In 1944, Idris as-Senussi returned from exile in Cairo but declined to resume permanent residence in Cyrenaica until the removal in 1947 of some aspects of foreign control.

Under the terms of the 1947 peace treaty with the Allies, Italy, which hoped to maintain the colony of Tripolitania and France, which wanted the Fezzan, relinquished all claims to Libya.

Disposition of Italian colonial holdings was a question that had to be considered before the peace treaty officially ending the war with Italy could be completed.

The Soviet Union proposed separate provincial trusteeships, claiming Tripolitania for itself and assigning Fezzan to France and Cyrenaica to Britain.

In 1951, with representatives from Cyrenaica, Tripolitania and Fezzan declaring a union and with the country being called the United Kingdom of Libya, Idris was offered the crown.