwait to be annexed to Iraq. For this purpose he had his own radio station in al-Zuhoor royal palace in which he promoted that claim and other radical views.^[4]

Ghazi died in 1939 in a mysterious accident involving a sports car he was driving.^[5] Some believe he was killed on the orders of Nuri as-Said.

Faisal, Ghazi's only son, succeeded him as King Faisal II. Because Faisal was under age, Prince Abdul Ilah served as Regent until 1953.

[edit] Marriage and Children

On January 25, 1934 Ghazi married Princess Aliya bint Ali daughter of King Ali of Hejaz in Baghdad Iraq. They had only one son:^[2]

• Faisal II, King of Iraq - born May 2, 1935 died July 14, 1958

[edit] The flying carpet

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ghazi of Iraq

When the Prince was a school boy he was taken for a biplane ride by Moye Stephens, pilot of The Flying Carpet and Richard Halliburton, traveler-adventurist, during their round-the-world flight, shortly after Charles Lindbergh's transatlantic flight. An account of a young prince Ghazi's experience flying over his country can be found in Richard Halliburton's The Flying Carpet.

[edit] See also

• British Mandate of Mesopotamia
• Saib Shawkat

[edit] References

1. ^ [1]
2. ^ ^{a b} "The Hashemite Royal Family". Jordanian Government. http://www.kinghussein.gov.jo/rfamily_immediate.html. 
3. ^ Tripp, Charles. A History of Iraq. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, 2000, p.81.
4. ^ Tripp, p.98.
5. ^ Tripp, p.98.

• Ali, Tariq. Bush in Babylon: the Recolonisation of Iraq. W.W. Norton, 2003. ISBN 1-85984-583-5.

[edit] External references

• Time Magazine, April 17, 1939. "Young King.". http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,761064,00.html. Retrieved August 17, 2009. 
• "Coins of Ghazi I.". http://www.chiefacoins.com/Database/Countries/Ghazi_I.htm. Retrieved August 30, 2009. 

Preceded by King Faisal I

King of Iraq 1933-1939

Succeeded by King Faisal II

v • d • e Heads of state of post-Ottoman Iraq Kingdom of Iraq (1921-1958) (under British mandate, 1920-1932) Kings of Iraq Faisal I · Ghazi · Faisal II Republic of Iraq (since 1958) Presidents of Iraq Muhammad Najib ar-Ruba'i† · Abdul Salam Arif† · Abd ar-Rahman al-Bazzaz*†  · Abdul Rahman Arif† · Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr† · Saddam Hussein† · occupation  · Ghazi Mashal Ajil al-Yawer  · Jalal Talabani * acting     † military