Hyderabad: Like his financial dealings, his personal life too was not a bed of roses. Prince Mukarram Jah Bahadur, grandson of the 7th Nizam, who died the other day, often found himself neck deep in problems with money running out thanks to his lavish lifestyle. At one point of time his profligacy pushed him to the brink of bankruptcy. His numerous warring wives only added to his personal and financial troubles.
His arrogance and ostentatious ways, sources say, almost wiped out the famed riches of the Asaf Jahi dynasty whose wealth was believed to be greater than the British royal family. This is because the person on whom he depended for advice proved to be his nemesis. Far from helping him streamline his financial affairs, they made him a pauper prince. One by one the titular Nizam lost control over his numerous palaces – Falaknuma, Chowmahala, Purani Haveli, King Kothi, Chiran and the Cedars palace in Ooty.
His financial status looked up when he hit the jackpot when he laid hands on the major share of Rs. 218.32 crore paid by the Government of India towards purchase of the priceless Nizam’s jewellery in 1995. The jewellery collection would have easily fetched a staggering Rs. 1000 crore in international auction. But the Nizam’s family was prevented from selling it outside the country. This apart the numerous claimants of the extended royal family to the fortune and the subsequent court cases left him high and dry.
On a personal level too, the much-married prince was in deep trouble. He entered into matrimonial alliance with five women from whom he has seven sons and two daughters. The flamboyant prince first married Esra Birgin of Turkey whom he divorced later. She straightened his tangled financial affair to a great extent and bore him two children – Prince Azmath Jah, a well known photographer based in London and Princess Shekhyar Jah.
Helen Simmons, renamed Ayesha, was the next woman to come into his life. A one-time air-hostess and a staffer of the BBC drama division, Helen was a vivacious blonde. Their marriage was a hunky-dory affair for a decade till they separated in 1987. Though she died later of cervical cancer, she is believed to have cost Mukarram Jah half a billion dollars in alimony for the upkeep of their two sons – Azam and Omer. After some time he got possession of his kids who were living with Helen’s sister, Ronda.
Cupid struck Mukarram Jah for the third time when he was bowled over by the two-time Miss Turkey, Manolya Onur. He married her in August 1990. This marriage with the 35-year old divorcee was the culmination of a two-year long torrid romance. After the death of his second wife, the prince was stated to have gone through a solitary phase and visited Turkey, the birth place of his maternal grandparents. Here he met Onur at a party. It was love at first sight.
Mukarram Jah has a daughter from Onur named Niloufer Elif Jah. But as ill luck would have it, this marriage also turned sour when they differed on the question of domicile. Onur was adamant that they settle down in Istanbul while the prince wanted to shuttle between Australia and Hyderabad. What followed was a royal row and both preferred to stay separated. The marriage went on the rocks when Onur discovered that the prince charming was having an affair with a Moroccan maiden, Jameela Boularous.
The prince met his fourth wife in Singapore and took an instant liking for her. Back home in Hyderabad they married on August 28, 1993 at the Chiran Palace in the presence of a few close friends and palace employees. Later he parted ways with her too.
Love, they say, is like measles – all the worse when it comes late in life. The irrepressible prince married for the fifth time. This time to Ayesha Arkide, an aristocratic Turkish beauty. Surprisingly, he did not keep this marriage a hush-hush affair. Two days after the nikah he threw a party at the picturesque Chowmohalla palace. Then state governor, Krishan Kant and his wife, Suman Krishan Kant, were among the dignitaries who attended the party. Some of his marriages, it is said, were stormy affairs and he was dragged to court by his ex wives. They found him a difficult person to handle.
While the dalliance of royalty baffles one, it confirms the continued appeal and durability of Mukarram Jah. However, many Hyderabadis are disillusioned with the amorous ways of the prince and also at the way he threw away the Asaf Jahi fortune.
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