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Humaira Begum

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Humaira Begum
Humaira Begum at the White House with her husband, Mohammed Zahir Shah, 1963.
Queen consort of Afghanistan
Tenure8 November 1933 – 17 July 1973
Installation8 November 1933
Born24 July 1918
Kabul, Afghanistan
Died26 June 2002(2002-06-26) (aged 83)
Rome, Italy
Burial
Maranjan Hill
Spouse
​
(m. 1931)​
IssuePrincess Bilqis Begum
Prince Muhammed Akbar Khan
Crown Prince Ahmad Shah Khan
Princess Maryam Begum
Prince Muhammed Nadir Khan
Prince Shah Mahmoud Khan
Prince Muhammed Daoud Pashtunyar Khan
Prince Mir Wais Khan
HouseBarakzai
FatherSardar Ahmad Shah Khan
MotherZarin Begum
ReligionSunni Islam

Humaira Begum (Persian: حميرا بیگم; 24 July 1918 – 26 June 2002)[1] was the wife and first cousin of King Mohammed Zahir Shah and the last Queen of Afghanistan.

Marriage

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Humaira Begum was the daughter of Sardar Ahmad Shah Khan, brother of the royal consort Mah Parwar Begum and Minister of the Royal Court, and his first wife Zarin Begum, who was cousin of King Amanullah Khan and eldest daughter of General H.E. Loinab Khush Dil Khan, Governor of Kabul and Kandahar. She married her first cousin, the Crown Prince of Afghanistan Mohammed Zahir on 7 November 1931 in Kabul.[2]

Mohammed Zahir Shah and Humaira Begum had six sons and two daughters:

  1. Princess Bilqis Begum (born 17 April 1932).
  2. Prince Muhammed Akbar Khan (4 August 1933 – 26 November 1942).
  3. Crown Prince Ahmad Shah (23 September 1934 – 4 June 2024).
  4. Princess Maryam Begum (2 November 1936 – 25 December 2021).
  5. Prince Muhammed Nadir Khan (21 May 1941 – 3 April 2022).
  6. Prince Shah Mahmoud Khan (15 November 1946 – 7 December 2002).
  7. Prince Muhammed Daoud Pashtunyar Khan (born 14 April 1949).
  8. Prince Mir Wais Khan (7 January 1957 – 29 September 2023).

Queen of Afghanistan

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On 8 November 1933, she became Queen of Afghanistan when her husband was proclaimed king after the assassination of her father-in-law, King Mohammad Nadir Shah.[citation needed]

During the first part of her husband's reign, Queen Humaira did not play a big public role. King Amanullah Khan had been deposed in 1929 because of discontent partially caused by the example of Queen Soraya Tarzi, who appeared in public with her husband unveiled, and his successor reinstated the veil and gender seclusion.[3] During the 1930s, the royal women continued to dress in Western fashion inside the enclosed royal palace compound of Kabul, but reverted to covering themselves in the traditional veil when they left the royal compound, and no longer showed themselves in public.[citation needed]

This changed after the Second World War, when modernization reforms were seen as necessary by the government, including reforms in women's position. In 1946, Queen Humaira became the protector of the newly founded Women's Welfare Association, which was the first-ever Women's Institute in Afghanistan, and signified resuming the women's movement.[3] When Mohammed Daoud Khan became Prime Minister in 1953, the development toward women's emancipation started to move faster, and the women of the royal family, with the Queen as the central figure, were given an important task as role models in this process. They started to attend public functions, initially veiled.[citation needed]

1968 postage stamp showing Begum

In 1959, she supported the call by prime minister Mohammed Daoud Khan for women to voluntary remove their veil by removing her own.[4] This was a big event in the history of women in Afghanistan, and it was also an intentional part of the women's emancipation policy of the Daoud government at that time.[5] The step was carefully prepared by introducing women workers at the Radio Kabul in 1957, sending women delegates to the Asian Women's Conference in Kairo, and employing forty girls to the government pottery factory in 1958.[5] When this was met with no riots, the government decided it was time for the very controversial step of unveiling.[5] In August 1959 therefore, on the second day of the festival of Jeshyn, Queen Humaira and Princess Bilqis appeared in the royal box at the military parade unveiled, alongside the Prime Minister's wife, Zamina Begum.[5]

