Qajar dynasty

The Qajar dynasty (1789–1925) was an Iranian dynasty founded by Mohammad Khan ((r. 1789 – 1797)) of the Qoyunlu clan of the Turkoman Qajar tribe.

The dynasty's effective rule in Iran ended in 1925 when Iran's Majlis, convening as a constituent assembly on 12 December 1925, declared Reza Shah, a former brigadier-general of the Persian Cossack Brigade, as the new shah of the Imperial State of Persia.

Qajar imperial family
The Qajar Imperial Family in exile is currently headed by the eldest descendant of Mohammad Ali Shah, Sultan Mohammad Ali Mirza Qajar, while the Heir Presumptive to the Qajar throne is Mohammad Hassan Mirza II, the grandson of Mohammad Hassan Mirza, Sultan Ahmad Shah's brother and heir. Mohammad Hassan Mirza died in England in 1943, having proclaimed himself shah in exile in 1930 after the death of his brother in France.

Today, the descendants of the Qajars often identify themselves as such and hold reunions to stay socially acquainted through the Kadjar (Qajar) Family Association, often coinciding with the annual conferences and meetings of the International Qajar Studies Association (IQSA). The Kadjar (Qajar) Family Association was founded for a third time in 2000. Two earlier family associations were stopped because of political pressure. The offices and archives of IQSA are housed at the International Museum for Family History in Eijsden.

Titles and styles
The shah and his consort were styled Imperial Majesty. Their children were addressed as Imperial Highness, while male-line grandchildren were entitled to the lower style of Highness; all of them bore the title of Shahzadeh or Shahzadeh Khanoum.

Qajar dynasty since 1925
The headship of the Imperial Family is inherited by the eldest male descendant of Mohammad Ali Shah.
 * Heads of the Qajar Imperial Family
 * Sultan Ahmad Shah Qajar (1925–1930)
 * Fereydoun Mirza (1930–1975)
 * Sultan Hamid Mirza (1975–1988)
 * Sultan Mahmoud Mirza (1988)
 * Sultan Ali Mirza Qajar (1988–2011)
 * Sultan Mohammad Ali Mirza (2011–present)

The Heir Presumptive is the Qajar heir to the Persian throne.
 * Heirs Presumptive of the Qajar dynasty


 * Sultan Ahmad Shah Qajar (1925–1930)
 * Mohammad Hassan Mirza (1930–1943)
 * Fereydoun Mirza (1943–1975)
 * Sultan Hamid Mirza (1975–1988)
 * Mohammad Hassan Mirza II (1988–)

Notable members

 * Politics
 * Prince Abdol-Hossein Farmanfarma, prime minister of Iran
 * Mohammad Mosaddegh, prime minister of Iran and nephew of Prince Abdol Hossein Mirza Farmanfarma.
 * Prince Firouz Nosrat-ed-Dowleh III, son of Prince Abdol-Hossein Farmanfarma, foreign minister of Iran
 * Hossein Khan Sardar, last ruler of the Erivan Khanate administrative division
 * Amir Abbas Hoveyda, Iranian economist and politician, prime minister of Iran from 1965 to 1977, a Qajar descendant on his maternal side
 * Ali Amini, prime minister of Iran
 * Prince Iraj Eskandari, Iranian communist politician
 * Princess Maryam Farman Farmaian, Iranian communist politician, founder of the women's section of the Tudeh Party of Iran
 * Ardeshir Zahedi, Iranian diplomat, Qajar descendant on his maternal side.
 * Prince Sabbar Farmanfarmaian, health minister in Mosaddeq cabinet
 * Abdol-Hossein Sardari, Consul General at the Iranian Embassy in Paris 1940–1945; helped and saved the lives of Jews in danger of deportation by issuing them with Iranian passports. A Qajar Qoyunlu and through his mother a grandson of Princess Malekzadeh Khanoum Ezzat od-Doleh, the sister of Nasser ed-Din Shah.
 * Aga Khan III, President of the League of Nations from 1937 to 1938, one of the founders and the first president of the All-India Muslim League and the 48th Imam of the Nizari Ismaili Muslims.


 * Military
 * Prince Amanullah Mirza Qajar, Imperial Russian, Azerbaijani, and Iranian military commander
 * Prince Feyzulla Mirza Qajar, Imperial Russian and Azerbaijani (ADR) military commander
 * Prince Aleksander Reza Qoli Mirza Qajar, Imperial Russian military leader, commander of Yekaterinburg (1918)
 * Prince Amanullah Jahanbani, senior Iranian general
 * Nader Jahanbani, general and vice-deputy chief of the Imperial Iranian Air Force


 * Social work
 * Princess Sattareh Farmanfarmaian, Iranian social work pioneer


 * Business
 * Princess Fakhr-ol-dowleh

Religion


 * Aga Khan IV, the 49th and current Imam of Nizari Ismailism, a denomination of Isma'ilism within Shia Islam.


 * Women's rights
 * Princess Mohtaram Eskandari, intellectual and pioneering figures in Iranian women's movement.
 * Iran Teymourtash (Légion d'honneur), journalist, editor and publisher of the newspaper Rastakhiz, founder of an association for helping destitute women. Daughter of court minister Abdolhossein Teymourtash and through both her maternal grandparents a Qajar.


 * Literature
 * Prince Iraj, Iranian poet and translator
 * Sadegh Hedayat, a Qajar descendant through the female line
 * Anvar Khamei, the Iranian economist, politician, and sociologist.


 * Entertainment
 * Gholam-Hossein Banan, Iranian musician and singer, Qajar descendant on his maternal side.