Birth and early years

King Faisal II at the age of 5

Faisal was the only son of King Ghazi of Iraq and his wife, Queen Aliya, second daughter of 'Ali bin Hussein, King of the Hejaz and Grand Sharif of Mecca. Faisal's father was killed in a mysterious car crash when he was three years old; his father’s first cousin, Prince 'Abd al-Ilah, served as regent until Faisal came of age in 1953. He also suffered from asthma.^[3]

1941 coup

King Faisal II of Iraq c. 1944

Faisal's childhood coincided with the Second World War, in which the Hashemite Kingdom of Iraq was formally allied with the British Empire and the Allies. In April 1941, his first cousin once removed 'Abd al-Ilah was briefly deposed as Regent by a military coup d'état which aimed to align Iraq with the Axis powers. The 1941 coup in Iraq soon led to the Anglo-Iraqi War. German aid proved insufficient, and the Regent 'Abd al-Ilah was restored to power by a combined Allied force composed of the mercenary Jordanian Arab Legion, the Royal Air Force and other British units. Iraq resumed its British ties, and at the end of the war joined the United Nations.

During his early years, Faisal was tutored at the royal palace with several other Iraqi boys. During the Second World War, he lived for a time with his mother at Grove Lodge at Winkfield Row in Berkshire in England. As a teenager, Faisal attended Harrow School with his second cousin Prince Hussein, later to become King Hussein of Jordan. The two boys were close friends, and reportedly planned early on to merge their two realms, to counter what they considered to be the "threat" of Communism and left-leaning variants of pan-Arab nationalism. Recently, 143 drawings drawn by Faisal using either pencil or crayon were put on display at Iraq's National Archives depicting backdrops of the war he lived through. Such as drawings of aircraft, bombs, killer robots, and extreme fighting on both land and sea but some drawings depict more peaceful subjects, including landscapes, birds, and buildings, as well as maps of Europe and North Africa. These drawings offered a look into his mind during the chaotic time.^[4]

1952 United States tour

In 1952, at age 17, Faisal began plans to visit the United States and its many development projects such as agriculture, power projects, canal systems, and land reclamation schemes. It was of particular interest to the King especially the Irrigation projects as Faisal would later tell the New York press that it was “very much needed in our country."^[5]

On the 12th of August, 1952, Faisal began the five-week tour and, along with Regent 'Abd al-Ilah, they first arrived at 11 AM, in the Hudson River on the RMS Queen Mary and were given a tour around the United Nations Headquarters in Manhattan. The next day, Faisal went on a tour of the Empire State Building and after arriving at the City Hall for a reception with Mayor Vincent R. Impellitteri, he famously went to attend a game held in the Ebbets Field. The visit was covered by many news outlets nationwide that many forgot Faisal's original motives for the visit. He would also famously be on the side of Brooklyn Dodgers but reportedly couldn't tell the difference between them and the other team, the New York Giants, in which one of his aides told him that it the team's names are written on their clothes.^[5]

In the following days, he would tour the Radio City Music Hall and the Esso Oil Company. On the 16th of August, both would depart from LaGuardia Airport for Washington, D.C. where he met President Harry Truman.^[5] Over the following weeks, he would meet other famous Americans such as Dean Acheson, the actor James Mason, and Jackie Robinson, among others.^[6][7]

Plans for Greater Baghdad

During his reign, Faisal initiated large-scale plans for the modernization of Greater Baghdad. The goal of this ambitious project was to improve and develop infrastructure and housing, provide essential public buildings, reform the building industries, and train future Iraqi architects to not rely on Western help. The increase in the economy that subsequently enabled the plans for Greater Baghdad to be developed was due to negotiations with the British-controlled Iraq Petroleum Company in 1952 that achieved an equitable share of oil rights and a substantial increase in Iraq's revenue. Faisal also created the semiautonomous Development Board which consisted of six members including a foreign advisor with the goal of improving living conditions and construction. After various negotiations, the board received a percentage of the annual oil revenue and in 1955 it established a six-year plan with a larger budget, a quarter of which was assigned to public buildings. In an effort to secure the authority of King Faisal II and the Royal Family and to thwart possible tensions, funds needed to be invested in urban areas where it was feared the conflict would potentially appear.

