Farouk and Irma Capece Minutolo in 1963
SEX LIFE: At 18 Farouk fell in love with and married pretty 17-year-old Safinez Zulficar, whose name he legally changed to Farida (“The Only One”). Within a few years he began having other women and made no effort to hide the fact. By creating for himself an image as an insatiable lover, Farouk successfully hid from his subjects the embarrassing truth that he had underdeveloped genitals and a low sex drive.
He began each day with a banquet of not only eggs but countless dishes of meat and fish, and he swilled soda pop by the gallon, but his inevitable obesity was forgivable. It was even considered admirable for the 6-ft.-tall ruler to weigh in at 300 lb. A lack of virility, however, was another matter. Though he began having bouts of impotence at 23, he attempted sexual intercourse with an estimated 5,000 women in his lifetime. He consulted hormone specialists and hunted for aphrodisiacs, trying amphetamines, hashish mixed with honey, and caffeine pills, stopping only at powdered rhinoceros horn. While pelting other guests at nightclubs and gambling casinos with spitballs, he flirted with desirable women. Those who resisted his invitations were captured and deposited in “harems” at any one of his five palaces. He often coveted married women and tried to blackmail them into divorcing their husbands. He flaunted women in front of his wife; girls would, according to biographer Hugh McLeave, “scamper up the backstairs and make merry with the king until sunrise.” None of those who became his mistress stayed long.
After nearly 11 years of marriage and three daughters—but no son—Farouk divorced the estranged Farida. According to rumor, Farida asked him to go ahead with the divorce after a French opera singer was seen leaving Farouk’s bedchamber one night. In a futile attempt to regain the affection of the Egyptian people, he later married a commoner, Narriman Sadek, a 16-year-old who reminded him of another woman he had once desired. Narriman went with him into exile in Italy in 1952, but she returned to Egypt and obtained a Muslim divorce in 1954. Faruk established himself in Rome, settling into the role of European playboy on a dwindling fortune. There he met aspiring 18-year-old actress Irma Capece Minutolo when she appeared in a beauty contest. She lost the contest, but as a consolation prize Farouk took her under his wing. He paid for her singing lessons and moved her into his apartment building. Irma remained his friend until his death, but his infatuation did not prevent him from prowling the cabarets of Rome in a constant search for additional female companionship. Farouk died at age 45, after a night of sheer gluttony at his favorite restaurant. It was a fitting end.
—J.H.
The Lady-Killer
HENRY VIII (June 28, 1491-Jan. 28, 1547)
HIS FAME: The king of England from 1509 to 1547, Henry VIII is known for having had one of the most dramatic reigns in British history, during which he married six women and divorced or beheaded four of them. The divorce from his first wife necessitated severing the English church from Roman papal authority, which brought about the Reformation and changed the course of history.
HIS PERSON: The second son of Henry VII, Henry Tudor was blessed with magnificent looks. He was 6 ft. tall, fair, and powerfully built, and he had a formidable mind. In his teens he became the embodiment of the Renaissance man, excelling not only at tennis and jousting but also in music, art, philosophy, and other scholarly pursuits. Foreign ambassadors vied with native eulogists in praising his auburn hair, his golden beard, his “extremely excellent calf.” He loved dancing and feasting, pageantry and fine dress. Sir Thomas More said of him that he “has more learning than any English monarch ever possessed before him,” and asked, “What may we not expect from a king who has been nourished by philosophy and the nine muses?”
Henry, however, was also self-righteous, willful, and temperamental. During the first 20 years of his reign he drained the royal coffers to finance court entertainment and warfare. (He more than replenished them later when he broke off religious contact with Rome and confiscated the wealth of the monasteries.) Toward the end of his life he developed syphilitic leg ulcers, which prevented him from taking any physical exercise. The man who could tire four or more horses in a day and was considered the leading athlete in the nation became an obese, piglike man who walked with a limp and had to have his legs, of which he had been so proud, constantly bandaged. This affliction, plus repeated disappointments in love, turned Henry into an irascible and unpredictable monarch. Weakened by a number of illnesses, including malaria and alcoholism, he died at 55. Despite his failings, he left England a stronger, more unified kingdom than it had ever been, and he is remembered as one of its greatest rulers.
