Thus, in a memorandum of 2 August 1942 to Marshall Pétain presented by his Grand Vizier Hédi Lakhoua he reaffirmed his belief in Tunisian sovereignty, undiminished by the French protectorate.

[4] On 12 October 1942 at the Eid al-Fitr ceremonies in the palace of La Marsa, Moncef Bey expressed his surprise that there was not a single Tunisian among the senior government personnel who were attending with the French Resident General, Admiral Jean-Pierre Esteva.

Esteva replied 'seuls les Français sont aptes aux postes de commande' ('only the French are suited to positions of authority').

Moncef Bey was confronted by demands from Pétain to remain loyal to France and from Roosevelt to allow free passage for Allied troops.

[5] Chenik headed a government which included the Destourian Salah Farhat, the neo-destourian Mahmoud El Materi and an independent, Aziz Djellouli.

When Allied troops occupied Tunis, the French colonial lobby around Henri Giraud, including the former Resident General and Vichy minister Marcel Peyrouton, found a pretext to accuse the Bey of collaborating with Axis forces.

[10] He married Lalla Traki Beya, daughter of Muhammad IV al-Hadi (and thus his second cousin)[1] in October 1900 in Sidi Bou Saïd.