Many architects from around the world were invited, among them were Alvar Aalto, Walter Gropius (who designed the faculty tower and gateway monument to Baghdad University), Le Corbusier and many more. Commissions for public buildings followed and the first ones went to the German architect Werner March for the Iraq Museum and the English firm J. Brian Cooper to build the National Parliament and the Royal Palace. An architect competition was set up for the National Bank which Swiss architect William Dunkel won. Some of the buildings designed during the plan were built even decades later after Faisal's reign ended under Saddam Hussein such as the Baghdad Gymnasium which was designed by Le Corbusier. Frank Lloyd Wright was also invited by Faisal to design much of Newer Baghdad, Wright seemed to not regard Iraq as an underdeveloped nation and wanted to preserve its character. Inspired by Harun al-Rashid and the Arabian Nights, Wright's plans seemed to echo old Abbasid architecture in Baghdad such as circular layout and are imbued in greenery to allude to the Garden of Eden.

Despite the contribution to the development of the city, some have criticized Faisal's plans for Greater Baghdad and the many styles that he introduced to be a "Westernization" of Iraq. The plans also acquired international attention as a letter from the British Board of Trade demonstrates that was sent to a number of British architects. Some of the criticism of the plans were used as justification during the 14 July Revolution.^[11]

The Arab Federation

Faisal (left) with his cousin King Hussein of Jordan, in February 1958.

On 1 February 1958, neighboring Syria joined with Nasser's Egypt to form the United Arab Republic which Iraq did not recognize. This prompted the Hashemite kingdoms of Iraq and Jordan to strengthen their ties by establishing a similar alliance. King Hussein bin Talal, King of Jordan, sent his court minister to Baghdad, carrying a message to Faisal inviting him to go with some ministers to Amman, to consider the consequences of the event. On February 11, 1958, the King of Iraq went with some ministers, the Chief of Staff of the Army, and the Chief of the Royal Court. On the next day, Abd al-Ilah joined them, and there the two parties reached, on February 14, 1958, the declaration of the Arab Hashemite Union between Iraq and Jordan, also known as the "Arab Federation." Originally, Kuwait was to join but Britain was opposed to the unification.

Faisal, as the senior member of the Hashemite family, became its head of state and the head of the Union Government, and in his absence, Hussein would head the Union Government. The Federation was also open to other Arab countries joining it.^[12]

An opposition forms

Faisal's political situation deteriorated in 1956, with uprisings in the cities of Najaf and Hayy. Meanwhile, Israel's attack on Egypt, coordinated with Britain and France in response to Nasser's nationalization of the Suez Canal, only exacerbated popular revulsion for the Baghdad Pact, and thus Faisal's rule. The opposition began to coordinate its activities; in February 1957, a "Front of National Union" was established, bringing together the National Democrats, Independents, Communists, and the Ba'ath Party.^[13] An identical process ensued within the Iraqi officer corps with the formation of a "Supreme Committee of Free Officers". Faisal's government endeavored to preserve the military's loyalty through generous benefits, but this proved increasingly ineffective as more and more officers came to sympathize with the nascent pro-republican anti-monarchist movement.

14 July Revolution

In the summer of 1958, King Hussein of Jordan asked for Iraqi military assistance during the escalating Lebanon crisis. Units of the Royal Iraqi Army under the command of Colonel Abd al-Karim Qasim, en route to Jordan, chose to march on Baghdad instead, where they mounted a coup d'état on 14 July. During the 14 July Revolution, Faisal II ordered the Royal Guard to offer no resistance and surrendered to the insurgents. Around 8 am, Captain Abdul Sattar Sabaa Al-Ibousi, leading the revolutionary assault group at the Rihab Palace, which was still the principal royal residence in central Baghdad, ordered the King, Crown Prince 'Abd al-Ilah, Crown Princess Hiyam ('Abd al-Ilah's wife), Princess Nafeesa ('Abd al-Ilah's mother), Princess Abadiya (Faisal's aunt) and several servants to gather in the palace courtyard (the young King had not yet moved into the newly completed Royal Palace). According to Princess Hyam's biography page, the royal family and royal staff left the palace through the kitchen. When they passed through the kitchen garden, rebel soldiers opened fire. The King was shot in the head and neck, while Nafeesa and Abadiya were shot in the back. Only Princess Hiyam survived the massacre of the royal family, being wounded in the leg or hip. The group was then taken to cars for transport to the Ministry of Defence. The King reportedly died along the way, and the cars were stopped. The King's body was hanged, while the Crown Prince was defiled and dragged through the streets.

Aftermath

Many years later, when the Iraqi historian Safa Khulusi met Al-Ibousi, who was once one of Khulusi's students, and questioned him on his part in Faisal's death, the former student answered, "all I did was remember Palestine, and the trigger on the machine-gun just set itself off".^[14]

During the regime of Saddam Hussein, Faisal II was reburied under a marble tomb located next to that of his father in the restored Royal Cemetery in Baghdad.^[15]