LOVE LIFE: At 12 Henry was betrothed to Catherine of Aragon, who was the 18-year-old widow of his brother Arthur. (They had been married six months when Arthur died.) But Henry did not wed Catherine until his succession to the throne two months before his 18th birthday. His first sexual experiences were with peasant girls when he was 16. Six weeks after he was crowned, Henry married Catherine, who wore white to show the world that, though she and Arthur had been briefly married, she was still a virgin and fit, therefore, to be Henry’s wife.
When Catherine was young, she was quite beautiful. The daughter of King Ferdinand of Spain, she was dainty and graceful, loved to dance, and dressed in bold, bright colors. She was also Henry’s intellectual equal. She taught him Spanish and decided to learn English herself. Henry loved her with the ardor of first love. He linked her initials with his in the royal monograms, wore her colors at tournaments, and ran to her with every new happening, saying, “The queen must hear of this!” or “This will please the queen!”
But soon Catherine’s troubles began. Her first child, a girl, was stillborn; then a son died shortly after birth. Henry grieved, especially over the son, but soon turned his attentions toward consoling his wife. A second son was stillborn; a third was born prematurely and died. Finally Catherine gave birth to a healthy baby daughter, Mary, who would one day become Queen Mary Tudor. Despite his disappointment at the child’s gender, Henry was delighted to be a father at last, saying, “If it is a daughter this time, by the grace of God the sons will follow.” But during the next three years Catherine had two more miscarriages and another stillbirth; then, at 35, she stopped conceiving.
So much childbearing took its toll on Catherine’s appearance; her figure had thickened and her face had a heavy look. Henry, at 25, was in the prime of life and had begun an affair with 17-year-old Elizabeth Blount, one of Catherine’s ladies-in-waiting. Henry was ecstatic to have a young lover, and England was never so tranquil as when he carried on with his “Bessie.” Six months after Catherine’s last baby, Elizabeth gave birth to a male child, who was christened Henry Fitzroy and taken away to be raised in semiroyal privacy as the Duke of Richmond. He died in 1536.
When Henry stopped seeing Elizabeth, he began an affair with Mary Boleyn, daughter of Sir Thomas Boleyn and Lady Elizabeth Howard. Mary, at 18, had just returned from the French court, where she had lost everything but her heart for loving. Two years later, her sister Anne, aged 15, also returned from that court and became one of Catherine’s ladies-in-waiting. During the next four years, while Henry slept with Mary, Anne fell in love with a young courtier named Sir Henry Percy, who was banished from court soon after the king became infatuated with Anne. As Anne reached her 19th year, Henry realized that he was in love with her.
Anne Boleyn was not beautiful but she was bewitching. She was small, with long dark hair and fiery eyes, and she was said to have three breasts. Anne had become sophisticated at the French court and had been hardened by her heartbreak over Sir Henry Percy. Moreover, she had learned by her sister’s example. Anne refused to become Henry’s mistress and thereby changed the course of history. Henry decided that he must have a divorce.
Henry’s self-righteousness would not allow him to admit that he wanted to exchange his old, worn-out wife for a new one. Instead, he quoted the Bible: “If a man shall take his brother’s wife, it is impurity; he hath uncovered his brother’s nakedness; the
y shall be childless.” He informed Catherine that for the last 20 years they had been living in sin. Catherine, who loved Henry, insisted that she was a virgin when she married him and would not agree to a divorce. Henry waited unsuccessfully for the pope to approve his divorce, which would insure the legitimacy of his future issue in the eyes of the English people. “The king’s great matter,” as it came to be called, dragged on for six years, while Anne held Henry at bay.
Finally, Henry divorced the English Church from Roman Catholicism, making himself head of both Church and State. He married Anne Boleyn, who had at last become his mistress and was pregnant. The English people would not accept Anne as queen—their loyalty remained with Catherine—and a reign of terror began, in which anyone who opposed Henry’s marriage or his being the sovereign ruler of both Church and State was tortured and burned, drawn and quartered, or boiled to death.
