The future Princess Fadila of Egypt was born Dominique-France Loeb-Picard on born 23 November 1948 as the daughter of David-Robert Loeb and Paule-Madeleine Picard in Paris, France.
Not much is known about her life before she met the deposed King Fuad II of Egypt. He had reigned briefly as King of Egypt as an infant, and he had never been crowned.
They were married in a civil ceremony on 16 April 1976 in Paris, followed by a religious ceremony in Monaco on 5 October 1977. She wore a dress designed by Jean-Louis Scherrer. She was recognised as Her Majesty Queen Fadila of Egypt by royalists and converted to Islam. The couple went on to have three children together: Muhammad Ali, Prince of the Sa’id (born 1979), Princess Fawzia-Latifa (born 1982) and Prince Fakhruddin (born 1987).
The family lived in Paris until the marriage ended in divorce in 1996. Fadila was styled as Princess Fadila of Egypt after their divorce, and Fuad became estranged from his children for several years. While Fadila divided her time between Paris and Monaco, Fuad moved to Switzerland to be near his half-sisters (Princess Ferial, Princess Fawzia and Princess Fadia of Egypt).
Since the divorce, Fadila has faced some financial difficulties and claimed her problems began when her ex-husband refused to follow a court order to pay her an allowance of £750 a month. “He accused me of being lazy and wasteful, but that’s not true,” she said. “I believe he’s sitting on a secret fortune. Stories that he is suffering from severe depression because I ruined him are nonsense.”
“I have no money at all,” she said. “My only income is handouts from Saudi and Moroccan princes and kings. I think there’s something very odd about the sale, a sort of plot if you like. After all, this is really the official residence of Egypt’s royal family.”1 The forced sale of her apartment in Paris took place in 2002.
She appears to have gotten back on her feet, and she regularly attends society events in both France and Monaco, also alongside her children. Through her three children, she currently has four grandchildren.
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