12. The Pickpocket King
Farouk I of Egypt (1920 – 1965) was king from 1936 until his overthrow in a military coup in 1952. His reign was marked by corruption, incompetence, and bizarre behavior that seemed extra crazy coming from a crowned monarch. Among other things, Farouk was a kleptomaniac. Not just in the figurative sense, as in a ruler who robbed his people blind – although Farouk fit the bill quite well on that front. This king was also a kleptomaniac in the literal sense, in that he could not resist stealing things and picking people’s pockets.
Farouk was popular early in his reign, when he ascended the throne as a slim and handsome young man. He quickly squandered that goodwill with his poor governance, and ruined his good looks with gluttony that saw him balloon to 300 pounds. That made him an object of derision, and he was often described as a “stomach with a head”. His lavish lifestyle during the hardships of WWII further eroded his public standing. Farouk liked stealing things, and he took pick pocketing lessons from a convict whom he pardoned in exchange for teaching him how to lift things. As seen below, Farouk’s victims included Winston Churchill.