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Mukarram Jah

Nizam Mir Barkat Ali Khan Siddiqi Mukarram Jah, Asaf Jah VIII (6 October 1933 – 15 January 2023), 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.

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
SuccessorPosition abolished
Azmet Jah (pretender)
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

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 he died 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

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Early life and education

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Mukarram Jah was born to Azam Jah, the son and heir of Osman Ali Khan, the last reigning Nizam of Hyderabad state, by his wife Dürrüşehvar Sultan, daughter of the last 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

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

Life in Australia and Turkey

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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, Chowmahalla and Falaknuma, have been restored and opened to the public, the former as a museum showcasing the era of the Nizams and the latter as a luxury hotel. The Taj Falaknuma Palace Hotel opened in February 2010, having been leased to the 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

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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

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Marriages

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Mukarram Jah married five times. His first wife was a Turkish noblewoman, Esra Birgin (b. 1936), and they married in 1959.[1][18] Jah left his Hyderabad palace for a sheep station in the Australian outback and divorced his wife, who did not want to move with him.[19] In 1979, he married a former 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

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

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

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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

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The palaces he owned:

Complaint against Mukarram Jah

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Nawab Najaf Ali Khan another grandson of 7th Nizam, met the Police Commissioner of Hyderabad and submitted a complaint along with supporting documents alleging that Prince Mukarram Jah, his ex-wife Princess Esra, (who is also the General Power of Attorney (GPA) holder of Prince Mukarram Jah), his son 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

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Zubrzycki, John (2006), The Last Nizam: An Indian Prince in the Australian Outback, Pan Macmillan Australia Pty, Limited, 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. ^ K.S.S.SESHAN (30 October 2018). "The progressive princess of Hyderabad". The Hindu. 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. ^ Traub, Alex (7 February 2023). "Mukarram Jah, Heir to an Opulent Throne He Abandoned, Dies at 89". The New York Times. 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. ^ "Last Nizam to be laid to rest with police honours". The Hindu. 17 January 2023. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
  17. ^ Nanisetti, Serish (18 January 2023). "Mukarram Jah laid to rest in Mecca Masjid". The Hindu. 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. ^ a b c 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. ^ Leonard, Karen Isaksen (2007), Locating Home: India's Hyderabadis Abroad, Stanford University Press, p. 111, 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. ^ "VII Nizam's grandson moves police against two cousins, two other kin". The Hindu. 17 November 2020. 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 — TITULAR —
Nizam of Hyderabad
Titular
1967 – 1971
Reason for succession failure:
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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