information:highlighting, information:classification, linguistic:paraphrasing
Independent Kingdom: 1951–1969

A national assembly crafted a constitution that established a monarchy and extended an offer for the throne to Sayyid Idris, the Emir of Cyrenaica. Sayyid Idris held the esteemed position as the leader of the influential Senussi religious brotherhood, which was founded by his grandfather in the preceding century as a response to Western influence in the Arab world. This devout Islamic movement garnered significant support from the desert Bedouin and became a major political force in Libya. During the declining years of the Ottoman Empire, it effectively governed the Libyan interior. Born in an oasis in Cyrenaica in 1890, Sayyid Idris assumed leadership of the Senussi at a young age. He spent a considerable period of exile in Egypt under Italian rule and returned to Libya after the Axis powers were ousted in 1943. On December 24, 1951, as King Idris I, he addressed the nation via radio from Benghazi. On November 21, 1949, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution stating that Libya should become independent before January 1, 1952. Idris represented Libya in the subsequent UN negotiations. By December 24, 1951, Libya declared its independence as the United Kingdom of Libya, a constitutional and hereditary monarchy under King Idris.

However, the new kingdom faced challenging prospects. It lacked significant industry and agricultural resources. The kingdom's primary exports consisted of hides, wool, horses, and ostrich feathers. Despite having one of the lowest income per capita figures globally, it also suffered from one of the highest illiteracy rates. King Idris I, already in his sixties, had no direct heir to succeed him. His cousin, whom he had married in 1932, reportedly experienced numerous miscarriages, and their son, born in 1953, tragically died shortly after birth. Crown Prince Rida, Idris's brother, was the designated heir, but the royal family was riddled with incessant disputes. King Idris's devout Muslim piety, which solidified his support among the Bedouin population, clashed with the modernizing and urban intellectual currents in Libya. To address the rivalry between Cyrenaica and Tripolitania, Benghazi and Tripoli alternated as the capital every two years.

The swift emergence of a large number of bureaucrats resulted in a costly royal government. The discovery of significant oil reserves in 1959 and the subsequent income from petroleum sales enabled one of the world's poorest nations to establish an extremely wealthy state. Although oil drastically improved the Libyan government's finances, popular resentment began to build over the increased concentration of the nation's wealth in the hands of King Idris and the national elite. This discontent continued to mount with the rise of Nasserism and Arab nationalism throughout North Africa and the Middle East.