Malek Jahan Khanom ( fa, ملک جهان خانم; 26 February 1805 – 2 April 1873) was the wife of Mohammad Shah Qajar of Persia and the mother of

Naser al-Din Shah Naser al-Din Shah Qajar ( fa, ناصرالدین‌شاه قاجار; 16 July 1831 – 1 May 1896) was the fourth Shah of Qajar Iran from 5 September 1848 to 1 May 1896 when he was assassinated. He was the son of Mohammad Shah Qajar and Male ...

. She was the ''

de facto ''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with ''de jure'' ("by la ...

'' regent of Persian Empire for one month, from 5 September until 5 October in 1848, between the death of her husband and the accession to the throne of her son.

Life

Early life

Malek Jahan Khanom was a Persian princess of the Qajar dynasty by both birth and marriage. By birth, being the daughter of Amir Mohammad Qassem Khan Qajar Qovanlou 'Amir Kabir' and Princess Begom Jan Khanom Qajar, she was the granddaughter of

Fath-Ali Shah Qajar Fath-Ali Shah Qajar ( fa, فتحعلى‌شاه قاجار, Fatḥ-ʻAli Šâh Qâjâr; May 1769 – 24 October 1834) was the second Shah (king) of Qajar Iran. He reigned from 17 June 1797 until his death on 24 October 1834. His reign saw the irr ...

of Persia. Her paternal grandfather was the powerful Qajar commander Amir Soleyman Khan Qajar Qovanlou 'Amir Kabir' 'Nezam od-Doleh' 'Etezad od-Doleh' and her paternal grandmother was a princess of the

Zand dynasty The Zand dynasty ( fa, سلسله زندیه, ') was an Iranian dynasty, founded by Karim Khan Zand (1751–1779) that initially ruled southern and central Iran in the 18th century. It later quickly came to expand to include much of the rest o ...

Marriage

She was married at a young age to her cousin, Mohammad Shah Qajar of Persia (reign 1834–1848). Her husband married about fifteen women during his lifetime, but she was one of his earliest wives. She held prestige within the harem for several reasons: because of her seniority among the Shah's wives; because she was a member of the family by birth and therefore well-networked and well-versed in their ways; because she bore her husband as many as five children (two of whom reached adulthood) and most of all because she was the mother of the crown prince. Her only surviving son,

Naser al-Din Shah Qajar Naser al-Din Shah Qajar ( fa, ناصرالدین‌شاه قاجار; 16 July 1831 – 1 May 1896) was the fourth Shah of Qajar Iran from 5 September 1848 to 1 May 1896 when he was assassinated. He was the son of Mohammad Shah Qajar and Mal ...

, would succeed his father to the throne of Persia. Her title Mehd-i-aulia or Mehd-e-olia means "Sublime Cradle" and this title was generally bestowed on the mother of the heir apparent.

Widowhood

As widow, she was the ''

'' regent of Persian Empire for one month, from 5 September until 5 October in 1848, between the death of her husband and the accession to the throne of her son. As

queen mother A queen mother is a former queen, often a queen dowager, who is the mother of the monarch, reigning monarch. The term has been used in English since the early 1560s. It arises in hereditary monarchy, hereditary monarchies in Europe and is also u ...

, she exerted considerable political influence during the reign of her son from 1848 until her death in 1873. She is described as a strong personality and politically gifted. Strongly rooted in family and clan networks, she tended to favour and support the Qajar nobility rather than merited commoners, mostly because members of the Qajar family and clan had much better access to her as compared to outsiders.

References

External links

* 1805 births 1873 deaths 19th-century Iranian women Qajar princesses Qajar royal consorts {{iran-bio-stub