'Persia and the Persian Question by the Hon. George Nathaniel Curzon, M.P.' [‎393] (446/714)

THE SHAH—ROYAL FAMILY—MINISTERS
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of the tiibe, whose chieftain, lath Ali Khan, a little more than
150 years ago, having been made joint Commander-in-Chief
with Nadir Kuli Khan, by Shah Tahmasp II., was speedily put
oat of the way by the ambitious soldier of fortune, 1 thereby
bequeathing to his posterity a blood feud which was not satisfied
until Nadir's descendants had all been removed by death or torture,
and a Kajar sovereign was firmly seated upon the throne of Persia.
Agha Mohammed Shah, the grandson of Fath Ali Khan, could not
himself perpetuate the race, having at an early age been made a
eunuch by order of Adil Shah, the nephew and successor of Nadir.
But his nephew, Fath Ali Shah, to whom he transmitted the crown,
and his successors after him, have proved so extraordinarily prolific
of male offspring that the continuity of the dynasty has been assured;
and there is probably not a reigning family in the world that in the
space of one hundred years has swollen to such ample dimensions
as the royal race of Persia. The Kajars have, indeed, been mainly
distinguished for five characteristics, which have been uniformly
noticeable in the princes of the blood : a genius for paternity, a
fairly high level of intelligence, handsome features, sporting in
stincts, and a remorseless economy. How true a Kajar is the
reigning monarch will be evident as I proceed.
Since his two visits to Fngland in 1873 and 1889 the personality
and many of the idiosyncrasies of the Shah have become familiar to
Nasr-ed- the British public. Nasr-ed-Din (Defender of the Faith)
Hisappeai- was tlie el ^ est son of Mohammed Shah, and was born on
ailce July 17, 1831. Consequently, he is now just sixty years
of age. Upon his father succeeding Fath Ali Shah in 1834 (Abbas
Mirza, Mohammed's father, and for so many years Vali-Ahd or
Heir Apparent, having died in the previous year), Nasr-ed-Din
became Vali-Ahd and, after the fashion of the Persian Royal
Family, was, at the early age of twelve, made nominal Grovernor of
Azerbaijan, raiding at Tabriz. In that province, at Deran near
Urumiah, he was seen in 1835, and described as follows by Colonel
Stuart, who accompanied Sir H. Ellis as private secretary on his
mission to Teheran:—
The alee Ahud was, like his uncle, seated at an open window. I
never saw so beautiful a child. The expression of his countenance is
mournful, and the poor thing was evidently shy. We were given
He was buried in the Mausoleum of Khojah Rabi outside Meshed • vide
Chapter "VII.