Personal Life
Iftikhar Ali Khan was born at Pataudi House in Delhi, into the family of the Nawabs of Pataudi, a small (137 square kilometres (53 sq mi)) non-salute princely state near Delhi, located in the present-day Indian state of Haryana. He was the elder son of Nawab Muhammad Ibrahim Ali Khan of Pataudi and his wife Shahar Bano Begum, daughter of a Nawab of Loharu. Thus he was related to great Urdu poet Mirza Ghalib as well as later day Pakistan prime minister Liaqat Ali Khan. He became Nawab on his father's death in 1917 and was formally installed as ruler in December 1931. His state became part of the newly independent India in 1948. After the Indian independence, he was employed in the Indian Foreign Office till the time of his death.
Educated at Chiefs' College (later renamed Aitchison College), Lahore, and at Balliol College, Oxford, Iftikhar married Begum Sajida Sultan, second daughter of Hamidullah Khan, last ruling Nawab of Bhopal, in 1939. Hamidullah Khan was to have been succeeded in the titles and privileges associated with the ruling house of Bhopal by his eldest daughter Abida Sultan, She emigrated to Pakistan in the aftermath of the partition of India. His voluntary accession of his state to India by going to Delhi has been recounted in V P Menon's book The story of Integration of Indian States. V P Menon remembered him as "Great Patriot who unfortunately died young". Sajida therefore succeeded her father and was recognised by the government of India as Begum of Bhopal in 1961. Upon her demise in 1995, her son Mansoor succeeded to the estates and titles associated with the Nawabs of Bhopal.
In addition to their son, Iftikhar and Sajida were also the parents of three daughters. Iftikhar died at Delhi of a heart attack while playing polo on 5 January 1952, also his son's eleventh birthday. His son succeeded him as the 9th Nawab of Pataudi, and later also served as captain of the Indian cricket team. Iftikhar was also the grandfather of Bollywood actors Saif Ali Khan and Soha Ali Khan. Now married.
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