Yasmin Aga Khan

Yasmin Aga Khan
Princess
Spouse Basil Embiricos
(m. 1985, div. 1987)
Christopher Michael Jeffries
(m. 1989, div. 1993)
Issue
Andrew Ali Aga Khan Embiricos
House Qajar dynasty, Aga Khan
Father Prince Aly Khan
Mother Rita Hayworth
Born 28 December 1949 (1949-12-28) (age 62)
Lausanne, Switzerland

Princess Yasmin Aga Khan (b. December 28, 1949 in Lausanne, Switzerland) is an American philanthropist known for raising public awareness of Alzheimer's disease.

She is the third child of Prince Aly Khan and the second child of Rita Hayworth (an American movie actress and Prince Aly Khan's second wife).

Contents

Childhood and education

Khan's early life was spent with her mother and her half sister, Rebecca Welles (daughter of Hayworth's marriage to Orson Welles). [1] Her half-brothers are His Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan IV and Prince Amyn Aga Khan.[2]

She attended Buxton School, a small boarding school in Massachusetts.[3] In 1973 she graduated from Bennington College in the United States and was originally interested in operatic singing.[4]

Philanthropic activities

Influenced by the death of her mother, for whom she cared for many years, from Alzheimer's disease, Yasmin Aga Khan serves on the Board of Directors, as Vice Chairman, Alzheimer's and Related Disorders Association.[5] She is also the president of Alzheimer Disease International, a National Council Member of the Salk Institute, and a spokesperson for the Boston University School of Medicine, Board of Visitors. She also serves on numerous boards of the Aga Khan Foundation. The 2009 documentary I Remember Better When I Paint features a stirring interview with Yasmin Aga Khan describing how her mother took up painting while struggling with Alzheimer's and produced beautiful works of art.[6]

Marriages and child

In 1985, she married her first husband, economist and shipping heir Basil Embiricos,[7] by whom she had a son, Andrew Ali Aga Khan Embiricos. They were divorced in 1987. Andrew, the couple's only child died, an apparent suicide, on December 4, 2011.[8]

In 1989, she married her second husband, lawyer and real-estate developer Christopher Michael Jeffries.[9] He divorced her in 1993, charging abandonment.[10]

References

  1. ^ "New York Times". The New York Times. 11 October 1985. http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/0506.html. 
  2. ^ "New York Social Diary". http://www.newyorksocialdiary.com/node/2641. 
  3. ^ "Theatre Life". http://www.theaterlife.com/node/1803. 
  4. ^ "Dan's Hamptons". 24 Oct 2008. http://www.danshamptons.com/content/danspapers/issue31_2008/13.html. 
  5. ^ "Bennington College". http://www.bennington.edu/go/about-bennington/selection-of-notable-alumni/government-/-public-service. 
  6. ^ Rosalia Gitau (March 11, 2010). "Art Therapy for Alzheimer's". HuffingtonPost. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rosalia-gitau/art-therapy-for-alzheimer_b_495914.html. 
  7. ^ "Princess Yasmin Aga Khan Engaged to Basil Embiricos". The New York Times. 26 April 1985. http://www.nytimes.com/1985/04/26/style/princess-yasmin-aga-khan-engaged-to-basil-embiricos.html. 
  8. ^ "Andrew Embiricos, grandson of screen star Rita Hayworth, found dead in his Chelsea apartment". The Daily News. 5 December 2011. http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/sources-andrew-embiricos-screen-star-rita-hayworth-found-dead-chelsea-apartment-article-1.987096. 
  9. ^ "Princess Yasmin Aga Khan Wed to Christopher Jeffries". The New York Times. 5 February 1989. http://www.nytimes.com/1989/02/05/style/princess-yasmin-aga-khan-wed-to-christopher-jeffries.html?pagewanted=1. 
  10. ^ "The New York Times Chronicle". The New York Times. 1 December 1993. http://www.nytimes.com/1993/12/11/style/chronicle-532593.html. 

External links