Princess Azza of Iraq (1905–1960) was an Iraqi princess. She was a daughter of king

Faisal I of Iraq Faisal I bin Hussein bin Ali Al-Hashemi (, ''Fayṣal al-Awwal bin Ḥusayn bin ʻAlī al-Hāshimī''; 20 May 1885 – 8 September 1933) was King of Iraq from 23 August 1921 until his death in 1933. A member of the Hashemites, Hashemite family, ...

and queen Huzaima bint Nasser, and the sister of king

Ghazi of Iraq Ghazi ibn Faisal () (21 March 1912 – 4 April 1939) was King of Iraq from 1933 to 1939 having been briefly Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Syria in 1920. He was born in Mecca, and was the only son of Faisal I. He died in a car accident in B ...

Life

She spend her childhood in

Mecca Mecca, officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, is the capital of Mecca Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia; it is the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow valley above ...

. In 1920, her father Faisal was proclaimed king of

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

, and his spouse and children moved into the new established royal palace in

Damascus Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...

. After only four months of reign, the kingdom of Syria was dissolved after the

Franco-Syrian War The Franco-Syrian War took place during 1920 between France and the Hashemite rulers of the newly established Arab Kingdom of Syria. During a series of engagements, which climaxed in the Battle of Maysalun, French forces defeated the forces of th ...

. In 1921, the

British government His Majesty's Government, abbreviated to HM Government or otherwise UK Government, is the central government, central executive authority of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

decided to put Faisal as king of the new

Kingdom of Iraq The Hashemite Kingdom of Iraq was the Iraqi state located in the Middle East from 1932 to 1958. It was founded on 23 August 1921 as the Kingdom of Iraq, following the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in the Mesopotamian campaign of the First World W ...

, over which they had an international mandate. He accepted and he was proclaimed king of Iraq. The royal family was transferred to

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

the capital of the new kingdom. After the arrival of the queen and her daughters in Bagdad in 1924,

Gertrude Bell Gertrude Margaret Lowthian Bell (14 July 1868 – 12 July 1926) was an English writer, traveller, political officer, administrator, and archaeologist. She spent much of her life exploring and mapping the Middle East, and became highly inf ...

was the first to be given an audience. Bell had been entrusted by the King to manage the affairs of his family's household. Bell arranged for the Circassian Madame Jaudet Beg to be named lady-in-waiting or mistress of ceremonies to the queen, and for Miss Fairley, the English governess to the crown prince, to instruct the princesses in European etiquette. Gertrude Bell described the queen and her daughters as beautiful, sensitive and shy. King Faisal did not feel it be politically wise for the queen and princesses to participate in public life in the Western manner. Queen Huzaima and her daughters lived secluded in

purdah Pardah or purdah (from Hindi-Urdu , , meaning "curtain") is a religious and social practice of sex segregation prevalent among some Muslim, Zoroastrian and Hindu communities. The purdah garment is the same as a burqa, or yashmak, i.e a veil ...

in the Harthiya villa and did not appear in public or in any mixed-gender company. While the King entertained male guests at the Palace, the queen and her daughters received women guests in the Harthiya villa and visited all-female partiers. They appeared veiled in public, but under their veils they dressed in Western fashion ordered from London, only shown at the women-only parties.Gertrude Bell:
A Woman in Arabia: The Writings of the Queen of the Desert
' In 1936, Princess Azza visited Greece with her brother. During the trip, she became acquainted with a Greek member of staff at a hotel. After her return to Iraq, she was given permission to return to Greece for health reasons in the company of her sister Princess Rajiha. During the visit she eloped with the Greek man she had met during her previous visit. She informed Princess Rajiha that she was now married and had converted to Orthodox Christianity under the name Anastasia. She was granted Italian citizenship through her marriage, since her Greek husband was a Greek citizen. She lived with her husband in

Rhodes Rhodes (; ) is the largest of the Dodecanese islands of Greece and is their historical capital; it is the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, ninth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Administratively, the island forms a separ ...

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

and

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. She had no children. In 1939, she separated from her husband and settled in Italy, where she was granted an allowance from the Italian government. In 1943 she divorced from her husband in Rome. After the Second world war, her allowance from the Italian Government stopped. At this point, she was suffering from bad health. When her cousin Prince Abd al-Ilah visited

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

in 1945, she reconciled with her family, and settled in

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

. She died of cancer in London.

References

{{Authority control 20th-century Iraqi women 20th-century Iraqi people 1905 births 1960 deaths Princesses of Iraq