Youssef Zulficar Pasha

Who is Youssef Zulficar Pasha?

Youssef Zulficar Pasha was an Egyptian judge. He was the father of Queen Farida of Egypt and thus father-in-law of King Farouk I.

Youssef Zulficar belonged to a prominent family of Turko-Circassian origin whose ancestors came to Egypt with viceroy Muhammad Ali Pasha at the beginning of the 19th century, and who went on to become part of the country's aristocracy. He was the grandson of Youssef Bey Rasmi, commander of the Egyptian armies in the Abyssinian and Russian Wars. His father was Ali Zulficar, a former Governor of Cairo. Youssef Zulficar obtained a law degree from the Khedivial School in Cairo and entered the judiciary. He became vice-president of the Alexandria Mixed Court of Appeal.

Zulficar married Zeinab Sa'id, the daughter of former Prime Minister Muhammad Sa'id Pasha and sister of renowned artist Mahmoud Sa'id. Zeinab served as lady-in-waiting to Queen Nazli. Zulficar and Zeinab had a daughter, Safinaz, as well as two sons, Muhammad Sa'id and Sherif. After her son Farouk ascended the throne as King of Egypt, Queen Nazli urged him to take Zulficar's daughter Safinaz as his wife. Although Zulficar was wary at the prospect of his daughter becoming part of the royal family and feared the outcome of the marriage, the wedding eventually took place. Safinaz became Queen of Egypt and changed her name to Farida when she married King Farouk I on 20 February 1938. Farouk conferred upon Zulficar the nobiliary title of Pasha on 25 August 1937, six months before the wedding ceremony. Upon his daughter's marriage, Zulficar received from the Royal Chamberlain an envelope containing a cheque for 10,000,000 Egyptian piastres, half of the royal dowry.