Evening star., 1941-11-16
FeisoI, 6-Yeor-OId Iroq King,
Is Worlds Youngest Monarch
Accepts Exalted Role
Naturally and Without
Realizing Position
BY EDWARD KENNEDY,
Associated Press War Correspondent.

BAGHDAD.-In a big yellow pal
ace on the banks on the Tigris, lives
a little boy who is king but doesn't
know 1t.
He is his Hashamite majesty,
Feisal II, Defendant Of the prophet
and King of Iraq. He is 6 years old
and the worlds youngest monarch.
A visitor recently asked the Queen
whether her son realized he was
KING
ASK him." replied the Queen.
How many kings can you name?"
inquired the visitor of the boy.
Feisal reeled off the names Of a
half dozen living monarchs but did
not include himself.
Does Not Realize Position.
A close friend of the royal family,
who spends much time at the palace,
said: Little Feisal sees his picture
on stamps, money and almost every
where else. AS he walks through
the garden he Is saluted by the royal
guard. If he drives through the city
he is cheered. He accepts all these
things as natural and does not yet
seem to realize that he is King
The boy King is bright. cheerful
and sweet tempered. He learns
rapidly and fcrgets nothing. While
not especially robust, his health is
good. That is what those who see
him daily say.
He has a whole wing of the palace,
air-conditioned and furnished by a
leading London firm, to himself.
Well-wishers send him so many toys
that they flood the palace and he
gives many of them away to other
children.
He is fond of animals and has a
dog and a paiNof ponies, sent TO him
by Regent Horthy Of Hungary.
Speaks Arabic and English.
He has an English nurse, Miss
Dora Borland, and an English gov
erness. Miss Betty Sulman. He rises
early, has a walk before breakfast,
spends three hours each morning in
a sort of kindergarten lesson with
Miss Sulman, then takes a plunge
in a pool in the palace garden. He
learned to swim this year.
He lunches with his mother and
other members of the royal famli~>
has a nap, goes out again in the late
afternoon. Then supper and an
early bedtime.
He speaks Arabic and English
equally we'll and never mixes the
two. The Queen supplements Miss
Sulman's lessons with some Of her
own, mainly about the Koran.
Feisal has no close companions
his own age, but occasionally there
is a party at the palace attended by
about Is children. 1t is at these
parties that he gives away his toys.
King Feisaal is fond Of his uncle.
the Emir Abdul Illah, 28-year-old
Regent Of Irak.
Feisal became King almost three
years ago after his father. King
Ghazi. was killed when he ran his
automobile into a lamppost while
driving home early one morning.
Ghazi succeeded his father, Feisal
I. scion of the famous Hasham1te
house of Southern Arabia which
PLAYED a leading part in the revolt
against the Turks in the last world
war.
Nation Noted for Turbulence.
The country over which the boy
King will one day rule, if no unto
ward event interferes, is noted for
turbulence and the job facing him
is not likely to be a tranquil one.
A few hours after his father was
killed, for example. mob in Mosul,
inf1amed by a story that the King
had been slain by the British. muir
dered the British Consul, George
Monk Mason.
The boy remained in Baghdad
through most of last springs strife.
On the day he returned to the cap
ital, riots and a massacre of Jews
were in progress.
Among his subjects are fierce des-
ert tribesmen and two minorities
who have often given the 1raqis