Born in 1855 as the oldest son of Mirza Jalal Shah, a political pensioner, in Allahabad, after the events of 1857. He was a grandson of Mirza Jahan Shah (1795-1846) and was named after an ancestor, Mirza Zahiruddin Muhammad Babur, the first Mughal Emperor (1483-1530). Many members of the formerly ruling families were exiled eastwards towards Bengal such as the family of Tipu Sultan and Wajid Ali Shah, the rulers of Mysore and Awadh. The Delhi Imperial family was exiled eastwards to Burma. Calcutta in Bengal became the capital of the Indian Empire in 1858, himself reaching there before 1868 and serving the Maharajas of Natore in Natore.