Order of the Crown of Tunisia

[oamotme]

Gentlemen,

I recenty obtained a copy of Burke's Royal Families of the World, Volume II, Africa & the Middle East - published in 1980. In the chapter on Tunisia under the reference to Bey Muhammmad Al Amine (Lamine) Bin Muhammad Al Habib 1943-1957, who abdicated 24 July 1957 it notes that he "founded the Order of the Crown of Tunisia (never awarded)". He was succeeded by Husayn En Nasr who assumed the title of King of the Tunisians and who abdicated the following day, 25 July, due to ill health in favour of his young son Rechad Al Mahdi (b.1947) who was crowned 23 August and left Tunisia without having abdicated on 12 October 1957. President Bourgiba had proclaimed the abolition of the monarchy on 25 July 1957.

I write to enquire if any member has seen any other references to this Order of the Crown?

Kind regards,

Owain

[Megan]

Apart from it having been instituted in 1956 by King Muhammad al-Amin, not really... supposedly had 5 classes: Grand Cordon, Grand Officer, Commander, Officer and Knight. No clue as to design or ribbon colours, or even if they got that far!

The Arabic name is نيشان التاج التونسي

Information other than that is sparse. It is mentioned in the Dutch-language version of Wikipedia, but without references, and in the French-language Wikipedia referencing the Dutch version!

[oamotme]

Megan,

Thanks for this additional detail. According to my source Muhammad Al Amine's title upon his accession in 1943 was "Bey and Possessor of the Kingdom of Tunis" (this title was of long standing and dated back to Husayn Bin Ali 1705-1735), and upon Tunisia gaining independence in 1956 it became a Kingdom, however the title change from Bey to King would only take effect upon the death or abdication of Muhammad Al Amine, and thus it was his successor Husayn En Nasr who assumed, for a day, the title King of the Tunisians. Independence from France was proclaimed 20 March and the Republic proclaimed on 25 July, thus the institution of the new order must date from this period. Somewhere I am sure there must be a decree.........I wonder if Arthus Bertrand were contacted to produce designs?

Regards,

Owain

[922F]

Material regarding an Order of the Crown of Tunisia did not surface in the course of a 3 hour long briefing at the Tunisian Ministry of Information [with participation by a senior secretary of the Tunisian Orders Chancery] conducted in 1972 although documention on all other Beyical orders was freely and generously provided.

In 1979, Colonel Guyadier reported [maybe in Sabretache?] that a pretender to the throne, Rechad Al Mahdi, awarded the Order of Glory and the Order of the Crown to his [financial] supporters. Don't recall any further information. Most authorities opine that Rechad Al Mahdi is/was not the 'true' pretender however. The former Tunisian law of succession stated that the 'eldest prince' became bey & possessor of Tunis. See http://newsgroups.de...2/msg01706.html for further discussion.

At one point in the 1980s, Rechad Al Mahdi, or his supporters on his behalf, claimed the Libyan throne as well. This claim evaporated when adherents of Crown Prince Sayyid Muhammad al-Rida bin Sayyid Hasan al-Rida al-Mahdi al-Senoussi, then in his early 20s, rebutted.

[oamotme]

Dear 922F

Many thanks for this - all additional information is most welcome. From my understanding Muhammad Al Amine abdicated without issue eligible to succeed him, and thus Husayn En Nasr who did succeed was the third son of Bey Muhammad En Nasser (Bey 1906-22). His son Rechad's mother was a Hungarian, Margit Arpad, who upon conversion to Isalm took the name Farah. Husayn did have sons from his first marriage and the correct claimant should descend from these sons, however I digress as this is not the focus of this research. It may well be that Burke's 1980 book which notes the institution of the Order of the Crown may have got the information from the same source that Col. Guyadier.

Kind regards, Owain

P.S. It would appear that the title claimed by Rechad was, "King of the Tunisians, and Algeria, Sultan of Mascara, of Titteri, of Constantine and Oran, Emir al-Moumenin (Commander of the Faithful)".

[James Hoard]

Gentlemen,

That particular chapter of Burke's Royal Families of the World is complete eye-wash.

This Rechad Al Mahdi was a complete fraud and hoaxter, who operated in London during the late 1960s and early seventies. Unfortunately, the then editor of Burke's fell for the whole story and published the falsified genealogy and claims passed to him by Mahdi.

Mahdi was extremely clever in devising his fraud. He would pick genuine members of the Beylical family who had died without leaving children or of whom little was known outside the family itself. He would make them his relatives, maternal cousins, in-laws, etc. He would take real events and real facts, and cunningly weave them into his falsified life story. For anyone unfamiliar with North African, Tunisian or even the intricacies of the Beylical family, everything would have appeared plausible. If people had their doubts, they were not in any position to prove the contrary.

In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is King!

The man actually came from the Lebanon or Syria, and was probably a Christian. He was not related to or even connected with the Tunisian Beylical family in any way. Apprently, he even spoke Arabic with a distinct Western Med accent, not North African. The whole thing may have started as a party joke amongst the Oxbridge "studentry". But, having passed himself off succesfully in parts of London society, he may have become emboldened to carry it far further than it may have otherwise led him. I suppose he told himself, if the shirtmaker and bootmaker would give him credit, why not Standard Chartered? I think eventually he fled London and was arrested for some serious drug or currency laundering offences in the US a few years later.

Lamine Bey never created an Order of the Crown. But he did establish the Order of Independence (Nishan-i-Istiqlal) in 1956, awarding it to Bourgiba and several other champions of the freedom of the country from France. The republican regime took it over and reorganised it in 1957, making minimal adjustments.

Lamine Bey never abdicated in vavour of his brother, Mahdi or anyone else. In fact he refused to do so and was treated very shabily in his old age by Bourgiba.

Cheers,

James

[oamotme]

James,

Very many thanks indeed for this post. You have done us all a great service in correcting the Burke entry - it just goes to show that once in print fiction can become fact. Again thank you. However as a medallic tail to this saga I was going through some of my paper records and came across an old Foreman of Piccadilly catalogue of January 1986:

Lot WM235 Tunisia Order of Nichan Iftikhar (Order of Glory) Grand Cross Sash Badge and Breast Star, Silver & Enamel, Rare Type in the name of King Rechad (Presently in Exile) Very Rare EF GBP325.

Notwithstanding the fact that this is a completely spurious issue of the order, this is the first example I have seen of the order with his name. From your post James I would infer that the Order of the Crown is a Rechad invention, but nevertook solid form, and all he was able to do was "convert" an earlier verison of the Order of Glory into one bearing his name with a view to deceive.

The Order of Independence also uses the format of the Order of Glory, replacing the Bey's name with "Independence" on a red background, and the ribbon changing from green with red stripes to red with white stripes.

Again thank you James for your valuable contribution to this thread.

Kind regards,

Owain

Edited March 27, 2012 by oamotme

[James Hoard]

Owain,

I cannot say whether or not it ever took form. It may well have, I just do not know whether he did or he didn't.

Your postscript is most interesting. Presumably he would have had to turn up in something at parties and may well have made this for himself. All he would have needed was to have new central medallions made to fit into an old set.

Of course, those who would have known about Tunisian orders would have asked him where his Order of the Blood or Order of the Fundamental Pact were. The Order of the Blood was awarded to all princes. The cost of those insignia would have been very much higher, so his answer would have been interesting to hear.

Cheers,

James

For those who are interested in the family, please see http://www.royalark.net/Tunisia/tunisia.htm

There is a section on the decorations at http://www.royalark.net/Tunisia/orders.htm