IRAK: Pro-British Betrothal

When Irak’s lean King Feisal died last month (TIME, Sept. 18), he bequeathed to his son Ghazi a political juggling act: a circle of Moslem advisers nicely balanced between Anglophiles and Anglophobes. He bequeathed, too, his brother and personal adviser, that AH ibn Hussein who was King of the Hejaz for a year (1924-25) after his father Hussein abdicated and before Ibn Saud drove him out. Among the Arab clique; who stalk between the slender pillars of the King’s Palace in Bagdad, Ali is rated an Anglophile. Against him are the Finance Minister, the Army Commander and the leaders of the Arab Nationalist Party who hate Irak’s alliance with Britain.

His courtiers closely watched 21-year-old Ghazi I to see whether he had the will and the talent for juggling. He had been raised by a British governess, had worn Eton suits in Bagdad, played tennis. Mistrustful Arabs hawked wild rumors last month through Irak that he planned to marry a British woman. Last week King Ghazi ended that by stepping into his Throne Room before the members of his family and his Cabinet and betrothing himself to Adviser Ali’s second daughter, his own first cousin, Princess Alija. Since she had lived all her life behind a veil, all Ghazi knew of his fiancee was that she was 22 and “reported to be very beautiful.” The Government announced that King Feisal, dead last week only eleven days, had wanted the betrothal. Observers agreed that King Ghazi’s quick choice of the daughter of his pro-British uncle meant that he will continue to count on the support of Britain which held his Kingdom as a mandate until last year when Irak achieved independence (TIME. Oct. 17).