Abbas
Hilmi Pasha or Abbas II (July 14, 1874
– 1944) was the last khedive of
Egypt (January 8, 1892 – 1914).
Abbas Hilmi Pasha was the great-great-grandson
of Mehmet Ali. He succeeded his father,
Tewfik Pasha, as khedive of Egypt. When
a boy he visited England, and he had an
English tutor for some time in Cairo.
He then went to school in Lausanne, and
from there passed on to the Theresianum
in Vienna. In addition to Turkish, his
mother tongue, he acquired fluency in
Arabic, and a good conversational knowledge
of English, French and German. He was
still at college in Vienna when the sudden
death of his father raised him to the
Khedivate; and he was barely of age according
to Turkish law, which fixes majority at
eighteen in cases of succession to the
throne. For some time he did not cooperate
very cordially with Great Britain. He
was young and eager to exercise his new
power.
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