page_title: Fath-Ali Shah Qajar
section_title: Marriage and children
hierarchical_section_title: Fath-Ali Shah Qajar / Marriage and children
context_page_description: Fatḥ-ʻAli Šâh Qâjâr was the second Shah of Qajar Iran. He reigned from 17 June 1797 until his death. His reign saw the irrevocable ceding of Iran's northern territories in the Caucasus, comprising what is nowadays Georgia, Dagestan, Azerbaijan, and Armenia, to the Russian Empire following the Russo-Persian Wars of 1804–1813 and 1826–1828 and the resulting treaties of Gulistan and Turkmenchay. Historian Joseph M. Upton says that he "is famous among Persians for three things: his exceptionally long beard, his wasp-like waist, and his progeny."
  At the end of his reign, his difficult economic problems and military and technological liabilities took Iran to the verge of governmental disintegration, which was quickened by a consequent struggle for the throne after his death.
context_section_description: Fath-Ali Shah is reported to have had more than 1,000 spouses. He was survived by fifty-seven sons and forty-six daughters, along with 296 grandsons and 292 granddaughters.
  A book published in England in 1874 provided different numbers:
  "It is believed that Fetteh Ali had the largest number of children ever born to a man. Like a pious Mohammedan, he had only four wives, but his harem generally contained from 800 to 1,000 ladies. By these he had 130 sons and 150 daughters, and it is believed that at the time of his death his descendants numbered five thousand souls. The three grandsons who merit notice were the sons of Hussein Ali, the governor of Fars, who aspired to the throne. The princes, Riza Kuli Mirza, Nejeff Kuli Mirza, and Timour Mirza, were at Shiraz when their father attempted to seize the throne. They were able to make their escape from the city."
  While this is a large number of children, the claim that Fatḥ-ʻAli holds the record is not true. (Moulay Ismail ibn Sharif, who lived a hundred years earlier in Morocco, is said to hold the record for the most number of children born to a man.)
  Fatḥ-Ali's first son, Mohammad Ali Mirza Dowlat Shah, was seven months older than the second son Abbas Mirza. Yet it was the latter who was named "Wali-ahd" or crown prince. This was on account of the fact that Dowlat Shah's mother, Ziba Chehreh Khanoum, was of non-Qajar origin (she was Georgian woman), and therefore he was passed over in favour of his younger brother.
  Consorts
  Ziba Chehar Khanum, a Georgian lady from the Tzicara Chwili family;
  Badr Jahan Khanum, daughter of Muhammad Jafar Khan Bastami Arab;
  Asiyeh Khanum "Mehd-i-aulya", daughter of Fath Ali Khan Davallu;
  Nushafrin Khanum, a Zand lady;
  Maryam Khanum, a Jewish lady from Mazandaran;
  Hajiyeh Badr al-Nesa Khanum Badran, daughter of Mustafa Quli Khan Qajar Qavanlu;
  Kheyr al-Nessa Khanum (Aay Baaji), daughter of Majnoun Khan Pazouki, daughter of Morteza Qoli Khan Qajar Qavanlu;
  Tawus Khanum "Taj-al-Dawleh", a lady from a family from Shiraz or an Isfahani concubine;
  Gulbadan Baji Khanum "Khazin-al-Dawleh", a lady in service to Fath Ali Shah's mother;
  Kulsum Khanum, a lady from the family of Sayyeds of Pazvar;
  Begum Jan Khanum, a lady from Qazvin;
  Agha Baji Begum, daughter of Ibrahim Khalil Khan of Karabakh;
  A daughter of Sadiq Khan Shaqaqi of Sarab Khanate;
  Gul Pirhan Khanum, an Armenian concubine from Tbilisi;
  Humai Khanum, a Kurdish lady from Mazandaran;
  A daughter of Imam Qoli Khan Afsar Urumi;
  Sunbul Khanum, a prisoner taken by Agha Mohammad Khan;
  Khatun Jan Khanum, sister of Gulrukh Khanum, wife of Farukh Khan Amin-al-Dawleh;
  Mihr al-Nesa Khanum, sister of Mahmud Khan Dunbuli;
  Sons
  Mohammad Ali Mirza 'Dowlatshah' (1788–1821) – with Ziba Chehr Khanum;
  Mohammad Qoli Mirza 'Molk Ara' (1788–1874)
  Mohammad Vali Mirza (1789–1869) – with Taj-al-Dawleh;
  Abbas Mirza 'Nayeb os-Saltaneh' (1789–1833) – with Asiyeh Khanum;
  Hossein Ali Mirza 'Farman Farma' (1789–1835) – with Badr Jahan Khanum;
  Hassan Ali Mirza 'Etemad os-Saltaneh' 'Shoja os-Saltaneh' (1789–1854) – with Badr Jahan Khanum;
  Ali Shah Mirza 'Zell os-Soltan' (1789–1854)- with Asiyeh Khanum;
  Mohammad Taqi Mirza 'Hessam os-Saltaneh' (1791–1853)
  Ali Naqi Mirza 'Rokn od-Doleh' (1793) – with Begum Jan Khanum;
  Sheikh Ali Mirza 'Sheikh ol-Molouk' (1796) – with Hajiye Khanum;
  Abdollah Mirza – with Kulsum Khanum;
  Imam Verdi Mirza 'Keshikchi Bashi' (1796–1869) – with Begum Jan Khanum;
  Mohammad Reza Mirza 'Afsar' (1797)
  Mahmud Mirza (1799–1835) – with Maryam Khanum;
  Heydar Qoli Mirza (1799) – with Kheyr al-Nesa Khanum;
  Homayoun Mirza (1801–1856/1857) – with Maryam Khanum;
  Allah Verdi Mirza 'Navab' (1801–1843) – with Banafshah Badam Khanum;
  Esma'il Mirza (1802–1853)
  Ahmad Ali Mirza (1804) – with Maryam Khanum;
  Ali Reza Mirza
  Keyghobad Mirza (1806) – with Shah Pasand Khanum;
  Haj Bahram Mirza (1806)
  Shapour Mirza (1807)
  Malek Iraj Mirza (1807)
  Manouchehr Mirza 'Baha ol-Molk'
  Keykavous Mirza (1807) – with Shah Pasand Khanum;
  Malek Ghassem Mirza (1807–1859)
  Shah Qoli Mirza (1808)
  Mohammad Mehdi Mirza 'Zargam ol-Molk' (1808) – with
caption: Muhammad Hasan (Persian, active 1808–1840). Prince Yahya, ca. the 1830s.Prince Yahya, born in 1817, was the forty-third son of the Qajar ruler Fath Ali Shah (r. 1798–1834). Brooklyn Museum
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