Portrait of Faisal II

Birthday profile

Faisal II

Faisal II of Iraq, the last King of Iraq (died 1958)

Born
May 2, 1935
Died
July 14, 1958
Zodiac sign
Taurus
Birth year
1935

About Faisal II

Faisal II (Arabic: الملك فيصل الثاني, romanized: al-Malik Fayṣal al-thānī; 2 May 1935 – 14 July 1958) was the last King of Iraq. He reigned from 4 April 1939 until July 1958, when he was killed during the 14 July Revolution. This regicide marked the end of the thirty-seven-year-old Hashemite monarchy in Iraq, which then became a republic. The only son of King Ghazi and Queen Aliya of Iraq, Faisal acceded to the throne at the age of three after his father was killed in a car crash. A regency was set up under his uncle Prince 'Abd al-Ilah. In 1941, a pro-Axis coup d'état overthrew the regent. The British responded by initiating an invasion of Iraq a month later and restored 'Abd al-Ilah to power. During the Second World War, Faisal was evacuated along with his mother to the United Kingdom. There, he attended Harrow School alongside his cousin Hussein, the future King of Jordan. The regency ended in May 1953 when Faisal came of age. The overthrow of the Egyptian monarchy in 1952 and the formation of the United Arab Republic in February 1958 only provided impetuses to ideas of a revolution. The Hashemite Arab Federation was formed between Iraq and Jordan in February 1958 with Faisal as its head, which did not quell widespread opposition. In July 1958, a group of Royal Iraqi Army officers led by Abdul-Karim Qasim mounted a coup d'état and overthrew the monarchy. Faisal was executed along with numerous members of his family in the process at the Al-Rehab Palace massacre on 14 July, 1958. Faisal's father was killed in a mysterious car crash when he was three years old; his father’s first cousin, Prince 'Abd al-Ilah, served as regent until Faisal came of age in 1953. Faisal also created the semiautonomous Development Board which consisted of six members including a foreign advisor with the goal of improving living conditions and construction.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

The world when Faisal II was born

Faisal II was born in 1935. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1935

  • #1 song"Cheek to Cheek" – Fred Astaire
  • Top movieMutiny on the Bounty
  • Best-selling bookGreen Light - Lloyd C. Douglas

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentJesse Owens sets 3 world records in 45 minutes at Big Ten meet
  • Top headlineSocial Security Act signed into law by FDR
  • Technology milestoneRadar first demonstrated
  • Defining fadMonopoly officially released by Parker Brothers
  • Notable inventionBeer in cans
  • World population2.23 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderFranklin D. Roosevelt
  • Sports championDetroit Tigers (World Series)
  • U.S. population127.3M

1935 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Faisal II's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19352026
Gas$0.19$3.45/gal
Average home$5,000$435,000
Average income$2,700$67,500
Minimum wage$0.25$7.25/hr (federal)
Movie ticket$0.25$11.95
Postage stamp$0.03$0.73
Population127.3M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Library of Congress, Wikidata. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.