Aly Khan | |
|---|---|
 Aly Khan in 1949 | |
| Personal life | |
| Born | (1911-06-13)13 June 1911 Turin, Italy |
| Died | 12 May 1960(1960-05-12) (aged 48) Suresnes, France |
| Resting place | Salamiyah, Syria |
| Nationality | British India (pre-1947) Pakistani (post-1947) |
| Spouse | |
| Children | |
| Parents |
|
| Religious life | |
| Religion | NizariIsmailiShia Islam |
Aly Salomone Khan (13 June 1911 – 12 May 1960) was aPakistaniIsmailisayyid who served as Pakistan's ambassador to the United Nations. He was the son ofSultan Muhammad Shah (Aga Khan III), and the father ofKarim al-Husseini (Aga Khan IV).
A socialite, racehorse owner and jockey, he was the third husband of actressRita Hayworth. After being passed over for succession as theAga Khan, he served as thePermanent Representative of Pakistan to the United Nations from 1958 to 1960, where he became a vice president of the General Assembly.
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Aly Khan was born inTurin, Italy, the younger son and only surviving child of Sultan Mohammad Shah (who served as the titularAga Khan III) and Cleofe Catterina Teresa "Ginetta" Magliano. His father was born inKarachi,British India (now in modern-day Pakistan). His mother was Italian. His paternal grandparents were born in Iran. He had two brothers: Mohammed Mahdi Khan, known as "Giuseppe" (who died in 1911) and, by his father's third marriage,Sadruddin Aga Khan.[1] Aly Khan was educated by private tutors in India and France during his childhood. He later trained in England as a lawyer.[2] As a 12-year-old boy, he knewOrson Welles, who was approximately four years younger. Years later, Welles and Khan would both go on to marryRita Hayworth, becoming her second and third husband, respectively.
In 1939, Aly Aga Khan joined theFrench Foreign Legion and served with its cavalry division in Egypt and the Middle East. In 1940, he joined theRoyal Wiltshire Yeomanry, becoming a lieutenant colonel in 1944. That same year, he participated in theAllied landing in the south of France with the United States Seventh Army, serving as a liaison officer with the rank of captain; for this, he was made an officer in theLegion of Honour in 1950.[3]
He also was awarded theCroix de Guerre and the United StatesBronze Star Medal.[4]
Aly was installed as the 1st Colonel of the Regiment of the newly raised 4 Cavalry Regiment (1 November 1956), Pakistani Army in a military ceremony during 1957 and he retained this honor until his death.
In November 1957 Aly Khan met PresidentIskander Mirza of Pakistan and was offered a post as the country's Ambassador to the United Nations. The formal announcement of the appointment was made on 6 February 1958.[5]
As a member of the United NationsPolitical and Security Committee representing Pakistan, Aly Khan's brief U.N. posting was viewed with surprise by many observers, some of whom considered him "the Asian-African answer toIrene Dunne", an American movie star not known for her political skills; Dunne had recently been designated a member of the United States delegation at General Assembly, largely in recognition of herRepublican fundraising efforts.
He was elected as vice president of theUnited Nations General Assembly on 17 September 1958 and also served as chairman of the U.N.'s Peace Observation Committee.
