Humaira Begum

Infobox Monarch|royal|consort
name = Humaira Begum
title = Queen of Afghanistan


consortreign = 8 November 1933 - 17 July 1973
spouse = Mohammed Zahir Shah‎
father = Sardar Ahmad Shah Khan
mother = Zarin Begum
date of birth = 1918
place of birth =
date of death = 27 June 2002
place of death = Rome|

Humaira Begum (1918 ndash 27 June 2002) was the wife of Mohammed Zahir Shah‎ and the last Queen consort of Afghanistan

Marriage

Humaira Begum was the daughter Sardar Ahmad Shah Khan and his first wife Zarin Begum. She married her cousin the Crown Prince of Afghanistan Mohammed Zahir on 7 November 1931. Together they had six sons and two daughters.
# Princess Bilqis Begum (born 17 April 1932)
# Crown Prince Muhammed Akbar Khan (4 August 1933 - 26 November 1942)
# Crown Prince Ahmad Shah (born 23 September 1934)
# Princess Maryam Begum (born 2 November, 1936)
# Prince Muhammed Nadir Khan (born 21 May, 1941)
# Prince Shah Mahmoud Khan (15 November 1946 - 7 December, 2002)
# Prince Muhammed Daoud Pashtunyar Khan (born 14 April, 1949)
# Prince Mir Wais Khan (born 7 January, 1957)

Queen of Afghanistan

On 8 November 1933 after the assassination of her father in law Mohammed Nadir Shah her husband was proclaimed King and Humaira became Queen consort of Afghanistan.

In 1946 Queen Humaira created the "Women's Society" which was the first ever women's institute in Afghanistan. In 1959 she supported the call by the Prime minister Mohammed Daoud Khan for women to voluntary removal the veil by removing her own. [cite book |title=Sisterhood is Global |last=Morgan |first=Robin |year=1996 |publisher=Feminist Press |isbn=1558611606 |pages=40 ]

Exile

In 1973, while her husband Mohammed Zahir Shah was in Italy undergoing eye surgery as well as therapy for lumbago, his cousin and former Prime Minister Mohammed Daoud Khan staged a coup d'état and established a republican government. Daoud Khan had been removed from office by Zahir Shah a decade earlier. In the August following this coup, Zahir Shah abdicated rather than risk an all-out civil war.

Humaira and Zahir Shah spent their twenty-nine years in exile in Italy living in a modest four-bedroom villa in the affluent community of Olgiata on Via Cassia, north of the city of Rome.

Death

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 and died two days later. [cite news |title=Afghan king's wife dies in Rome |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/2068848.stm |publisher=BBC |date=2002-06-27 |accessdate=2008-08-24 ]

Her body was returned to Afghanistan 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. [cite news |title=Ex-queen buried in Afghanistan |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/2075756.stm |publisher=BBC |date=2002-06-30 |accessdate=2008-08-24 ]

References

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