Ghazi of Iraq

Ghazi ibn Faisal (Arabic: غَازِيّ إبْنِ فَيْصَل, romanized: Gâzî ibn-i Faysal) (21 March 1912 – 4 April 1939) was King of Iraq from 1933 to 1939 having been briefly Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Syria in 1920.

He was born when his father was leading a campaign in 'Asir against Muhammad ibn Ali al-Idrisi of 'Asir; so he was named Ghazi (meaning warrior due to this campaign,[3] In his childhood, Ghazi was left with his grandfather, Hussein bin Ali, the Hashemite Grand Sharif of Mecca and head of the royal house of Hashim, who called Ghazi "Awn" after his great-grandfather Awn bin Muhsin,[3] while his father was occupied with travel and in military campaigns against the Ottomans.

The Hashemites had ruled the Hijaz within the Ottoman Empire before rebelling with British assistance in the later stages of World War I.

In the same year, Ghazi joined his father in Baghdad and was appointed as crown prince and heir to the Kingdom of Iraq.

A staunch pan-Arab nationalist, opposed to British interests in his country,[6] Ghazi's reign was characterised by tensions between civilians and the army, which sought control of the government.

[7] According to the scholars Ma'ruf al-Rusafi and Safa Khulusi, a common view by many Iraqis at the time was that he was killed on the orders of Nuri al-Said, because of his plans for the unification of Iraq with Kuwait.

British sources wrote in 1938 that King Ghazi's bad reputation was tarnished "further" when a "Negro youth", who was employed at the palace, died by "accidentally" discharging his revolver when he didn't remove it before his afternoon siesta.

The then Crown Prince Ghazi of Iraq in 1927 (centre of the front row)
King Ghazi postage from 1949
Ghazi's vehicle after accident.