Aga Khan III - Birth and education, Career, Race horse owner, Marriages and children, Death and succession

Imam of the Ismaili sect of Muslims, born in Karachi, SE Pakistan, the son of Aga Khan II. He succeeded to the title in 1885, and in 1910 founded Aligarh University. He worked for the British cause in both World Wars, and in 1937 was president of the League of Nations Assembly. A keen racecourse enthusiast, he owned several Derby winners.

Aga Khan III (Arabic: آغا خان الثالث), PC (November 2, 1877 – July 11, 1957), also known as Sir Sultan Mahommed Shah, K.C.I.E., G.C.I.E.

Birth and education

He was born in Karachi (then India, now Pakistan), the only surviving son of Aga Khan II, whom he succeeded in 1885, and his second wife, Nawab A'lia Shamsul-Muluk, who was a granddaughter of Fath Ali Shah of Persia (Qajar dynasty).

Under the care of his mother, he was given not only that religious and oriental education which his position as the religious leader of the Ismailis made indispensable, but a sound European training, a boon denied to his father and paternal grandfather.

Career

The Aga Khan travelled in distant parts of the world to receive the homage of his followers, and with the object either of settling differences or of advancing their welfare by pecuniary help and personal advice and guidance.

The Aga Khan was also a founding member and president of the All India Muslim League, a political party which advocated the division of United India into Pakistan (Muslim) and India (Hindu).

He was made a Knight of the Indian Empire by Queen Victoria, a Grand Commander of the Indian Empire by Edward VII (1902), and a Knight Grand Commander of the Indian Empire by George V (1912).

Race horse owner

He was an owner of thoroughbred racing horses, including five winners of the Epsom Derby.

Marriages and children

He married, on 2 November 1896, in Poona, India, Shahzadi Begum, his first cousin and a grandaughter of Aga Khan I. They had two sons: Giuseppe Mahdi Khan (who died in February 1911) and Ali Solomone Khan (1911-1960) He married, on 7 December 1929 (civil), in Aix-les-Bains, France, and 13 December 1929 (religious), in Bombay, India, Andrée Joséphine Carron (1898 - 1976). A former saleswoman in a candy store and a co-owner of a hat shop, she became known as Princess Andrée Aga Khan. By this marriage, he had one son, Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan, in 1933. The daughter of a tram conductor and a dressmaker, she was working as the Aga Khan's social secretary at the time of their marriage. In 1954, her husband named her "Mata Salamat" (Spiritual Mother)

Death and succession

The Aga Khan's will bypassed his son Aly Khan, a well-known playboy, in favor of his grandson Prince Karim Khan, as Aga Khan IV. He is burried in Egypt, Aswan at the Mausoleum of Aga Khan. Aga Khan III, "Memoirs of Aga Khan: World Enough and Time", London: Cassel &