User:HistoryofIran/Mohammad Ali Mirza Dowlatshah

Mohammad-Ali Mirza Dowlatshah was a Qajar prince who served as the governor of the western Iranian provinces during the reign of his father Fath-Ali Shah Qajar ((r. 1797 – 1834)).

Background
Mohammad-Ali Mirza was born on 5 January 1789 in the village of Nava in Mazandaran, northern Iran. He was the eldest son of Fath-Ali Shah Qajar ((r. 1797 – 1834)), the second Qajar shah (king) of Iran and part of the Qovanlu branch of the Qajar tribe. His mother was Ziba-chehr Khanum, a Georgian slave girl from the Tzicara Chwili family. Despite being the oldest, Mohammad-Ali Mirza was excluded from the succession since the law of the Qajar tribe required that the chieftain of the tribe (as well as the crown prince) had to have Qajar parents. Instead, it was planned that the succession would pass to his seven-month younger brother Abbas Mirza, due to his mother belonging to the Davanlu clan of the Qajars. This choice has been made by Fath-Ali Shah's uncle Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar ((r. 1789 – 1797)), who wanted to unite the Qovanlu and Davanlu.

Agha Mohammad Khan also appears to have taken the personalities of both princes into account when choosing Abbas Mirza over Mohammad-Ali Mirza. These two princes had opposite personalities, attitudes, and physiques. Abbas Mirza was frail, bashful and humble in comparison to Mohammad-Ali Mirza's robust body, brave and fearless personality, and impolite and brash manners. Mohammad-Ali Mirza therefore consistently had the advantage in their fights when growing up. Agha Mohammad Khan first developed a strong affection for Mohammad-Ali Mirza because of this particular characteristic and the similarities in their personalities. Agha Mohammad Khan spent a lot of time with both of them attempting to impart his expertise and experience. He eventually discovered that his efforts with Mohammad-Ali Mirza were futile after observing his agitated, hostile, and daring personality through a series of tests. Agha Mohammad Khan thus made the decision to concentrate increasingly of his attention on Abbas Mirza.

A fierce hostility would grow between Abbas Mirza and Dowlatshah, something some people speculated that Fath-Ali Shah welcomed.

Career
When Fath-Ali Shah became the shah of Iran in 1797, he designated Mohammad-Ali Mirza as the nominal governor of the Fars province. In 1799, Mohammad-Ali Mirza was given the governorship of Qazvin and Gilan.