The Role of Queen Jahan in His Upbringing
A key figure in Soltan Ali Mirza’s early life was Queen Malekeh Jahan, the mother of Ahmad Shah and wife of Mohammad Ali Shah. After the collapse of the Qajar monarchy, she became one of the moral and symbolic anchors of the exiled Qajar family. In exile, Queen Jahan played a central role in preserving Qajar traditions, values, and political memory.
Soltan Ali Mirza often acknowledged her influence in shaping his character. She provided him with both a sense of duty and a firsthand education in Qajar court customs, diplomacy, and historical knowledge. Through her, he inherited not just blood, but also an ideological and emotional connection to the Qajar past.
A Life of Cultural Leadership
In 1988, following the death of his predecessor Hamid Mirza Qajar, Soltan Ali Mirza assumed the role of head of the Qajar family. Although this role held no formal political power, it was of great symbolic and cultural significance. The Qajar family, dispersed across the globe, looked to him as a unifying figure and a custodian of their dynastic legacy.
As the honorary president of the International Qajar Research Association (IQRA), he helped foster academic dialogue around the history of the Qajar dynasty. Under his patronage, the association brought together historians, researchers, and descendants of the Qajar family to examine the 140-year legacy of the dynasty in an international and academic context. The association worked to reassess Qajar achievements, dispel misconceptions, and foster scholarly engagement on topics ranging from art and architecture to state-building and diplomacy during the Qajar era.
Soltan Ali Mirza understood that history is not merely the past—it is contested memory. By supporting historical scholarship, he sought to ensure the Qajar contribution to Iranian and Middle Eastern history would not be erased or distorted.