Farouk's closest friend when growing up and later as an adult was the Italian electrician at the Abdeen Palace, Antonio Pulli, who became one of Egypt's most powerful men during his reign. An attempt to enlist Farouk at Eton was thwarted when he failed the entrance exams. Before his father's death, he was educated at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, England. The Italophile Fuad wanted to have Farouk educated at the Turin Military Academy, but the British High Commissioner Sir Miles Lampson vetoed this choice as growing Italian claims for the entire Mediterranean to be "Mare Nostrum" ("Our Sea") made it unacceptable for the Crown Prince to be educated in Italy.