Nizam Mir Barkat Ali Khan Siddiqi Mukarram Jah, Asaf Jah VIII (6 October 1933 – 15 January 2023), less formally known as Mukarram Jah, was the

titular Titular may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Title character in a narrative work, the character referred to in its title Religion * Titular (Catholicism), a cardinal who holds a titulus, one of the main churches of Rome ** Titular bisho ...

Nizam of Hyderabad Nizam of Hyderabad was the title of the ruler of Hyderabad State ( part of the Indian state of Telangana, and the Kalyana-Karnataka region of Karnataka). ''Nizam'' is a shortened form of (; ), and was the title bestowed upon Asaf Jah I wh ...

between 1967 and 1971. He was the head of the House of Asaf Jah until he died in 2023. Born as the eldest son of Azam Jah and Dürrüşehvar Sultan, he was named successor to the title of

by his grandfather

Mir Osman Ali Khan Mir Osman Ali Khan, Asaf Jah VII (5 or 6 April 1886 – 24 February 1967) was the last Nizam (ruler) of Hyderabad State, the largest state in the erstwhile Indian Empire. He ascended the throne on 29 August 1911, at the age of 25 and rule ...

. Upon Osman's death in 1967, he became the titular Nizam. He lost his titles and the privy purses in 1971 when the 26th Amendment to the Indian constitution was passed. Jah subsequently moved to Australia, where he stayed at the Murchison House Station. While the prince remained in Australia, his palaces in Hyderabad were encroached upon and fell into disrepair. Numerous divorce settlements and failed business ventures led to the loss of the majority of his fortune. In 1996, he moved to Turkey where he remained until he died in 2023. Jah was buried in Hyderabad. Jah chaired the H.E.H. The Nizam's Charitable Trust and Mukarram Jah Trust for Education & Learning (MJTEL) Mukarram Jah High School.

Biography

Early life and education

Mukarram Jah was born to Azam Jah, the son and heir of

Osman Ali Khan Mir Osman Ali Khan, Asaf Jah VII (5 or 6 April 1886 – 24 February 1967) was the last Nizam (ruler) of Hyderabad State, the largest state in the erstwhile Indian Empire. He ascended the throne on 29 August 1911, at the age of 25 and rule ...

, the last reigning Nizam of Hyderabad state, by his wife Dürrüşehvar Sultan, daughter of the last

Caliph A caliphate ( ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with Khalifa, the title of caliph (; , ), a person considered a political–religious successor to the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a leader of ...

of the

Ottoman dynasty The Ottoman dynasty () consisted of the members of the imperial House of Osman (), also known as the Ottomans (). According to Ottoman tradition, the family originated from the Kayı tribe branch of the Oghuz Turks, under the leadership of Os ...

Abdulmejid II ʻAbd al-Majīd (ALA-LC romanization of , ), also spelled as Abd ul Majid, Abd ul-Majid, Abd ol Majid, Abd ol-Majid, and Abdolmajid, is a Muslim male given name and, in modern usage, surname. It is built from the Arabic words '' ʻabd'' and ''al-Maj ...

. His younger brother is

Muffakham Jah Muffakham Jah (born 27 February 1939) is a member of House of Asaf Jah. He is the son of Prince Azam Jah and Dürrüşehvar Sultan. He is the grandson of both Osman Ali Khan, the seventh and final Nizam of the erstwhile Hyderabad princely s ...

. Jah was educated in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

the Doon School The Doon School (informally Doon School or Doon) is a Selective school, selective all-boys Private school, private boarding school in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India, which was established in 1935. It was envisioned by Satish Ranjan Das, a lawyer ...

Dehradun Dehradun (), also known as Dehra Doon, is the winter capital and the List of cities in Uttarakhand by population, most populous city of the Indian state of Uttarakhand. It is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous Dehradun district, d ...

and in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

at Harrow and

Peterhouse, Cambridge Peterhouse is the oldest Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England, founded in 1284 by Hugh de Balsham, Bishop of Ely. Peterhouse has around 300 undergraduate and 175 graduate stud ...

. He also studied at the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...

and at the

Royal Military Academy Sandhurst The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (RMAS or RMA Sandhurst), commonly known simply as Sandhurst, is one of several military academy, military academies of the United Kingdom and is the British Army's initial Commissioned officer, officer train ...

. Jah stayed at

Teen Murti Bhavan The Teen Murti Bhavan (''Teen Murti House''; formerly known as Flagstaff House) is a building and former residence in New Delhi. It was built by the British Raj and became the residence of the first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, ...

in New Delhi for a while and briefly served as an honorary aide-de-camp of

Jawaharlal Nehru Jawaharlal Nehru (14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat, and statesman who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20th century. Nehru was a pr ...

