Hamidullah Khan GCSI GCIE CVO KStJ (9 September 1894 – 4 February 1960) was the last ruling Nawab of the princely salute state of Bhopal. He ruled from 1926 when his mother, Begum Kaikhusrau Jahan Begum, abdicated in his favor, until 1949 and held the honorific title until his death in 1960. A delegate to the Round Table Conference in London, he served as Chancellor of the Chamber of Princes from 1944 to 1947, when India became independent.
Hamidullah Khan | |
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Nawab of Bhopal | |
Reign | 20 April 1926 – 1 June 1949 |
Coronation | 9 June 1926 |
Predecessor | Kaikhusrau Jahan |
Successor | Monarchy abolished, Bhopal State created. |
Titular Nawab of Bhopal | |
Pretendence | 1 June 1949 – 4 February 1960 |
Successor | Sajida Sultan |
Born | 9 September 1894 |
Died | 4 February 1960 | (aged 65)
Mother | Kaikhusrau Jahan |
3rd President of BCCI | |
In office 1935–1937 | |
Preceded by | Sir Sikandar Hayat Khan |
Succeeded by | Sir K. S. Digvijaysinhji |
During the Second World War, Nawab Hamidullah was present at the Battle of Keren and the Battle of El Alamein. He was very close to Muhammad Ali Jinnah and on very good terms with Louis Mountbatten, Viceroy and Governor General of India. Despite pressure from Jinnah, he reluctantly agreed to have Bhopal join the Union of India.[1] He was succeeded by his second daughter, Sajida Sultan, Begum of Bhopal.[2]
Nawab Hamidullah Khan attended the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College (MAO College), now the Aligarh Muslim University, graduating in 1905 and Allahabad University, graduating with a BA in law in 1915.[3]
On 5 September 1925 at Peshawar, Nawab Hamidullah Khan married Maimoona Sultan Shah Banu Begum Sahiba (1900–1982), the great-great-granddaughter of Padshah Shuja Shah Durrani of Afghanistan. The couple had three daughters:
In 1947, he married Aftab Jahan Begum Sahiba (1919–2002), the daughter of a local Bhopali Muslim family. The couple had one daughter:
He remained the Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University from September 1930 to April 1935.[4]
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