As Henry’s wife, Anne began to show the sharper edges of her tyrannical nature. Henry was soon advising her to “wear the bridle of reason.” When Anne’s first child was a daughter, Henry was bitterly disappointed. If his first wife had not been a good “broodmare,” Anne apparently was no better. Three miscarriages and one stillborn son later, Henry was through with her. Five men—including her own brother—were accused of having had sex with the queen (they were all, in fact, innocent), and all five were sent to the block along with Anne. Anne would not be blindfolded, and the executioner found her eyes so disarming that he had someone distract her while he took off his shoes and stole up beside her to cut off her head.
For some time Henry had had his eye on Jane Seymour, one of Anne’s ladies-in-waiting. Jane was as plain as Anne had been sparkling. She was simple, sweet, and good-natured, and her submissive ways greatly appealed to Henry after Anne’s domineering nature. They married, and Jane gave birth to a boy, later to become Edward VI, but she herself died soon afterward. Henry was devastated. Of the four wives whom he outlived, Jane was the only one for whom he wore black.
Within a few years Henry wanted to make Germany an ally and therefore began to look for a German bride. Anne of Cleves was one prospect. Holbein painted a flattering portrait of her, and Cromwell, Henry’s chief administrator, recommended her heartily. By the time she arrived from Germany, Henry was lusty for love; he traveled, laden with presents, to meet her boat. When he saw this Anne, he was immediately repulsed by her appearance. She was tall and spoke a guttural German, and her face was pitted from smallpox. Though they went through with the marriage, it was never consummated. When Henry asked Anne to resign her title, she was so relieved that she wasn’t going to be beheaded that she instantly agreed.
Meanwhile Henry had become taken with yet another lady-in-waiting. Catherine Howard was the most beautiful of Henry’s wives. At 18 she was fair, slender, merry, and light on her feet, and her pretty, tinkling laughter was often heard echoing down the castle halls. When her uncle informed her that she was to marry Henry, Catherine protested that she was in love with Thomas Culpeper, who happened to be the king’s favorite courtier. Her uncle convinced her, however, that her personal wishes did not matter. Her fate had already been decided, and besides, she owed it to her family.
Henry felt that he was in love for the first time. At 50 he was having an Indian summer, and his lust for Catherine was insatiable. He caressed her in public much more than he had his other wives; in fact, he could not keep his hands off her. Catherine was his “rose without a thorn.” He did his best to be her gallant bridegroom.
Catherine tried to please Henry. She avoided Culpeper as best she could, while poor Tom, as the king’s favorite, was often called to his bedside when he was not with Catherine; there Henry would recall the joys he had shared with his fresh, young wife in excruciating detail. But soon rumors began circulating about Catherine. Henry’s archbishop discovered that as a teenager she had been rather wild, had even been sexually involved with one of the boys who would pay nightly visits to her boarding school. Henry laughed it off at first. But when the court began to pour forth its evidence, he aged before their eyes. He cried in public for the first time. Wanting desperately to find a way to overlook Catherine’s premarital indiscretions, he prolonged her life. But when it was discovered that she was currently in love with Thomas Culpeper, he flew into a rage. Catherine, her former lover, and Culpeper were all executed. Before the block Catherine announced: “I die a queen. But I would rather die the wife of Thomas Culpeper.” She was buried near Anne Boleyn, her cousin.
His last tangle with romantic love had left Henry a very old and broken man. He had given Catherine his all, only to discover that she had never really let him into her heart. She was the first woman for whom he had not come first. But a year and a half later fortune smiled on him again in the form of yet another Catherine. Catherine Parr had a long hooked nose, a short neck, a respectable body, and a well-shaped, even ardent mouth. At 31 she had been widowed twice. She was cultured, graceful, and tactful. When, in 1543, Henry proposed marriage, she let out a shriek, saying that it would be better to be his mistress. But she soon took pity on the aging monarch, and pity developed into warm affection. She was a patient nurse for him in his old age, when Henry had grown fat and needed constant care. They were married for four years before Henry succumbed to his many illnesses. Though he had loved his last Catherine well, he asked to be buried next to Jane Seymour, “the woman who died in order to give me a son.”
