[custom_adv] The rise to power of His Imperial Majesty Naser al-Din Shah Qajar of Persia (1831-1896) was largely thanks to his mother who championed the cause of her second son as heir apparent. [custom_adv] When his father Mohammad Shah Qajar died in 1848, the new Shah’s path was smoothed by Amir Kabir who would become Prime Minister of Persia before being executed on the monarch’s instruction in 1852. [custom_adv] Though a moderate reformist, the Shah was an absolute sovereign and held the reins of power tightly until his assassination in 1896.The Shah was distinguished as the first ruler of his nation to visit Europe. [custom_adv] The Tour Diary of HM The Shah of Persia, ostensibly written in his own words, chronicles the Persian monarch’s visit to England in 1873 and paints a detailed miniature of British royal circles. [custom_adv] He was celebrated in Vanity Fair with a Spy cartoon depicting the Shah wearing European clothing tailored by Henry Poole from whom he ordered prodigiously while his entourage was billeted at Buckingham Palace. [custom_adv] The Shah’s State Visit to London was a political chess move by Prime Minister Gladstone calculated to forge a territorial alliance with Persia against Russia. [custom_adv] Britain had declared war on Persia in 1856 when the Shah ordered the invasion of Afghanistan that was soon repelled. Much to Queen Victoria’s chagrin, Gladstone approved the Shah being appointed a member of the Order of the Garter. [custom_adv] Stories in the London newspapers concerning the Shah reflect European perceptions that the Persian race was little more than barbarian. [custom_adv] It was reported that pressure at a government level was placed on the Shah to reluctantly leave the pleasures of the Paris brothels and that Queen Victoria insisted his suite of rooms at Buckingham Palace be redecorated after the Shah’s departure. [custom_adv] The most disturbing rumour concerned servants who displeased the Shah being strangled and buried in the gardens behind Buckingham Palace.Various slips in etiquette and protocol were gleefully reported such as the night at the Royal Albert Hall when the Shah draped an arm over the bare shoulders of the Princess of Wales and her sister the Grand Duchess Marie of Russia and attempted to feed them bonbons. [custom_adv] The Shah’s sybaritic taste was underwritten by the sale of Persian national assets to foreign investors whose proceeds he would pocket. Of his numerous trade agreements, the most unpopular was the Shah’s attempt to sell Persia’s tobacco concession in 1890 that led to a national boycott of tobacco and a fatwah issued by Ayatolla Mirza Hassan. [custom_adv] It is believed a follower of nationalist agitator Jamal al-Din al-Afghani, who was highly critical of the tobacco scandal, plotted the Shah’s murder in capital in 1896.
