AGA KHAN III :
A FABOLOUS LIFE ENDS WITH A SURPRISE WILL
Aga Khan names Harvard man as his successor
22 luglio 1957
In 1947 the hearty, 240-pound Aga Khan, then 69, joked as the dutch artist Van Dongen painted him in costume of the Moslem spiritual leader
THE NEW AGA KHAN, a shy six-footer who maintains a straight A average in oriental studies at Harvard, chats with Jill Weldon at a party in London this year.
A FABOLOUS LIFE ENDS WITH A SURPRISE WILL
Aga Khan names Harvard man as his successor
FROM AGA KHAN III AT AGA KHAN IV
The Aga Khan was everything an oriental potentate should be: a prodigious good liver who in 79 years enjoyed the best of all possible in two worlds East and West. In the East he was spiritual leader, or Imam, of 10 million Moslems of the Ismaili sect, claiming descent from Mohammed’s daughter Fatima and the Eighth Century prophet Ismail, He was also president of the All-India Moslem League which led to the creation of Pakis tan. In the West he was a mysterious figure whose statesmanship was obscured by the gossip created by his racing stable, which won Five English Derbies, and his fashionable life at 50-odd villas and estates in three continents. But the statesmanship was real: he dined with Queen Victoria; he got off a sickbed in Zanzibar in 1911 to rally Arab support to the Allies; and he served as president of the League of Nations Assembly.
The Aga Khan was indeed one of the wealthiest of men. As a potentate he inherited an enormous fortune and annual duties from his people, Ismaili Moslems in Bombay and Mombasa heaped anniversary gifte of gold, diamonds and platinum on scales to balance the Aga’s great weight. He turned back the proceeds, along with 90% of his annual tribute, to establish universities and hospitals for his people. As a Moslem he was entitled to four wives and he took them one at a time.
Last week, shrunken to 132 pounds, the Aga Khan died in Geneva. The choice of a successor apparently lay between his sons, Prince Aly, 16-year-old playboy and onetime husband of Rita Hayworth, and Prince Sadrud din, 24. But when the Aga’s will was opened it contained a surprise. named as 49th Imam of the Ismailis Aly’s son Karim, 20, a junior at Harvard and member of the Hasty Pudding Club as well as the Moslem League.
RELIGIOUS LEADER, FAMILY [see photo]
YOUTHFULLY SLIM at 33, the Aga Khan attended a British sports event in India in 1910 as the president of All-India Moslem League.
SPORTSMAN, Aga Khan paraded horse, Mahmood, the third of his Gye Derby winners at Epsom Downs after 1936 win against 100 to 8 odds.
WITH GANDHI in London, the Aga planned strategy for attempt to win Indian self-government at Brit ish round-table conference in 1931.
ROYAL GUEST, the bejeweled Aga Khan left London hotel with the third begum for 1936 curonation of George VI in Westminster Abbey.
GIFT FROM SUBJECTS, his own weight in diamonds, balanced the Aga on Bombay scales in 1946. His 24335 pounds brought 32.2 million.
FOURTH WIFE, “Miss France of 1932”, wore an Eastern sari, which she preferred to dresses. His favorite costume a light Western suit.
MAN, STATESMAN, SPORTSMAN [see photo]
AT SON’S MARRIAGE in 1935, wedding party outside Mosque of Paris included (from left) Aga Khan; bridegroom Prince Aly; 2-year-old Prince Sadruddin; the English bride Joan Barbara Yarde-Buller; bridesmaid and Aga Khan’s third wife. The marriage produced Prince Karim, the new Aga Khan.
STATESMAN in 1937, as president of the League of Nations Assembly, the Aga Khan and third begum received Indian delegates in Geneva.
MOSLEM TRAPPED during World War II in Switzerland, Swi Aga Khan mounted hotel balcony in public at Geneva, to face Mecra for prayer.
GRANDDAUGHTER Yasmin, age 6 monthe, daughter of Actress Rita Hayworth (right) and Prince Aly, is cuddled by delighted Aga in 1950.
BIRTHDAY DANCE was performed by Yasmin for the Aga in 1955 ne ho turned 78. She visited him this year. but he too ill to recognize her.
[See Photo] – THE LAST RACE the Aga Khan was to see his horses run, the 1957 Prix de Diane at Chantilly, is watched by him from car. His horse Toro Tun ran third.
AGA’S TWO SONS, Aly (left) and Sadruddin, attend Paris races this year with their new brides-to-be, both models: Aly’s Bettina (left), and Nina Dyer.
HEIR AND ALY, Karim and hi father, leave old. Aga’s villa in Versoix near Geneva, hours before his death on day before ore Karim was named losum.