Barkat Ali Khan Mukarram Jah

Nizam Mir Barkat Ali Khan Siddiqi Mukarram Jah, Asaf Jah VIII (born 6 October 1933), less formally known as Mukarram Jah, has been the titular Nizam of Hyderabad since the death of his grandfather in 1967.

He currently chairs the H.E.H. The Nizam's Charitable Trust and Mukarram Jah Trust for Education & Learning (MJTEL).

Biography

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 Princess Durru Shehvar, daughter of the last Caliph of the Ottoman Empire, Abdulmejid II. 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.

Jah was a friend of India's first Prime Minister, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, and stated in 2010 that Nehru had wanted him to become his personal envoy or the Indian ambassador to a Muslim country. 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.

Like his father, 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 $US1 billion.

Marriages and issue

Mukarram Jah married five times. His first wife was a Turkish noble woman, Esra Birgin (b. 1936), and they married in 1959. 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. In 1979, he married a former air hostess and employee of the BBC, Helen Simmons (b. 1949 – d. 1989); 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.

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

Family

By Esra Birgin, Mukarram Jah had one son and one daughter:
* Walashan Nawab Sahibzada Mir Azmet Ali Khan Siddiqi Bayafendi Bahadur (b. 1962), also known as Azmet Jah (heir apparent), married 1994 to Princess Begum Sahiba Zainab Naz Jah (née Zeynep Naz Guvendiren) and has one son, has worked as a cameraman.
**Murad Jah
* Sahibzadi Shehkyar Unisa Begum (b. 1964), unmarried and without issue

By Helen Simmons he had two sons:
* Walashan Nawab Sahibzada Mir Alexander Azam Khan Siddiqi Bayafendi Bahadur (b. 1979)
* Walashan Nawab Sahibzada Mir Mohammod Umar Khan Siddiqi Bayafendi Bahadur (1984-2004) deceased due to drug overdose

By Manolya Onur he had a daughter:
* Sahebzadi Nilufer Unisa Begum (b. 1992)

By Jameela Boularous he had a daughter:
* Sahebzadi Zairin Unisa Begum (b. 1994)

Mukarram Jah has a brother Muffakham Jah.

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 owns
* Chowmahalla Palace, Hyderabad.
* Falaknuma Palace, Hyderabad.
* Nazribagh Palace, Hyderabad.
* Naukhanda Palace, Aurangabad.
* Chiraan Fort Palace, Banjara Hills, Hyderabad.
* Purani Haveli Hyderabad. (Mukarram Jah Trust for education and Learning).

Complaint against Mukarram Jah

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 Azmet 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.

Ancestry

See also

*Mir Najaf Ali Khan - cousin of Mukarram Jah
* Kingdom of Hyderabad

References

External links

Some recent photographs of the Nizam and the princely family


*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jah, Mukarram
1933 births
Living people
The Doon School alumni
Asaf Jahi dynasty
Hyderabadi Muslims
People educated at Harrow School
Indian people of Turkish descent
Alumni of Peterhouse, Cambridge