Idris of Libya

Idris, GBE (إدريس الأول), also known as King Idris I of Libya (born El Sayyid Prince Muhammad Idris bin Muhammad al-Mahdi as-Senussi 12 March 1889 – 25 May 1983), was the first and only king of Libya, reigning from 1951 to 1969, and the Chief of the Senussi Muslim order. While in Turkey for medical treatment, Idris was deposed in a 1969 coup d'etat by army officers led by Muammar Gaddafi.

Early life
Born at Al-Jaghbub, the headquarters of the Senussi movement, on 12 March 1889, the son of Sayyid Muhammad al-Mahdi bin Sayyid Muhammad al-Senussi and his third wife Aisha bint Muqarrib al-Barasa, Idris was a grandson of Sayyid Muhammad bin 'Ali as-Senussi, the founder of the Senussi Muslim Sufi order and the Senussi tribe in North Africa. His lineage is considered to be descendant of the Prophet Mohammed. He became Chief of the Senussi order in 1916 following the abdication of his cousin Sayyid Ahmed Sharif es Senussi. He was recognized by the British under the new title Emir of the territory of Cyrenaica, a position also confirmed by the Italians in 1920. He was also installed as Emir of Tripolitania on 28 July 1922.

Idris spent the early part of his career attempting to negotiate independence for Cyrenaica. In 1922, following the Italian military campaigns against Libya, he went into exile. Egypt then served as his base in a guerrilla war against the colonial Italian authorities.

World War II
During World War II, Idris supported the United Kingdom in the hope of ridding his country once and for all from Italian occupation and brought the Senussi tribe and the Cyrenaican nationalists to fight alongside the Allies against the Axis. The Senussi tribesmen provided the British 8th Army in North Africa with vital intelligence on German and Italian troop movements. With the defeat of the German and Italian forces led by Erwin Rommel, and with the help of the British Military Administration of Cyrenaica he was finally able to return to his capital, Benghazi, as Emir of Cyrenaica and form an official government. In 1946 King Idris was honoured and awarded the British Order of Grand Cross of the British Empire for his support in the defeat of German and Italian forces in North Africa during World War II.

King of Libya
With the help of the British Military Administration of Cyrenaica and the backing of London, Idris as-Senussi was rewarded for the help the Senussi tribe provided in ridding Libya of the Italian and German occupation and was proclaimed an independent Emirate of Cyrenaica in 1949. He was also invited to become Emir of Tripolitania, another of the three traditional regions that now constitute modern Libya (the third being Fezzan). By accepting he began the process of uniting Libya under a single monarchy. A constitution was enacted in 1949 and adopted in October 1951. A National Congress elected Idris as King of Libya, and as Idris I he proclaimed the independence of the United Kingdom of Libya as a sovereign state on 24 December 1951.

From Benghazi, Idris led the team negotiating over independence with the United Kingdom and the United Nations under UN special adviser to Libya Dutch born Adrian Pelt, which was achieved on 24 December 1951 with the proclamation of the federal United Libyan Kingdom with Idris as king. In 1963 the constitution was revised and the state became a unitary state as the Kingdom of Libya. Earl Mountbatten was a very close friend of King Idris and used to visit him in Libya often and stay at the Royal Palace. Both King Idris and Earl Mountbatten used to go together on excursion trips into the Sahara desert which Earl Mountbatten enjoyed.

Idris had the same principles that formed part of his Sufi heritage namely peaceful co-existence, tolerance and a live and let live philosophy of life that was also held by the likes of Gandhi and Nelson Mandela.

In 1955, failing to have produced a male heir, he convinced Fatima, his wife for 20 years, to let him marry a second wife, Aliya Abdel Lamloun, daughter of a wealthy Bedouin chief. The second marriage took place on 5 June 1955. Ironically both wives then became pregnant, and both bore him a son.

To the chagrin of Arab nationalists at home and supporters of Pan-Arabism in neighbouring states, Idris maintained close ties with the United Kingdom and the United States, even after the former intervened against Egypt during the 1956 Suez Crisis. Another threat to his kingdom was his failure to produce a surviving male heir to succeed to the throne. In 1956, Idris designated his brother's son, Prince Hasan as-Senussi, as the Black Prince or crown prince.

The economy prospered from its oil fields and the presence of the United States Air Force's Wheelus Air Base near Tripoli, but the king's health began to falter and the crown prince assumed a greater role in the government and from time to time acted as regent. On 4 August 1969, Idris signed an Instrument of Abdication in favour of Crown Prince Hasan as-Senussi, to take effect on 2 September that year.

