Princess Badiya bint Ali (24 January 1920– 9 May 2020) was an Iraqi princess, and one of the last surviving Iraqi royals following the 1958 coup. She was the daughter of Ali, King of Hejaz, and Princess Nafeesa, sister of Crown Prince

'Abd al-Ilah Abd al-Ilah of Hejaz () (; also written Abdul Ilah or Abdullah; 14 November 1913 – 14 July 1958) was a cousin and brother-in-law of Ghazi of Iraq, King Ghazi of the Kingdom of Iraq, Hashemite Kingdom of Iraq and was regent for his nephew Fai ...

, and the aunt of King

Faisal II of Iraq Faisal II (; 2 May 1935 – 14 July 1958) was the last King of Iraq. He reigned from 4 April 1939 until July 1958, when he was killed during the 14 July Revolution. This regicide marked the end of the thirty-seven-year-old Hashemite monarchy in ...

Life

She spent 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 ...

. Her father was deposed in 1924, and she followed her family in exile to Iraq, where her uncle had been made king in 1921. Her brother 'Abd al-Ilah served as regent of Iraq for their nephew king Faisal II, for whom she and especially her sister Abadiya bint Ali acted as mother figures. She married her relative Sharif al-Hussein bin

Ali Ali ibn Abi Talib (; ) was the fourth Rashidun caliph who ruled from until his assassination in 661, as well as the first Shia Imam. He was the cousin and son-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Born to Abu Talib ibn Abd al-Muttalib an ...

bin Abdullah bin Muhammad bin Abd al-Mu'in in 1950. In 1958, her brother, sister and the rest of the royal family were murdered in the massacre of the royal family during the

14 July Revolution The 14 July Revolution, also known as the 1958 Iraqi military coup, was a ''coup d'état'' that took place on 14 July 1958 in Iraq, resulting in the toppling of King Faisal II and the overthrow of the Hashemite-led Kingdom of Iraq. The Ira ...

. She herself was not killed because she had not been present in the Royal

Al-Rehab Palace The Al-Rehab Palace () was a palace in Baghdad, Iraq, constructed on the orders of King Faisal II. It was the private residence of the Iraqi royal family between 1937 and 1958, during the reign of Faisal II. History The palace was constructed ...

when the massacre took place. She sought refuge in the Saudi Embassy in Baghdad, who arranged a safe flight for her and her husband and sons to Cairo in Egypt. Afterwards, she and her family lived in exile; she settled in Switzerland and eventually in

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 ...

, the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. She died in London on May 9th, 2020 at the age of 100. Iraq's president

Barham Salih Barham Salih (; ; born 8 September 1960) is an Iraqi Kurdish politician who served as the eighth president of Iraq from 2018 to 2022. He is the former prime minister of the Kurdistan Region and a former deputy prime minister of the Iraqi feder ...

sent condolences to her now-deceased son

Sharif Ali bin al-Hussein Sharif Ali bin al-Hussein (; 1956 – 14 March 2022) was the leader of the Iraqi Constitutional Monarchy political party and claimed to be the legitimate heir to the position of King of Iraq, based on his relationship to the last monarch, the ...

, who was an advocate for reinstating the monarchy in Iraq as he considered himself to be the rightful heir to the throne. She published her memoirs, which provides a valuable insight into the life of the Iraqi royal family.

References

{{Authority control 20th-century Iraqi women 20th-century Iraqi people 1920 births 2020 deaths Princesses of Iraq Iraqi memoirists 20th-century memoirists Children of prime ministers