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Sir Sultan Mahommed Shah, The Aga Khan III (Persian: آغا خان الثالث), GCSI, GCMG, GCIE, GCVO, PC, (November 2, 1877 – July 11, 1957) was the 48th Imam of the Shia Ismaili Muslims. He was one of the founders and the first president of the All-India Muslim League, and served as President of the League of Nations from 1937-38.

Contents 1 Early Life 2 Career 3 Race horse owner 4 Marriages and children 5 Death and succession 6 See also 7 References 8 Additional reading 9 External Links

He was born in Karachi (then British India, now Pakistan) to Aga Khan II and his second wife, Nawab A'lia Shamsul-Muluk, who was a granddaughter of Fath Ali Shah of Persia (Qajar dynasty).

Under the care of his mother, he was given not only that religious and oriental education which his position as the religious leader of the Ismailis made indispensable, but a sound European training, a boon denied to his father and paternal grandfather. This blending of the two systems of education produced the happy result of fitting this Muslim chief in an eminent degree both for the sacerdotal functions which pertained to his spiritual position, and for those social duties required of a great and enlightened leader which he was called upon to discharge by virtue of his position. He also attended Eton and Cambridge University.^[1]

In 1885, at the young age of 7, he succeeded his father as Imam of the Shi'a Isma'ili Muslims.

The Aga Khan travelled in distant parts of the world to receive the homage of his followers, and with the object either of settling differences or of advancing their welfare by pecuniary help and personal advice and guidance. The distinction of a Knight Commander of the Indian Empire was conferred upon him by Queen Victoria in 1897 (and later Knight Grand Commander in 1902 by Edward VII) and he received like recognition for his public services from the German emperor, the sultan of Turkey, the shah of Persia and other potentates.

In 1906, the Aga Khan was a founding member and first president of the All India Muslim League.

In 1934 he was made a member of the Privy Council and served as a member of the League of Nations (1934-37), becoming the President of the League of Nations in 1937.

He was made a Knight of the Indian Empire by Queen Victoria, a Grand Commander of the Indian Empire by Edward VII (1902), and a Knight Grand Commander of the Indian Empire by George V (1912).

He was an owner of thoroughbred racing horses, including five winners of the Epsom Derby.

• He married, on 2 November 1896, in Poona, India, Shahzadi Begum, his first cousin and a granddaughter of Aga Khan I.

• He married, in 1908 (Mutah form of marriage) and 1923 (legally), Cleope Teresa Magliano (1888-1926), a dancer with the Ballet Opera of Monte Carlo. They had two sons: Giuseppe Mahdi Khan (d. February 1911) and Ali Solomone Khan (1911-1960)^[2]

• He married, on 7 December 1929 (civil), in Aix-les-Bains, France, and 13 December 1929 (religious), in Bombay, India, Andrée Joséphine Carron (1898 - 1976). A former saleswoman in a candy store and a co-owner of a hat shop, she became known as Princess Andrée Aga Khan. She did not convert to Islam.^[3] By this marriage, he had one son, Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan, in 1933.^[4] The couple were divorced in 1943.^[5]

• He married, on 9 October 1944, in Geneva, Switzerland, Yvonne Blanche Labrousse (February 1906 - 1 July 2000).^[6] The daughter of a tram conductor and a dressmaker, she was working as the Aga Khan's social secretary at the time of their marriage. She had been "Miss Lyon 1929" and "Miss France 1930".^[7] She converted to Islam and became known as Umm Habiba (Little Mother of the Beloved). In 1954, her husband named her "Mata Salamat" (Spiritual Mother)^[8]

The Aga Khan's will bypassed his sons Aly Khan and Sadruddin Aga Khan, in favour of his grandson Karim Aga Khan, to succeed him as 'Aga Khan' and Imam of the Ismaili Muslims. It was the first time in the Ismaili sect's 1,300-year-history that such a generational skip had taken place. At the time of his death on July 11, 1957, his family members were in Geneva. A solicitor brought the will of the Aga Khan III from London to Geneva and read it before the family:

"Ever since the time of my ancestor Ali, the first Imam, that is to say over a period of thirteen hundred years, it has always been the tradition of our family that each Imam chooses his successor at his absolute and unfettered discretion from amongst any of his descendants, whether they be sons or remote male issue and in these circumstances and in view of the fundamentally altered conditions in the world in very recent years due to the great changes which have taken place including the discoveries of atomic science, I am convinced that it is in the best interest of the Shia Muslim Ismailia Community that I should be succeeded by a young man who has been brought up and developed during recent years and in the midst of the new age and who brings a new outlook on life to his office as Imam. For these reasons, I appoint my grandson Karim, the son of my own son, Aly Salomone Khan to succeed to the title of Aga Khan and to the Imam and Pir of all Shia Ismailian followers."

He is buried in Aswan, Egypt at the Mausoleum of Aga Khan.

• Fatimids
• Nizari
• Aga Khan
• Aga Khan Palace

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

• Daftary, F., "The Isma'ilis: Their History and Doctrines" Cambridge University Press, 1990.
• Naoroji M. Dumasia, A Brief History of the Aga Khan (1903).
• Aga Khan III, "Memoirs of Aga Khan: World Enough and Time", London: Cassel & Company, 1954; published same year in the United States by Simon & Schuster.
• Anne Edwards, "Throne of Gold: The Lives of the Aga Khans", NY: William Morrow, 1996

• Video Clip from the History Channel website

Preceded by Aga Khan II

Aga Khan 1885–1957

Succeeded by Aga Khan IV

Presidents of the League of Nations

Paul Hymans (1920–21) • Herman Adriaan van Karnebeek (1921–22) • Augustin Edwards (1922–23) • Cosme de la Torriente y Peraza (1923–24) • Giuseppe Motta (1924–25) • Raoul Dandurand (1925–26) • Afonso Costa (1926) • Momčilo Ninčić (1926–27) • Alberto Guani (1927–28) • Herluf Zahle (1928–29) • Jose Gustavo Guerrero (1929–30) • Nicolae Titulescu (1930–32) • Paul Hymans (1932–33) • Charles Theodore Te Water (1933–34) • Richard Johannes Sandler (1934) • Francisco Castillo Najera (1934–35) • Edvard Beneš (1935–36) • Carlos Saavedra Lamas (1936–37) • Tevfik Rustu Aras (1937) • Aga Khan III (1937–38) • Éamon de Valera (1938–39) • Carl Joachim Hambro (1939–40, 1946)