| Prince Idris | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spouse | Anna Maria Quinones de Leon | ||||
| Issue | Alia Khalid | ||||
| |||||
| House | House of Senussi | ||||
| Father | Abdullah al-Senussi | ||||
| Mother | Ghalia bint Nur Saleh | ||||
Idris al-Senussi (Idris bin Sayyid Abdullah al-Senussi; born 18 January 1957) is an exiled Libyan opposition figure and a minor member of a cadet branch of the exiled Libyan royal family.
In 1991 it was announced that Idris had taken control of a 400 man strong dissident Libyan paramilitary force that had received training from American intelligence, to fight against Gaddafi. This outfit was unsuccessful in de-stablising Libya and was soon disbanded. [1]
Idris al-Senussi gained notoriety in the United Kingdom in 1995 after it was revealed in court that he had duped forty-one Members of Parliament including Henry Bellingham and Jonathan Aitken (earlier in 1990) into signing an early day motion which described him as "great nephew of the late King Idris of Libya, and heir presumptive to the Libyan throne". This was not infact true.[2] This deception was apparently designed to gain political influence with Muammar Gadaffi, the ruler of his homeland.[3]
However, far form being the rightful heir to the throne, Idris has been described by the co-editor of Debrett's Peerage as "the second son of the sixth son of the second son of the younger brother of King Idris's father."[4]
Idris also unsuccessfully attempted to ingratiate himself with Prince Michael of Kent, Simeon II of Bulgaria and Terry Waite, among others. He was eventually exposed after unsuccessfully attempting to sue a Public Relations specialist for "blackmail" after receiving an invoice for payments due. Senussi's case was thrown out of court by a magistrate who said Idris was "living in a world of make believe".[5]
Idris then left the United Kingdom but continues to assert his [false] claims to the leadership of the Senussi family in Italy and elsewhere.[6] Prince Sayyid Muhammad bin Sayyid Hasan ar-Rida al-Mahdi as-Sanussi, the grandson of the last king of Libya and rightful heir to the Libyan throne, has said "I believe that it is important now, given the crisis that faces my country, that those individuals who have been mislead in the past, note the facts so that this type of confusion is not allowed to arise again".[7]
As recently as the 2011 Libyan protests Idris convinced others of his false claims to royalty and dramatically announced he was "ready to return to Libya". [8]