Nazlı Sabri (25 June 1894, Alexandria – 1978, California) was a member of the Egyptian royal family who served as Queen of Egypt from 1922 to 1936 as the wife of King Fuad I and later held the title of Queen Mother during the reign of her son, King Farouk.

Nazlı Sabri was born on 25 June 1894 in Alexandria as a member of the Sabri family, one of Egypt’s leading aristocratic households. Her father, Abdur Rahim Sabri Pasha, was a statesman who served as Minister of Agriculture and Governor of Cairo. Her mother, Tawfika Hanım Sharif, was the daughter of prominent statesman Muhammad Cherif Pasha and French-descended Nazli al-Faransawi.

On her mother’s side, her paternal grandfather, Muhammad Cherif Pasha, served four terms as Prime Minister of Egypt and played a key role in drafting the country’s first constitution. Her paternal grandmother, Nazli al-Faransawi, was the daughter of French-born Joseph Anthelme Sève, who served in the Egyptian army and was known as Süleyman Paşa el-Faransawi. Through these connections, Nazlı was raised within a circle closely tied to Egypt’s 19th-century political and military elite. Among her siblings were Eminah Abdel Rehim Sabry, Sherif Sabri Pasha, and Hussein Abdel Rehim Sabry.

Nazlı began her education at the Lycée de la Mère de Dieu in Cairo and continued at Notre Dame de Sion in Alexandria. After her mother Tawfika Hanım’s death on 24 October 1915, her father sent the 21-year-old Nazlı and her seven-year-old sister Eminah to Paris for approximately two years.

Upon returning to Egypt, Nazlı was married to her Turkish cousin Halil Sabri. However, this marriage lasted only eleven months and ended in divorce. After the divorce, Nazlı moved into the home of Safiya Zaghloul, the wife of her mother’s close friend and revolutionary leader Saad Zaghloul. There she met Safiya’s nephew, Saeed Zaghloul; however, their relationship ended when Saeed was exiled alongside his uncle Saad Zaghloul during the 1919 Revolution.

In 1919, during an opera evening, the Sultan of Egypt, Ahmed Fuad, met Nazlı and soon proposed marriage. The couple married in a ceremony held at Bustan Palace in Cairo. At the time of their marriage, Fuad was 51 and Nazlı was 24.^【1】

After their marriage, Nazlı moved into the harem section of the Saffron (Zaferan) Palace in Abbasiya, where Fuad was born. Due to Fuad’s traditional preference for a male heir, Nazlı’s life within the palace was largely restricted. On 11 February 1920, her son Farouk was born at Abdeen Palace. In 1922, with the declaration of Egypt’s independence and Fuad’s assumption of the title of King, Nazlı became Queen of Egypt.

The couple had four additional daughters after Farouk: Fawzia (1921), Faiza (1923), Faiqa (1926), and Fathiya (1930). Throughout most of Fuad’s reign, Nazlı lived a confined life within the palace, permitted only to attend opera performances, flower exhibitions, and cultural events for women. In 1924 she attended the opening ceremony of Parliament from a special section; in 1927 she accompanied Fuad on part of his European tour and was warmly received in France due to her French heritage.^【2】

Upon King Fuad’s death in 1936, the 16-year-old heir Farouk became King of Egypt and Nazlı assumed the title of Queen Mother. Ahmed Hassanein Pasha, who had accompanied Farouk during his education in England, became Nazlı’s chamberlain, administrator of the harem at Abdeen Palace, and advisor to the young king. Nazlı’s brother, Sherif Sabri Pasha, was appointed to the three-member Regency Council established during Farouk’s minority.

In 1939, Nazlı’s eldest daughter, Princess Fawzia, married the Crown Prince of Iran, Muhammad Reza Pahlavi, in a ceremony held at Abdeen Palace. Although Nazlı opposed the marriage, believing Egypt’s status to be superior to Iran’s, her views were disregarded.

In 1942, Nazlı secretly married Ahmed Hassanein Pasha, Chief of the Royal Cabinet, in a ceremony conducted by Sheikh Mustafa al-Maraghi of Al-Azhar. Hassanein Pasha died on 19 February 1946 after a collision with a British military vehicle. Following Hassanein’s death, Queen Mother Nazlı left Egypt for the United States to receive treatment for a kidney condition.

After settling in the United States, Nazlı’s relationship with her son Farouk deteriorated due to certain connections she maintained in Egypt. Nazlı spent the remainder of her life in the United States and died in California in 1978. She was buried as a Catholic.

On 27 August 2026, a 200-carat platinum and diamond necklace designed for the Egyptian royal family was stolen from the Museum of Applied Arts (MAK) in Vienna, Austria, during a Van Cleef & Arpels exhibition. The necklace, composed of 673 precious stones, had been worn by Nazlı Sabri in 1939 at the wedding of her daughter Princess Fawzia to the future Shah of Iran, Muhammad Reza Pahlavi. The necklace had been sold by Sotheby’s in New York in 2015 for $4.3 million.^【3】

According to Austrian police, two individuals entered the museum with tickets, smashed a display case with a hammer, seized the necklace, and fled. The exhibition was closed following the theft and an investigation into the incident was launched.^【4】