This controversial step was met with indignation by the Islamic clergy, and a group of clerics sent a letter of protest to the Prime minister to protest and demand that the words of sharia be respected.[5] The Prime minister answered by inviting them to the capital and present proof to him that the holy scripture indeed demanded the chadri.[5] When the clerics could not find such a passage, the Prime Minister declared that the female members of the royal family would no longer wear veils, as the Islamic law did not demand it.[5] While the chadri was never banned, the example of the Queen and the Prime Minister's wife was followed by the wives and daughters of government officials as well as several urban women of the upper- and middle class, with Kubra Noorzai and Masuma Esmati-Wardak known as the first pioneers among the common citizens.[5]

After this event, Queen Humaira participated in royal representational tasks and attended public functions unveiled. She engaged in charity and visited hospitals and public events.[citation needed]

Exile

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On 17 July 1973, while her husband was in Italy undergoing eye surgery as well as therapy for lumbago, his cousin and former Prime Minister Mohammed Daoud Khan, who had been removed from office by Zahir Shah a decade earlier, staged a coup d'état and established a republican government. In the August following this coup, Zahir Shah abdicated rather than risk an all-out civil war. Queen Humaira had remained in Afghanistan when her husband departed to Italy for his surgery, and was thus present in Afghanistan during the coup. She was not harmed, but kept in house arrest in her residence, as several other members of the royal family, until they were allowed to depart to join Zahir Shah in Italy.

Humaira and Zahir Shah spent their twenty-nine years in exile in Italy living in a relatively modest four-bedroom villa in the affluent community of Olgiata on Via Cassia, north of the city of Rome. The king had never put money into foreign bank accounts, and thus depended on the generosity of friends.

Death

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On 24 June 2002, just weeks before she was to return to Afghanistan and be reunited with her husband who recently had returned, Begum was admitted to hospital with breathing problems and heart trouble. She died two days later.[6]

Her body was returned to Afghanistan on 29 June, and was greeted at the airport by military personnel, tribal representatives in traditional robes, and cabinet ministers from Hamid Karzai's government. Memorial and funeral services were also held for her in two Kabul mosques. Her remains were buried in the Royal Mausoleum in Kabul.[7]

Honours

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National honours

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Foreign honours

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Ancestry

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References

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  1. ^ Englisch, Andreas (29 June 2002). "Homaira, Afghanistans Exil-Königin". Die Welt (in German). Archived from the original on 12 April 2019. Retrieved 8 January 2022. Homaira Begum Schah wurde am 24. Juli 1916 in Kabul geboren und starb am 26. Juni 2002 in Rom.
  2. ^ Soszynski, Henry. "AFGHANISTAN". members.iinet.net.au. Archived from the original on 13 August 2016. Retrieved 15 June 2016.
  3. ^ a b Robin Morgan: Sisterhood is Global: The International Women's Movement Anthology Archived 3 August 2021 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ Morgan, Robin (1996). Sisterhood is Global. Feminist Press. pp. 40. ISBN 1-55861-160-6.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Tamim Ansary (2012) Games without Rules: The Often-Interrupted History of Afghanistan Archived 3 August 2021 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ "Afghan king's wife dies in Rome". BBC News. 27 June 2002. Archived from the original on 9 January 2003. Retrieved 24 August 2008.
  7. ^ "Ex-queen buried in Afghanistan". BBC News. 30 June 2002. Archived from the original on 16 July 2004. Retrieved 24 August 2008.
  8. ^ "Photo". cloudfront.net. Archived from the original on 11 August 2017. Retrieved 11 August 2017.
  9. ^ "Photo". cloudfront.net. Archived from the original on 11 August 2017. Retrieved 11 August 2017.
  10. ^ "Afghan Queen Homeira (L), French Preside". Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
  11. ^ Bildung, Bundeszentrale für politische. "Deutschlands Engagement in Afghanistan - www.bpb.de". bpb.de. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
[edit]
Royal titles
Preceded by Queen consort of Afghanistan
1933–1973 		Monarchy abolished
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