Mukarram Jah

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Mir Barakat Ali Khan
Asaf Jah VIII
8th Nizam of Hyderabad (titular)
Reign24 February 1967 – 5 November 1971
(pretender 1971–2023)
Coronation6 April 1967
PredecessorMir Osman Ali Khan, Asaf Jah VII
SuccessorAzmet Jah
Born(1933-10-06)6 October 1933
Hilafet Palace, Nice, France
Died15 January 2023(2023-01-15) (aged 89)
Istanbul, Turkey
Burial18 January 2024
Makkah Masjid, Hyderabad, Telangana, India
SpousePrincess Esra Birgin
(1959–1974; divorced)
Aysha Simmons
(1979–1989; widowed)
Manolya Onur
(1992–1997; divorced)
Jameela Boularous (co-wife)
(since 1992)
Princess Ayesha Orchedi (co-wife)
(since 1994)
Issue
HouseHouse of Asaf Jah
FatherAzam Jah
MotherDürrüşehvar Sultan
ReligionSunni Islam

Nizam Mir Barkat Ali Khan Siddiqi Mukarram Jah, Asaf Jah VIII (6 October 1933 – 15 January 2024), less formally known as Mukarram Jah, was the titular Nizam of Hyderabad between 1967 and 1971.[1] He was the head of the House of Asaf Jah until he died in 2023 .

Born as the eldest son of Azam Jah and Dürrüşehvar Sultan, he was named successor to the title of Nizam of Hyderabad by his grandfather Mir Osman Ali Khan. Upon Osman's death in 1967, he became the titular Nizam. He lost his titles and the privy purses in 1971 when the 26th Amendment to the Indian constitution was passed.

Jah subsequently moved to Australia, where he stayed at the Murchison House Station. While the prince remained in Australia, his palaces in Hyderabad were encroached upon and fell into disrepair. Numerous divorce settlements and failed business ventures led to the loss of the majority of his fortune. In 1996, he moved to Turkey where he remained until his death in 2023. Jah was buried in Hyderabad.

Jah chaired the H.E.H. The Nizam's Charitable Trust and Mukarram Jah Trust for Education & Learning (MJTEL) Mukarram Jah high school.[2]

Biography

Early life and education

Mukarram Jah was born to

Caliph of the Ottoman dynasty, Abdulmejid II.[3] Jah was educated in India at the Doon School in Dehradun and in England at Harrow and Peterhouse, Cambridge. He also studied at the London School of Economics and at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.[4]

Jah stayed at Teen Murti Bhavan in New Delhi for a while and briefly served as an honorary aide-de-camp of Jawaharlal Nehru.[5] He stated in 2010 that Nehru had wanted him to become his personal envoy or the Indian ambassador to a Muslim country.[6]

Nizam of Hyderabad

He became the titular Nizam of Hyderabad after the death of his grandfather in 1967.

Life in Australia and Turkey

In 1972, he visited Australia[7] and came across the Murchison House Station,[8] a pastoral property of 350,000 acres on the west coast, near Kalbarri. He bought the farm and permanently moved to Australia.[9] He also purchased Havelock House,[10] a mansion in Perth.

In 1996, he sold the farm and moved to Turkey shortly after.[11]

His two main palaces in Hyderabad,

Taj Group, after some ten years of renovations.[12]

Like his grandfather, Mukarram was the richest man in India until the 1980s. However, in the 1990s, he lost some assets to divorce settlements. His net worth is nevertheless estimated at $US 2 billion.[13][14]

Death and funeral

Jah died on 15 January 2023, at the age of 89.[15] According to Jah's wish his funeral took place in Hyderabad which was the former capital of Hyderabad State and of the Nizam of Hyderabad on 18 January 2023.

His remains were laid in state at the Chowmahalla Palace, where family members and government officials paid their respects.[16] In the evening of 18 January, he was buried at the Mecca Masjid.[17]

Personal life

Marriages

Mukarram Jah married five times. His first wife was a Turkish noble woman,

air hostess and employee of the BBC, Helen Simmons (b. 1949 – d. 1989);[20][21] she converted to Islam and changed her name to Aysha. After her death, he married Manolya Onur (b. 1954 – d. 2017), a former Miss Turkey in 1992, and divorced her after a five-year marriage in 1997.[19][20][22]

He married Jameela Boularous (b. 1972), from Morocco, in 1992.[23] In 1994, he married[24] Princess Ayesha Orchedi (b. 1959), who is Turkish.[25]

Nanny carrying the prince from board after arrival in Bombay, 1934
Mukarram Jah with his younger brother Muffakham Jah

Children

By Esra Birgin, Mukarram Jah had one son and one daughter:

  • Walashan Nawab Sahibzada Mir Azmat Ali Khan Siddiqi Bayafendi Bahadur (b. 1960), also known as Azmat Jah, married 1994 to Princess Begum Sahiba Zainab Naz Jah (née Zeynep Naz Guvendiren) and has one son, has worked as a cameraman.[19][26]
    • Murad Jah
  • Sahibzadi Shehkyar Unisa Begum (b. 1964), unmarried and without issue[27]

By Helen Simmons, he had two sons:

