Qajar dynasty


The Qajar dynasty is a formerly aristocratic Iranian dynasty that gained prominence with the rise of Shahverdi Qajar in the early 16th century as heads of the Turkoman Qajar tribe of the Qizilbash confederacy. The dynasty ruled Iran from 1789 until 1925, beginning with the Unification of Iran by Mohammad Khan Qajar.
The Russian branch of the Qajar dynasty belonged to the Russian Nobility and were given the titles Prince Persidskii and Princess Persidskaya by the Tsar in the 19th century, of which many members had held high functions in the Imperial Russian Army, such as Alexander Petrovich Reza Qoli Mirza Qajar.
The dynasty's effective rule in Iran ended in 1925 when Iran's Majlis, convening as a constituent assembly on 12 December 1925, declared Reza Shah, a former brigadier-general of the Persian Cossack Brigade, as the new shah of Iran, beginning the reign of the Pahlavi dynasty.

Head of the Qajar tribe

The Qajar dynasty, as the ruling lineage, held prominent positions as tribal heads long before establishing imperial rule, leveraging their military prowess and tribal alliances to unify the country amid post-Safavid chaos.
During the establishment of the Safavids. When Ismail led the 7,000 tribal soldiers on his successful expedition from Erzincan to Shirvan in 1500/1501, a contingent of Qajars was among them. After this, they emerged as a prominent group within the Qizilbash confederacy, who were made up of Turkoman warriors and served as the main force of the Safavid military. Despite being smaller than other tribes, the Qajars continued to play a major role in important events during the 16th century.
The immediate ancestor of the Qajar monarchs, Shah Qoli Khan of the Quvanlu of Ganja, married into the Quvanlu Qajars of Astarabad. His son, Fath Ali Khan was a renowned military commander during the rule of the Safavid shahs Sultan Husayn and Tahmasp II. He was killed in 1726. Fath Ali Khan's son Mohammad Hasan Khan Qajar was the father of Mohammad Khan Qajar and Hossein Qoli Khan, father of "Baba Khan," the future Fath-Ali Shah Qajar. Mohammad Hasan Khan was killed on the orders of Karim Khan of the Zand dynasty.

List of Qajar monarchs

Lifespan and reign of Qajar monarchs


Qajar imperial family

The Qajar Imperial Family in exile is currently headed by the eldest descendant of Mohammad Ali Shah, Sultan Mohammad Ali Mirza Qajar, while the Heir Presumptive to the Qajar throne is Mohammad Hassan Mirza II, the grandson of Mohammad Hassan Mirza, Sultan Ahmad Shah's brother and heir. Mohammad Hassan Mirza died in England in 1943, having proclaimed himself shah in exile in 1930 after the death of his brother in France.
Today, the descendants of the Qajars often identify themselves as such and hold reunions to stay socially acquainted through the Kadjar Family Association, often coinciding with the annual conferences and meetings of the
International Qajar Studies Association. The Kadjar Family Association was founded for a third time in 2000. Two earlier family associations were stopped because of political pressure. The offices and archives of IQSA are housed at the International Museum for Family History in Eijsden.

Qajar dynasty since 1925

; Heads of the Qajar imperial family
The headship of the Imperial Family is inherited by the eldest male descendant of Mohammad Ali Shah.
Extended Family
The shah and his consort were styled Imperial Majesty. Their children were addressed as Imperial Highness, while male-line grandchildren were entitled to the lower style of Highness; all of them bore the title of Shahzadeh or Shahzadeh Khanoum.
The Qajar Shahs also adopted grandiose titles that reflected their perceived divine authority and centrality in the Persian monarchy. These titles were not merely honorific but served to legitimize their rule amidst internal and external challenges, blending pre-Islamic, Islamic-Shi’i, and nomadic elements of Persian governance. Among these titles were;
  • Shahanshah of Iran
  • Zell'ollah
  • ''Qebleh-ye 'ālam ''

    Notable members

; Politics
File:Abdol Majid Mirza portrait.jpg|thumb|Abdol Majid Mirza, 14th and 20th prime minister of Iran
; Military
Religion
File:His Highness the Aga Khan .jpg|thumb|Aga Khan IV, The titles of Prince and Princess are used by the Aga Khans and their children by virtue of their descent from Shah Fath Ali Shah of the Qajar dynasty. The title was officially recognised by the British government in 1938.
; Women's rights
  • Princess Taj-al-Saltaneh Qajar, daughter of Naser-din-Shah, co-founder of the first Iranian women's rights movement Anjoman Naswan, author of a memoir, painter
  • Princess Mohtaram Eskandari, intellectual and pioneering figures in Iranian women's movement.
  • Iran Teymourtash, journalist, editor and publisher of the newspaper Rastakhiz, founder of an association for helping destitute women. Daughter of court minister Abdolhossein Teymourtash and through both her maternal grandparents a Qajar.
; Literature
Princess Taj-al-Saltaneh Qajar, daughter of Naser-din-Shah, First Iranian woman to write a memoir, co-founder of the first Iranian women's rights movement Anjoman Naswan, author of a memoir, painter
  • Prince Iraj, Iranian poet and translator
  • Sadegh Hedayat, a Qajar descendant through the female line
  • Anvar Khamei, the Iranian economist, politician, and sociologist.
; Entertainment
The Qajar dynasty is particularly noted for its extensive construction of royal residences across Iran, which served as the principal seats of power, diplomatic reception, and court life. The most prominent of these were the Golestan and Niavaran Palace Complexes in Tehran.

Mothers of the Qajar shahs