—J.H.
Muhammadan Heaven
KING ABDUL-AZIZ IBN-SAUD OF SAUDI ARABIA (1880?-Nov. 9, 1953)
HIS FAME: Known as the King of the Desert, this magnetic charmer was the first leader to succeed in uniting all the warring nomadic tribes and sects of Arabia. In 1932 he bestowed his family name on the new nation, calling it Saudi Arabia and proclaiming himself its absolute ruler. The following year he flung open the doors of his desert kingdom and admitted Western developers, who rushed in to tap the lakes of oil beneath the Saudi sands. During his lifetime, while sharing 50-50 with his new friends, Ibn-Saud—whose official car had been a battered Studebaker—saw his personal income catapulted to a dizzying $2.5 million weekly. This sum provided tidily for his innumerable wives, concubines, slaves, and children.
HIS PERSON: The Sauds had ruled much of Arabia for 100 years, but soon after Ibn-Saud’s birth the family was ousted from power by their rivals, the Rashids, and the future king spent his youth as an impoverished exile in Kuwait. During these refugee years, Ibn-Saud’s father toughened the boy for desert fighting, ordering him to ride untamed horses bareback and forcing him to exercise every midday by walking barefoot over scorching rocks and sand. At 20 Ibn-Saud was pronounced groomed for revenge against the Rashids. He was 6 ft. 4 in., lean and muscular, and thirsty for battle. One black night, accompanied by 40 camel-borne men, he sneaked into his father’s former capital of Riyadh, shot the governor, and occupied the castle. Overjoyed, onetime followers of the Saud dynasty rallied to him, as did nomadic tribesmen and religious leaders. It took him only two years to recapture half of Arabia. Subsequent battles eliminated remaining rivals, and Arabia became his. Ibn-Saud promptly proclaimed himself king and renounced further conquest. The arrival of oil revenue, and the problem of spending it, bewildered him. He regarded this income as his own, built no schools because he believed all learning was in the Koran, and no hospitals because Saudi Arabia had no doctors. Instead he acquired a stable of 500 luxury automobiles (one a green Rolls-Royce from Winston Churchill complete with a sterling silver ablution bowl), a trailer furnished like a throne room, and a fleet of airplanes.
Ibn-Saud’s devotion to his Islamic faith was total. Five times daily he humbly bowed toward Mecca and prayed. He did not drink, smoke, gamble, or view motion pictures. And in rigid observance of the Koran, he never permitted himself more than four wives at a time.
The standards he set for his sons were equally puritanical. When the oilmen introduced alcohol to the country, he was appalled. After one of his sons embarked on a drunken binge, his f
ather had him publicly flogged. Another son, following a night of boozy revelry that had seen him ousted from the British vice-consul’s home, reappeared at his host’s residence demanding an English girl for his collection. When his request was refused, the young prince shot the consul dead. Ibn-Saud promptly ordered his son’s arrest and invited the bereaved consul’s widow to choose the method of execution, throwing in a promise that the prince’s head would be stuck on a pike outside the British embassy. The widow declined the privilege, whereupon the sorrowful father sentenced his son to prison and commanded that he receive 20 lashes monthly. Dismayed by his sons’ behavior, Ibn-Saud banished alcohol, and Saudia Arabia remains a dry country to this day.
King Ibn-Saud with two of his more than 100 children
SEX LIFE: By the grace of Allah—who had spoken through the prophet Muhammad—Ibn-Saud enjoyed sanctioned polygamy. By murmuring “I divorce thee” three times, he created frequent vacancies in his harem, always discarding one wife before a journey in anticipation of replacing her with a new discovery while on the road. He was forgivably vain about his sexuality. Aided by close to 200 wives, he fathered 44 legitimate sons. He is thought to have had 64 daughters, but the figure may be inexact since no one bothered to count girls. Sometimes new brides were chosen by emissaries. Brought to him veiled, they were taken immediately to the bridal chamber. If they displeased the king, they were divorced on the spot and sent away—still veiled.
The Intimate Sex Lives of Famous People Page 45