Egypt's former queen Nariman Sadeq died in a Cairo hospital on Wednesday aged 72, the official Middle East News Agency reported. Sadeq, the second wife of King Farouk, had been admitted to an intensive care unit three days ago after surgery to remove a blood clot from her brain, which had caused internal bleeding, MENA said. King Farouk was forced to abdicate after the Free Officers led by Gamal Abul Nasser seized power in the 1952 revolution.

Farouk divorced Neriman in 1954, two years after she gave birth to a son, Ahmed Fuad II, the last Egyptian to hold a royal title. She later married a doctor.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2005