 Further cementing Farouk's popularity was the announcement made on 24 August 1937 that he was engaged to Safinaz Zulficar, the daughter of an Alexandria judge.Farouk's decision to marry a commoner instead of a member of the Turco-Circassian aristocracy increased his popularity with the Egyptian people.The marriage of the king and a commoner was presented to the world as matter of romantic love, but in fact the marriage had been arranged by Queen Nazli, who herself was a commoner and did not want her son to marry a princess from the Turco-Circassian elite who would outrank her.