Ahmad Shah, Crown Prince of Afghanistan (

Dari Dari (; endonym: ), Dari Persian (, , or , ), or Eastern Persian is the variety of the Persian language spoken in Afghanistan. Dari is the Afghan government's official term for the Persian language;Lazard, G.Darī – The New Persian ...

Pashto Pashto ( , ; , ) is an eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family, natively spoken in northwestern Pakistan and southern and eastern Afghanistan. It has official status in Afghanistan and the Pakistani province of Khyb ...

/; 23 September 1934 – 4 June 2024) was the second son of Mohammad Zahir Shah, the overthrown King of Afghanistan. He held the title of Head of the House of Barakzai from his father's death in July 2007, until his death in June 2024.

Biography

Ahmad Shah was born at the Arg royal palace in Kabul. At the time of his birth he was second in the line of succession to the throne after his older brother Muhammed Akbar Khan, Crown Prince of Afghanistan. However, following the death of his brother on 26 November 1942, he became the

heir apparent An heir apparent is a person who is first in the order of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting by the birth of another person. A person who is first in the current order of succession but could be displaced by the birth of a more e ...

and Crown Prince. Ahmad Shah represented his father several times as

regent In a monarchy, a regent () is a person appointed to govern a state because the actual monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge their powers and duties, or the throne is vacant and a new monarch has not yet been dete ...

when the latter was abroad. He was educated first at the Esteqlal High School, and College of Military Science, in Kabul. He later attended the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

and the

Institut d'études politiques de Paris Sciences Po () or Sciences Po Paris, also known as the Paris Institute of Political Studies (), is a public research university located in Paris, France, that holds the status of ''grande école'' and the legal status of . The university's unde ...

, before working at the

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in Kabul. His father's reign ended on 17 July 1973, when he was ousted by a coup with Afghanistan being declared a

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by Mohammad Daoud Khan, a member of the royal family. The Crown Prince was one of fourteen members of the royal family arrested following the coup. He was allowed to leave the country for

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

on 26 July. Following the overthrow of the monarchy, the Crown Prince settled in

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in the U.S. state of

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and took to writing poetry, keeping a low profile even after the former king's return to Afghanistan in 2002. He died on 4 June 2024, at the age of 89. At the time of his death, he was the oldest surviving male heir of the last reigning King of Afghanistan.

Marriage and issue

On 22 November 1961, the Crown Prince married Princess Khatul Begum (born 1940), a daughter of ''

Sardar Sardar, also spelled as Sardaar (, , 'commander', literally 'headmaster'), is a title of royal family, royalty and nobility that was originally used to denote princes, noblemen, chiefs, kings and other Aristocracy (class), aristocrats. It ha ...

'' Muhammad Umar Khan Zikeria, by his wife, Princess Sultana Begum, the fourth daughter of King Mohammad Nadir Shah. The ceremony took place at the Chihil Sutun palace near Kabul. They had two sons and a daughter: * Prince Muhammad Zahir Khan (born 26 May 1962). He married Princess Oshila Begum (b. 1958). They have a daughter: ** Princess Roxanne Khanum (born 1988) * Princess Hawa Khanum (born 27 October 1963) * Prince Muhammad Emel Khan (born 1969)

Ancestry

References

1934 births 2024 deaths Barakzai dynasty Heirs apparent who never acceded Princes of Afghanistan Pashtun people Exiled royalty Afghan expatriates in Italy Afghan emigrants to the United States Alumni of the University of Oxford 20th-century Afghan people 21st-century Afghan people Sons of kings Crown princes Pretenders {{Afghanistan-royal-stub