Iraj Mirza - Life

Life

Iraj was born in October 1874 in Tabriz, the capital city of East Azarbaijan province in Iran. His Pedigree chart shows that he was a descendant of Fath Ali Shah Qajar, the second shah of Qajar dynasty (reigned 1797–1834). His Father, prince Gholam Hossein Mirza was son of prince Malek Iraj Mirza son of Fat'h Ali Shah Qajar

Gholam Hossein Mirza, Iraj's father, was a poet laureate or the official court-poet of Mozaffar al-Din Mirza. Mozaffar al-Din Mirza, the son of Nasser-al-Din Shah (the fourth shah of Qajar dynasty reigned 1848–1896), was the Crown Prince (in Persian: Vali-Ahd) of Iran at the time. (As a tradition, all Crown Princes during Qajar era used to reside in Tabriz). Though some literatures indicate that Iraj was schooled privately, there are reliable evidences that he studied at a branch of the House of Sciences and Techniques (in Persian: Darolfonoon) in Tabriz. At 15, he was fluent in French, Arabic and Turkish. He was also familiar with the art of calligraphy. His handwriting was very artistic and he was and still is considered as one of the famous calligraphers of Iran. At 16, Iraj got married and at 19 he lost both his father and wife. He then took the position of his late father and became the court-poet of Mozaffar al-Din Mirza . At 22, when Mozaffar al-Din Mirza was succeeded to the throne in 1896 and became Mozaffar al-Din Shah; Iraj was titled as the Head of Poets (in Persian: Sadrol-Shaaeryn or Sadrol-Show-Araa). He was then titled as Jalal-ol-mamalek.

Few years later, however, he left the royal court and joined the Tabriz office of Ali Khan Amindowleh AKA) who was the governor of East Azarbaijan. At this time Iraj learned French and became very much familiar with Russian too. In 1905, when AKA was relocated and moved to Tehran, Iraj also accompanied him and soon became involved in the Iranian or Persian Constitutional Revolution. In 1907 when Ahmad Ghavam Saltaneh (AGS), a governmental authority, was assigned to go to Europe, Iraj was asked to join AGS. Two years later, Iraj returned to Tehran where he started to work as a staff member of the Office of Official Compositions (in Persian: Daarol-en-Shaa). In 1915, his first son, Ja'afar Gholi Mirza, due to some psychological problems committed suicide.

In 1917, Iraj joined the newly established Ministry of Culture, and three years later he was transferred to the Ministry of Finance and Revenue. From 1920 to 1925 he worked as a Revenue Officer in Mashhad (the capital city of Razavi Khorasan, a province in northeast of Iran). At 52, Iraj moved back to Tehran where he died on March 14, 1926. He was survived by his second son, Khosrow Iraj.