Abida Sultan

Abida Sultan Begum
Princess
Born	28 August 1913 Bhopal, British India
Died	11 May 2004 (aged 88) Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan
Burial	Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan
Spouse	Mohammad Sarwar Ali Khan
Issue	Shahryar Khan
House	Nawab of Bhopal
Father	Hamidullah Khan
Mother	Maimoona Sultan

Princess Suraya Jah, Nawab Gowhar-i-Taj, Abida Sultan Begum Sahiba (28 August 1913 – 11 May 2002) was the eldest daughter of Hamidullah Khan, the last Nawab of the Bhopal state, and his wife Begum Maimoona Sultan.

Life and family

Bhopal Royal Family: From left to right - Nawab Hamidullah Khan, his wife Maimoona Sultan, their daughters - Rabia Sultan, Abida Sultan, Sajida Sultan in London, 1932

Sultan is the daughter of Hamidullah Khan, the Nawab of Bhopal and Begum Maimoona Sultan. She was the second of three children; she had an older sister, Sajida Sultan, and a younger sister, Rabia Sultan. The Begum of Bhopal, Sultan Jahan, was her grandmother, and her predecessor Shah Jahan Begum was her great-grandmother. The cricketer Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi was his brother-in-law through his marriage to Sajida, and the cricketer Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi is her nephew.

In 1926 she married Nawab Mohammad Sarwar Ali Khan, ruler of Kurwai State. In 1928, she was recognized as the heiress apparent to the Bhopal throne. However, she gave up her right to the throne and migrated to the newly formed Pakistan in 1950.

In Pakistan, she joined the foreign service. Therefore, the Government of India excluded her from the succession and her younger sister Sajida succeeded her instead upon her father's death in 1960, although Abida Sultan contested the succession in court.

Abida Sultan had arrived in the newly created Pakistan at the age of 37, with a young son. She was to spend the greater part of her life in Pakistan. She died in Karachi in 2002. Her son, Shaharyar Khan, was to become the Foreign Secretary of Pakistan and then the Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board.