  • Walashan Nawab Sahibzada Mir Alexander Azam Khan Siddiqi Bayafendi Bahadur (b. 1979)[27]
  • Walashan Nawab Sahibzada Mir Mohammad Umar Khan Siddiqi Bayafendi Bahadur (1984-2004) deceased due to drug overdose[27]

By Manolya Onur he had a daughter:

  • Sahebzadi Nilufer Unisa Begum/Nilufer Elif Jah (b. 1992)[20]

By Jameela Boularous he had a daughter:

  • Sahebzadi Zairin Unisa Begum (b. 1994)

Mukarram Jah had a brother Muffakham Jah.[28]

Full style

His Exalted Highness Prince Rustam-i-Dauran, Arustu-i-Zaman, Wal Mamaluk, Asaf Jah VIII, Muzaffar ul-Mamalik, Nizam ul-Mulk, Nizam ud-Daula, Nawab Mir Barakat 'Ali Khan Siddiqi Bahadur, Sipah Salar, Fath Jang, Nizam of Hyderabad and Berar
.

Military titles

Honorary

Lieutenant-General

Palaces

The palaces he owned:

Complaint against Mukarram Jah

Nawab

Prince Azmat Jah and his brother Prince Muffakham Jah had used false documents in the UK High Court to lay claim over the £35 million Nizam’s Fund lying in NatWest Bank there.[29]

Ancestry

See also

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 1-4050-3722-9
  2. ^ "Nizam Mukarram Jah Trust for Education and Learning wins tax fight". Deccan Chronicle. 20 December 2013. Retrieved 18 January 2023.
  3. ^ "Princess Durru Shehvar passes away", The Hindu, 9 February 2006, archived from the original on 25 October 2007
  4. ^ Singh, Kishore (30 March 2007), "India's wealthiest man the country forgot", Business Standard
  5. ISSN 0971-751X
    . Retrieved 17 January 2023.
  6. ^ "Nehru had big plans for me, says Mukarram Jah", The Times of India, 14 March 2010, archived from the original on 11 August 2011
  7. ^ Grattan, Michelle (12 August 2006). "The Last Nizam". The Age. Retrieved 19 February 2023.
  8. ^ "Murchison House Station, Western Australia". Murchison House Station. Retrieved 17 February 2023.
  9. ^ Janyala, Sreenivas (17 January 2023). "Trailed by history, the Last Nizam, who travelled continents, died away from 'home'". The Indian Express. Retrieved 18 January 2023.
  10. ^ "Havelock House". Heritage Council of Western Australia. Government of Western Australia. Retrieved 18 February 2023.
  11. ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved 8 February 2023.
  12. ^ Taj Falaknuma Palace, Hyderabad - Opening February 2010, February 2010, archived from the original on 22 March 2010
  13. ^ Natwest Bank account freeze
  14. ^ Costliest divorce in India
  15. ^ "Mukarram Jah, Eighth Nizam of Hyderabad, Passes Away". The Quint. 15 January 2023. Retrieved 15 January 2023.
  16. ISSN 0971-751X
    . Retrieved 17 January 2023.
  17. ISSN 0971-751X
    . Retrieved 19 January 2023.
  18. ^ Guruswamy, Mohan (May 2008). "Books: The Last Nizam by John Zubrzycki. Picador India, Delhi, 2006". City of Hope: a symposium on Hyderabad and its syncretic culture. Retrieved 30 December 2008.
  19. ^
    Dalrymple, William (8 December 2007), "The lost world"
    , Guardian
  20. ^ a b c "Turkish Beauty Fights for Justice", The Times of India, 21 March 2006, archived from the original on 20 January 2010
  21. ^ Sandilands, John (12 March 1980). "Nizam of Hyderabad marries Perth girl". Australian Women's Weekly: 2–5. Retrieved 19 February 2023.
  22. ^ Shrivastava, Namita A (19 March 2006), "Princess diaries", The Times of India
  23. ^ "Nizam lands in $7-lakh soup", The Telegraph, Calcutta, India, 24 March 2006, archived from the original on 8 September 2006
  24. ISBN 978-0-8047-5442-2
  25. ^ Parasher, Paritosh (31 August 2001), "Nizam's descendant faces unpaid wages charge in Aussie court", Indo-Asian News Service
  26. ^ Farida, Syeda (10 February 2005), "I belong to a lot of countries", The Hindu, archived from the original on 6 March 2010, retrieved 30 December 2008{{citation}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  27. ^ a b c Soszynski, Henry (20 June 2005). "HH Walashan Nawab Mir BEREKET ALI KHAN Mukarram Jah". Ancestry.com. Archived from the original on 23 April 2016. Retrieved 30 December 2008.
  28. ^ "Convert Nizam's lands into parks, royal kin urges Telangana CM". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  29. ISSN 0971-751X
    . Retrieved 6 May 2021.
  30. ^ Harun Açba, Kadın efendiler: 1839-1924 (2004) p.214-215
Mukarram Jah
Born: 6 October 1933 Died: 15 January 2023
Titles in pretence
Preceded by
Osman Ali Khan, Asif Jah VII
 — TITULAR —
Indian annexation of Hyderabad
 Title abolished by
26th Amendment
Loss of title
Recognition of title withdrawn
 — TITULAR —
Nizam of Hyderabad
Pretence
1971 – 2023
Reason for succession failure:
26th Amendment to the Constitution of India 		Succeeded by
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