Agha Khan: the Ismaili chief who held the British title of His Highness

In February 2025 Agha Khan IV died at the age of 88. He was the leader of the Shia Islami Muslims. The Ismails number around 10 million. They are therefore under 1% of Muslims worldwide. They are a sect within Shia Islam. His name was Karim Al Husseini. Agha Khan is a title, not a name.

Agha Khan claims descent from the Prophet Mohammed. The Agha Khan’s ancestors moved to Iran sometime after the life of Prophet Muhammed PBUH. In recent centuries they shifted to India.

In the 19th century, the British authorities recognised the hereditary chief of the Ismailis by granting him the title Agha Khan. Agha Khan I was the great-great-grandfather of Agha Khan IV. The title means roughly ‘master king’.

The Ismails mostly emigrated from India to the British colonies of Africa. It was in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and even South Africa that the Ismailis prospered as merchants. They donated huge sums to their leader.

Agha Khan IV was born in Switzerland. His father and grandfather had married white women who had converted to Islam. Therefore, Agha Khan IV was only a quarter ethnically Indian. He was British on his mother’s side. He grew up in the lap of luxury.

Agha Khan III proclaimed that his son would not succeed him. The title would pass to his grandson Agha Khan IV. That was because he said the next leader needed to be young and vigorous.

Agha Khan III spent most of his time in the 1930s in the United Kingdom. He was a staple of the gossip columnists.

Agha Khan IV was sent to Kenya in the 1940s to get him away from war-ravaged Europe. Switzerland was neutral but it was thought possible that Germany would invade it. As British subjects, the Agha Khan’s family would have been interned by the Germans.

The Ismaili community in Kenya was elated to play host to the heir to the Agha Khanship. After the Second World War Agha Khan IV enrolled at Institut Le Rosey in Switzerland. Le Rosey is the most expensive school in the world. It costs USD 150,000 per annum. They have a campus by Lake Geneva for sailing in the summer and one in Gstaad for skiing in the winter.

After school, he went to Harvard. He was an undergraduate when his father died. Karim Al Husseini was then declared Agha Khan IV.

The Shah of Iran had a very amicable relationship with Agha Khan IV. Both were Shia.

Queen Elizabeth II met Agha Khan on many occasions. He was a British citizen through his mother. He chose not to take Swiss citizenship since that would require military service. The UK accorded him the title His Highness. In the very colour-prejudiced society of the 1950s, his skin tone made him acceptable to all but the most bigoted.

Agha Khan IV divided his time between France, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. He owned many racehorses. His UK house is in Ascot: the site of the country’s most famous race course. He shared his love of equestrianism with the British Royal Family.

Agha Khan IV was allowed to represent Iran in the Olympics as a skier.

Despite being a supposed religious leader, he was lax in his Islamic observance. He was seen by some as a playboy.

At the age of 34, he got married. At the time this was positively geriatric. He wed a British aristocrat who bore him two children. Agha Khan IV divorced her. Then, he married a German who had previously been married to a German prince. Agha Khan IV had another son with his second wife. That marriage too was dissolved.

Agha Khan founded various charitable institutions. His benefactions were mostly for his own community. There is an Agha Khan Hospital.

Karim Agha Khan died in Lisbon, Portugal. He has been laid to rest in the same mausoleum as his grandfather in Aswan, Egypt.

Agha Khan V is an American educated man who is fascinated by marine biology. He is married to his second wife but has no children.