Overthrow and exile
On 1 September 1969, while Idris was in Turkey for medical treatment, he was deposed in a coup d'état by a group of Libyan army officers under the leadership of Muammar Gaddafi. The monarchy was abolished and a republic proclaimed. The coup pre-empted Idris' abdication and the succession of his heir the following day. From Turkey, he and the queen travelled to Kamena Vourla, Greece, by ship and went into exile in Egypt. After the coup of 1969, Idris was placed on trial in absentia in the Libyan People's Court and sentenced to death in November 1971. Idris died at the Sultan Palace in Dokki, Cairo in 1983, aged 94. He was buried at Jannat al-Baqi, Medina, Saudi Arabia.



Libyan civil war
Although the king died in exile and most Libyans were born after his reign, during the Libyan civil war, many demonstrators opposing Colonel Gaddafi carried portraits of the king, especially in the traditional Sanussi stronghold of Cyrenaica. The tricolour flag used during the era of the monarchy was frequently used as a symbol of the revolution and was re-adopted by the National Transitional Council as the official flag of Libya.

Family
Idris married five times:


 * 1) At Kufra, 1896/1897, his cousin, Sayyida Aisha binti Sayyid Muhammad as-Sharif al-Sanussi (1873 Jaghbub – 1905 or 1907 Kufra), eldest daughter of Sayyid Muhammad as-Sharif bin Sayyid Muhammad al-Sanussi, by his fourth wife, Fatima, daughter of 'Umar bin Muhammad al-Ashhab, of Fezzan, by whom he had one son who died in infancy;
 * 2) At Kufra, 1907 (divorced 1922), his cousin, Sakina, daughter of Muhammad as-Sharif, by whom he had one son and one daughter, both of whom died in infancy;
 * 3) At Kufra, 1911 (divorced 1915), Nafisa, daughter of Ahmad Abu al-Qasim al-Isawi, by whom he had one son who died in infancy;
 * 4) At Siwa, Egypt, 1931, Sayyida Fatima al-Shi'fa binti Sayyid Ahmad as-Sharif al-Sanussi Fatima el-Sharif (1910 Kufra – 3 October 2009, Cairo, buried in Jannat al-Baqi, Medina, Saudi Arabia), fifth daughter of Field Marshal H.H. Sayyid Ahmad as-Sharif Pasha bin Sayyid Muhammad as-Sharif al-Sanussi, 3rd Grand Sanussi, by his second wife, Khadija, daughter of Ahmad al-Rifi, by whom he had one son who died in infancy;
 * 5) At the Libyan Embassy, Cairo, 6 June 1955 (divorced 20 May 1958), Aliya Khanum Effendi (1913 Guney, Egypt), daughter of Abdul-Qadir Lamlun Asadi Pasha.

For two short periods (1911–1922 and 1955–1958) Idris kept two wives, marrying his fifth wife with a view to providing a direct heir. Idris fathered five sons and one daughter, none of whom survived childhood. He and Queen Fatima adopted a daughter, Suleima, an Algerian orphan, who survived them.

Honours


King Idris was Grand Master of the following Libyan Orders:
 * 🇱🇾 Order of Idris I
 * 🇱🇾 High Order of Sayyid Muhammad ibn Ali al-Senussi
 * 🇱🇾 Order of Independence
 * 🇱🇾 Al-Senussi National Service Star
 * 🇱🇾 Al-Senussi Army Liberation Medal

He was a recipient of the following foreign honors:


 * Imperial Order of the House of Osman 1st class (Turkey) (1918)
 * Nobility (Nishan-i-Majidieh) 2nd class (Turkey) (1918)
 * 🇯🇴 Collar of the Order of Hussein ibn Ali (Jordan)
 * 🇬🇧 Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (1954 – KBE in 1946) (United Kingdom)
 * 🇲🇦 Collar of the Order of Muhammadiya (Morocco)
 * 🇪🇬 Grand Cordon of the Order of the Nile (Egypt)
 * 🇫🇷 Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour (France)
 * 🇹🇳 Grand Cordon of the Order of Independence (Tunisia)
 * 🇱🇧 Grand Cordon of the National Order of the Cedar (Lebanon)
 * 🇮🇹 Grand Cross of the Order of Merit (Italy)
 * Grand Cross of the Order of the Redeemer (Greece)