. He stated in 2010 that Nehru had wanted him to become his personal envoy or the Indian ambassador to a

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

country.

Nizam of Hyderabad

He became the titular Nizam of Hyderabad after the death of his grandfather in 1967.

Life in Australia and Turkey

In 1972, he visited Australia and came across the Murchison House Station, a pastoral property of 350,000 acres on the west coast, near Kalbarri. He bought the farm and permanently moved to Australia. He also purchased Havelock House, a mansion in

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

. In 1996, he sold the farm and moved to

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

shortly after. His two main palaces in Hyderabad, Chowmahalla and

Falaknuma Falaknuma is a former palace and currently a luxury hotel in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. It originally belonged to the Paigah (Hyderabad), Paigah family, and was later owned by the Nizam of Hyderabad. It is on a hillock and covers a area in F ...

, 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 grandfather, 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 $US 2 billion.

Death and funeral

Jah died on 15 January 2023, at the age of 89. Per Jah's wishes, his funeral took place in

Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...

which was the former capital of

Hyderabad State Hyderabad State () was a princely state in the Deccan region of south-central India with its capital at the city of Hyderabad. It is now divided into the present-day state of Telangana, the Kalyana-Karnataka region of Karnataka, and the ...

and of the

, on 18 January 2023. His remains were laid in state at the

Chowmahalla Palace Chowmahalla Palace or Chowmahallat is the palace of the Nizam of Hyderabad, Nizams of Hyderabad State located in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. It was the seat of power of the Asaf Jahi dynasty (1720-1948) and was the official residence of the Niza ...

, where family members and government officials paid their respects. In the evening of 18 January, he was buried at the Mecca Masjid.

Personal life

Marriages

Mukarram Jah married five times. His first wife was a Turkish noblewoman, Esra Birgin (b. 1936), and they married in 1959. Jah left his Hyderabad palace for a

sheep station A sheep station is a large property ( station, the equivalent of a ranch) in Australia or New Zealand, whose main activity is the raising of sheep for their wool and/or meat. In Australia, sheep stations are usually in the south-east or sout ...

in the

Australian outback The Outback is a remote, vast, sparsely populated area of Australia. The Outback is more remote than the bush. While often envisaged as being arid, the Outback regions extend from the northern to southern Australian coastlines and encompass ...

and divorced his wife, who did not want to move with him. In 1979, he married a former

air hostess A flight attendant is a member of the aircrew whose primary responsibility is ensure the safety of passengers in the cabin of an aircraft across all stages of flight. Their secondary duty is to see to the comfort of passengers. Flight attenda ...

and employee of the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

, 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. AsafJah8-Nanny Bombay-1933

Children

By Esra Birgin, Mukarram Jah had one son and one daughter: * Walashan Nawab Sahibzada Mir Azmat Ali Khan Siddiqi Bayafendi Bahadur (b. 1960), also known as Azmat Jah, married in 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 Mohammad Umar Khan Siddiqi Bayafendi Bahadur (1984-2004) deceased due to drug overdose By Manolya Onur he had a daughter: * Sahebzadi Nilufer Unisa Begum/Nilufer Elif Jah (b. 1992) By Jameela Boularous he had a daughter: * Sahebzadi Zairin Unisa Begum (b. 1994)

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,

and Berar. ;Military titles Honorary

Lieutenant-General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was normall ...

Palaces

The palaces he owned: *

, Hyderabad. *

Falaknuma Palace Falaknuma is a former palace and currently a luxury hotel in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. It originally belonged to the Paigah (Hyderabad), Paigah family, and was later owned by the Nizam of Hyderabad. It is on a hillock and covers a area in F ...

, Hyderabad. * Nazribagh Palace, Hyderabad. * Naukhanda Palace, Aurangabad. * Chiraan Palace, Banjara Hills, Hyderabad. * Purani Haveli Hyderabad (Mukarram Jah Trust for Education and Learning).

Complaint against Mukarram Jah

Nawab

Najaf Ali Khan Najaf is the capital city of the Najaf Governorate in central Iraq, about 160 km (99 mi) south of Baghdad. Its estimated population in 2024 is about 1.41 million people. It is widely considered amongst the holiest cities of Shia Islam a ...

, 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 also holds the General Power of Attorney (GPA) of Prince Mukarram Jah), his son Prince Azmat Jah and his brother Prince

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

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jah, Mukarram 1933 births 2023 deaths The Doon School alumni Asaf Jahi dynasty Ottoman dynasty Hyderabadi Muslims People educated at Harrow School Alumni of Peterhouse, Cambridge