IOR/L/PS/10/637

The file concerns the assumption by the Grand Shereef of Mecca [Grand Sharif of Mecca, Ḥusayn bin ‘Alī al-Hāshimī] of the title 'King of the Arab Nation' in 1916, and subsequent discussion by British officials of the implications of the move, and suggestions of alternative titles. The British were concerned that recognising the title would compromise treaties acknowledging the independence of other Arab chiefs.

The papers include: reports by the High Commissioner, Egypt, Sir Arthur Henry McMahon; reports and discussion of the issue by the India Office, the Foreign Office, British officials in the Middle East, British diplomats, and the Government of India; suggestions for alternative titles by McMahon, the French Government, the Government of India, and others; the vital importance, in the British view, of supporting the Sharif's military operations against the Ottoman Turks (e.g. folio 134); the question of whether to allow the circulation of the newspaper Kibla in Egypt in order to inform the Egyptian public of the Sharif's move, 1916; references to the views and actions of Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Edward Lawrence [T E Lawrence] (e.g. folios 6-7); the British decision that the most suitable title for the Sharif would be 'Malik-el-Hejaz', translated as 'King of the Hedjaz [Hejaz]' (folio 36); and discussion of the reactions of Bin Saud [‘Abd al-‘Azīz bin ‘Abd al-Raḥmān bin Fayṣal Āl Sa‘ūd].

The French language content of the papers consists of approximately ten folios of diplomatic correspondence.

There are no papers in the volume dated 1917 (for which, see IOR/L/PS/10/638).

The file includes a divider which gives the subject number, the year the subject file was opened, the subject heading, and a list of correspondence references contained by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.