PREDECESSORS AND SHORT HISTORY: Aga Khan is the hereditary title of the Imam of the largest branch of the Ismaili followers of the Shia faith. They affirm the Imamat of the descendants of Ismail ibn Jafar, eldest son of Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq. Imams were...

1. HH AGA KHAN I [Hasan Ali Shah], 1st Aga Khan 1818/1881 and 46th Imam 1817/1881, born 1804 in Mahallat, Persia, Governor General of Kerman, married 3 wives, including (a), Shahzadi Fulana Sewi Jehan Kajum, died 1882 in Bombay, India, daughter of H.I.M. Shahanshah Fath Ali Shah of Persia, and had issue, four sons and six daughters. He died 12th April 1881 in Bombay, India, buried in Mazagoan, India.

   • • HH Aga Khan II [Ali Shah] (by Fulana Sewi Jehan Kajum) (qv)

     • Aga Jhangi Shah (by Fulana Sewi Jehan Kajum), married and had issue. He died 1896 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

       • • Shahzadi Begum, born 1880, married 2nd November 1896 in Poona, India, (div. 1926), HH Aga Khan III [Sultan Muhammed Shah] (see below).

         • Zayn al-Abidin Shah

         • Shamsuddin Shah, died 1910.

         • Shah Abbas Shah

         • Haji Bibi

     • Aga Jalal Shah, married and had issue. He died 1871.

       • • Muchul Shah

         • Kuchuk Shah

         • Shah Bibi

         • Malik Taj Begum.

     • Akbar Shah, Sherif of Bombay, married and had issue. He died 1905.

       • • Shahrukh Shah, born 1874, died after 1932.

         • Furukh Shah

2. HH AGA KHAN II [Ali Shah], 2nd Aga Khan and 47th Imam 1881/1885, born 1830 in Mahallat, Persia, married (amongst others), (a) Mariam Sultana, married (b) 1867, Begum Mariam Sultana Shams ul Mulk, born 1850 in Ispahan, daughter of Nizam ud-daula Mirza Ali Muhammed, and his wife, HIH Princess Kurshid Kula of Persia, died 5th February 1938 in Baghdad, Iraq, buried 6th February 1938 in Najaf, and had issue. He died 17th August 1885 in Poona, India, buried in Najaf.

   • • Prince Badin Shah (by Mariam Sultana), born 1851, died 1884.

     • Prince Noor Shah (by Mariam Sultana) born 1854, died 1884.

     • HH Aga Khan III [Sultan Muhammed Shah] (by Shams ul Mulk) (qv)

3. HH AGA KHAN III [Sultan Muhammed Shah], 3rd Aga Khan and 48th Imam 1885/1957, born 2nd November 1877 in Karachi, India, Member of Council of Viceroy of India 1902/1904, K.C.I.E. [cr.1898], G.C.I.E. [cr.1902], G.C.S.I. [cr.1911] G.C.V.O. [cr.1923], LL.D. (Hon), married 1stly, 2nd November 1896 in Poona, India, (div.1926), Shahzadi Begum, born 1880, (daughter of Aga Jhangi Shah, see above), married 2ndly, 1908 in Egypt, and 23rd November 1923 in Bombay, India, Teresa Ginetta Magliano, born 1888, died November 1926 in Monte Carlo, buried in Monte Carlo, married 3rdly, 9th December 1929 in Aix-les-Bains, France, (div. 1944), HH Begum Mata Salamat [née Andrée Joséphine Carron], married 4thly, 9th October 1944 in Vevey, Switzerland, HH Begum Mata Salamat [née Yvette Blanche Labrousse], born 15th December 1906 in Marseille, France, died 1st July 2000 in Le Cannet, Alpes-Maritimes, France. He died 11th July 1957 in Versoix, Switzerland, buried 1st February 1959 in Aswan, Egypt.

   • • Prince Mohammed Mahdi Aga Khan (by Teresa Ginetta Magliano), born 1909, died 1911.

     • Prince Aly Solomon Aga Khan (by Teresa Ginetta Magliano), born 13th June 1911 in Turin, Italy, Recipient of the Croix de Guerre (with palms) and the Bronze Star Medal (US); Lieutenant-Colonel in the British Army (Wiltshire Regiment); Head of the Pakistan Delegation to the United Nations and Vice President of the General Assembly (1958), married 1stly, 18th May 1936 in Paris, (sep. 1949), Tajudowlah Begum (née Joan Barbara Yarde-Buller), born 22nd April 1908, died 22nd April 1997, daughter of Hon. John Reginald Lopes Yarde-Buller, 3rd Baron Churston of Churston Ferrers and Lupton, and his wife, Jessie Smither, married 2ndly, 27th May 1949 in Vallauris, Alpes-Maritimes, France, (div. 1953), Rita Hayworth, born 17th October 1918 in Brooklyn, New York, USA, died 15th May 1987 in New York City, and had issue. He died 12th May 1960 in Paris, buried 11th July 1972 in Salamieh, Syria.

       • • HRH Aga Khan IV [Karim Shah] (by Joan Barbara Yarde-Buller) (qv)

         • Prince Amyn Muhammed Aga Khan (by Joan Barbara Yarde-Buller), born 12th September 1937.

         • Princess Yasmin Aga Khan (by Rita Hayworth), born 28th December 1949 in Lausanne, Switzerland.

     • Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan (by Andrée Joséphine Carron), born 17th January 1933 in Paris^(#1), educated in Lausanne and then Harvard, Head of Mission and Adviser to the High Commissioner for Refugees, United Nations 1959/1960; Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees 1962/1965, High Commissioner 1965/1977; Consultant and Chargé de Mission to the Secretary-General 1978-2003; Unesco Special Consultant to Director-General 1961; Executive Secretary of the International Action Committee for Preservation of Nubian Monuments 1961; awarded the KBE in 2002 for his services to arts and humanitarian causes, married 1stly, 27th August 1957 in Château Bellerive, Geneva, (div. 1962), Princess Shirin [née Nina Sheila Dyer], born 15th February 1930 in London, died 3rd July 1965 in Garches, France, (married 1stly, 23rd June 1954 in Colombo (div. 1956), Freiherr Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza), married 2ndly, 1972, Princess Aleya [née Catherine Beriketti], born 1928, (married 1stly, Cyril Sursock, see Thailand). He died 12th May 2003 in Boston, Massachusetts, buried in Switzerland.

4. HRH AGA KHAN IV [Karim Shah] (see above)