Hamidullah Khan

For the Bagram captive, see Hamidullah Khan (Bagram captive).
Hamidullah Khan

Nawab Hamidullah Khan, Last Ruler of Bhopal
Nawab of Bhopal
Reign 20 April 1926 - 1 June 1949
Coronation 9 June 1926
Predecessor Kaikhusrau Jahan
Successor Monarchy abolished, Bhopal State created.
Titular Nawab of Bhopal
Pretendence 1 June 1949 - 4 February 1960
Successor Sajida Sultan
Mother Kaikhusrau Jahan
Born 9 September 1894
Died 4 February 1960 (aged 65)

Hajji Nawab Hafiz Sir Hamidullah Khan (9 September 1894 - 4 February 1960) was the last ruling Nawab of Bhopal, which merged with the state of Madhya Pradesh in 1956. He ruled from 1926 when his mother, Begum Kaikhusrau Jahan Begum, abdicated in his favor, until 1949 and held the honorific title until his death in 1960. A delegate to the Round Table Conference in London, he served as Chancellor of the Chamber of Princes from 1931–1932 and from 1944–1947, when India became independent. During the Second World War, Nawab Hamidullah Khan was present at the Battle of Keren and the Battle of El Alamein. Nawab Hamidullah, as he was popularly known was very close to Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan. He also had very good terms with Louis Mountbatten, Viceroy and Governor General of India. In spite of pressure from Jinnah, he reluctantly agreed to have Bhopal as a part of Indian Union.[1] At his death, he left no sons and so was succeeded by his second daughter, Sajida Sultan, Begum of Bhopal.[2][3]

Personal life

Nawab Hamidullah Khan attended MAO college (now Aligarh Muslim University) and graduated in 1905.[4]

On 5 September 1925 at Peshawar, Nawab Hamidullah Khan married Maimoona Sultan Shah Banu Begum Sahiba (1900–1982), the great-great-granddaughter of Shah Shuja of Afghanistan. The couple had three daughters:

In 1947, he married Aftab Jahan Begum Sahiba (1919–2002), the daughter of a Bhopali Muslim Local Family. The couple had one daughter:

He remained the Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University from September 1930 to April 1935. [5]

Titles

A young Nawab Hamidullah Khan

Honours

(ribbon bar, as it would look today; incomplete)

[6]

References

  1. ↑ Guha, Ramchandra. India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy. p. 46,47. ISBN 978-0-06-095858-9.
  2. ↑ Nawab Hameedullah Khan by Hakim Syed Zillur Rahman, Fikr-o-Nazar, Namwaran-i Aligarh, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India, 1986. p., 431-39
  3. ↑ The Royal Ark
  4. ↑ http://members.iinet.net.au/~royalty/ips/b/bhopal.html
  5. ↑ http://www.muslimissues.com/amus-chancellors-a-brief-about-glorious-history/
  6. ↑ bhopal

External links

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Mansab ali sahab was the meer dabeer of hamid ullah khan