Irma Capece Minutolo

Irma Capece Minutolo (born 6 August 1935?) is an Italian former opera singer who was one of the last companions of King Farouk I of Egypt. In recent years, she has claimed to have been the king's last wife and now uses the name "Irma Capece Minutolo Farouk". [ [http://www.irmacapeceminutolo.net Website of Irma Capece Minutolo Farouk] ]

Background

She was born in Naples, Italy, reportedly a daughter of Don Augusto Capece Minutolo, Prince of Canosa and a marchioness by birth.

However, in 1954, according to Time, Capece Minutolo's "right to be called a marchioness was recently disputed when two Italian newsmen declared that her parents were a chauffeur and a janitor's daughter." A trial for slander resulted, though its outcome is unknown. [Time, 12 July 1954 [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,860975-3,00.html] ]

Career

In addition to her opera career, Capece Minutolo appeared in several motion pictures:
*"Napoletani a Milano" (1953)
*"Siamo Ricchi e Poveri" (1954)
*"Young Toscanini" (1988, role: Signora Martelli), a Franco Zeffirelli film starring Elizabeth Taylor and C. Thomas Howell
*"Mutande Pazze" (1992)
*"Boom" (1992)
*"" (1999, role: Contessa Serbelloni Mazzanti Viendalmare)

Declaration of marriage to King Farouk I

In 2005, in an interview with Al-Ahram Weekly, Capece Minutolo said that she married Farouk "in the Islamic tradition" when she was 16 and that she was writing a memoir of her life as the king's wife. [ [http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2005/734/sc3.htm Al Ahram Weekly Online] ] Published sources such as Time magazine indicate that Capece Minutolo was born in 1935, which would place her supposed marriage at the age of 16 in 1951. That is same year that the king married his second wife Narriman Sadek. Capece Minutolo also has stated that she and Farouk had been married, at the time of his death in 1965, for a total of eight years, which would mean that the purported ceremony took place in 1957. [Samia Nkrumah, "Thrice-Married Man?", Al-Ahram Weekly, 17-23 March 2005 [http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2005/734/sc3.htm] ] However, in 1954, Time, describing Capece Minutolo as "his current traveling companion, a voluptuous Neapolitan", stated that the singer had declined to marry the deposed monarch, claiming, "Farouk is sensible and tender, but marriage is the tomb of love." [Time, 12 July 1954 [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,860975-3,00.html] ] Six years later, the couple's legal status had not changed, since Time described the singer as the former king's "one conspicuous indulgence: buxom, blonde Irma Capece Minuto [sic] , his on-again-off-again sweetheart, whom Farouk may marry sometime." [Time, 5 December 1960 [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,895083,00.html] ] However, in Farouk's death notice, published in The New York Times, Capece Minutolo was identified as "Farouk's constant companion in recent years." ["Doctor Says Farouk Had Heart Attack", The New York Times, 19 March 1965, page 35] She further has stated that she was 24 when Farouk died, in 1965, which would place her birth year as 1941. In February 1954, however, the same month that King Farouk and Queen Narriman divorced, Time referred to the singer as the King's "latest collector's item" and gave her age as 18, which would place her birth in 1935, given her birthday (6 August). ["The Fond Collector", 22 February 1954 [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,860465,00.html] ] Capece Minutolo's claim of having married the exiled Egyptian monarch have not been substantiated.

References

External links

* [http://www.irmacapeceminutolo.net/ Website of Irma Capece Minutolo Farouk]