Hamidullah Khan


Sir Hamidullah Khan was the last ruling Nawab of Bhopal, which merged with the state of Madhya Pradesh in 1956. 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 1944–1947, when India became independent. During the Second World War, Nawab Hamidullah Khan was present at the Battle of Keren and the Battle of El Alamein. Nawab Hamidullah, as he was popularly known was very close to Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan. He also had very good terms with Louis Mountbatten, Viceroy and Governor General of India. In spite of pressure from Jinnah, he reluctantly agreed to have Bhopal as a part of Indian Union. At his death, he left no sons and so was succeeded by his second daughter, Sajida Sultan, Begum of Bhopal.

Personal life

Nawab Hamidullah Khan attended MAO college graduating in 1905 and Allahabad University.
On 5 September 1925 at Peshawar, Nawab Hamidullah Khan married Maimoona Sultan Shah Banu Begum Sahiba, the great-great-granddaughter of Shah Shuja of Afghanistan. The couple had three daughters:
In 1947, he married Aftab Jahan Begum Sahiba, the daughter of a Bhopali Muslim Local Family. The couple had one daughter:
He remained the Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University from September 1930 to April 1935.

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