Aly Khan was famously a man-about-town in his youth. "I had been involved with several women", he gamely told a reporter when asked about his life. His list of affairs included high-profile lovers such as the British debutanteMargaret Whigham, later Duchess of Argyll,Thelma, Viscountess Furness, an American who was simultaneously involved withthe Prince of Wales,[6] British entertainerJoyce Grenfell[7] and British socialite and hostessPat Marlowe.[8] Of his first wife, he remarked, "I was tired of trouble. Joan was a sane and solid girl, and I thought if I married her, I would stay out of trouble."[9]
Aly Khan was namedco-respondent in theGuinness v Guinness and Khan divorce suit betweenJoan Barbara Guinness (née Yarde-Buller, 1908–1997; daughter ofJohn Reginald Lopes Yarde-Buller, 3rd Baron Churston), andGroup CaptainThomas Loel GuinnessMP, a scion of theGuinness Brewery family. In 1935, Guinness sued for divorce, naming Aly Khan as the "third party", he cited as evidence that his wife and Aly Khan had occupied a hotel room together from 17 May until 20 May 1935, and that his wife had told him that she "had formed an attachment for (Aly Khan) and desired her husband to divorce her". The case was uncontested, and Aly Khan was ordered to pay all costs.[10]
Aly Khan and Joan Barbara Guinness were married in Paris on 18 May 1936, a few days after Joan Guinness's divorce became absolute. Before the wedding, the bride converted toIslam and took the nameTaj-ud-dawlah or "crown of the realm". The couple's first child,Karim al-Husseini, was born inGeneva seven months later, on 13 December 1936, and is said to have been a premature child.[citation needed] The couple also had a second son, Amyn Muhammad Aga Khan, who was also born premature at seven months the following year. Joan Barbara also had a son by her previous marriage, Patrick Guinness.
Aly Khan and Joan Barbara were divorced in 1949, in part due to his extramarital affairs with, among others,Pamela Churchill.[11] After the divorce, Joan Barbara became the longtime mistress and eventual wife of the newspaper magnateSeymour Berry, 2nd Viscount Camrose. Aly Khan married American actressRita Hayworth within weeks of his divorce.
On 27 May (civil) and 28 May (religious) 1949,[citation needed] inCannes,France, Aly Khan married American film starRita Hayworth, who left her film career to marry him.
Aly Khan and his family were heavily involved in horse racing, owning and racing horses. Hayworth had no interest in the sport, but became a member of theDel Mar Thoroughbred Club anyway. Her filly, Double Rose, won several races in France and finished second in the 1949Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.[12]
In 1951, while still married to Hayworth, Khan was spotted dancing with the actressJoan Fontaine in the nightclub where he and his wife had met. Hayworth threatened to divorce him inReno,Nevada, US. In early May, Hayworth moved to Nevada to establish legal residence to qualify for a divorce. She stayed atLake Tahoe, Nevada with their daughter, saying there was a threat the child would be kidnapped. Hayworth filed for divorce from Khan on 2 September 1951, on the grounds of "extreme cruelty, entirely mental in nature."[13]
Hayworth once said she might convert to Islam, but did not.[14] During the custody fight over their daughter,Yasmin Aga Khan, born(1949-12-26)26 December 1949, Aly said he wanted her raised as aMuslim; Hayworth (who was raised aRoman Catholic) wanted the child to be aChristian.[15]
Aly Khan and Rita Hayworth divorced in 1953. Hayworth rejected his offer of $1,000,000 if she would raise Yasmin in the Muslim faith from age seven and allow her to go to Europe to visit with him for two or three months each year. Hayworth said:
Nothing will make me give up Yasmin's chance to live here in America among our precious freedoms and habits ... While I respect the Muslim faith and all other faiths it is my earnest wish that my daughter be raised as a normal, healthy American girl in the Christian faith. There isn't any amount of money in the entire world for which it is worth sacrificing this child's privilege of living as a normal Christian girl here in the United States. There just isn't anything else in the world that can compare with her sacred chance to do that. And I'm going to give it to Yasmin regardless of what it costs.[16]
While still married to Hayworth, Khan began a relationship with Americanfilm andstage actressGene Tierney, whom he was engaged to marry in 1952; while Tierney mentioned their engagement a few times, it was never formally announced. His father, however, strongly opposed the union with another Hollywood actress. After a year-long engagement, Tierney separated from Aly and moved back to the United States to tend to her mental health.[17][18] In the late 1950s Aly was known to start dating thefashion modelSimone Micheline Bodin (who called herselfBettina Graziani). She was persuaded by Aly Khan to retire from modelling and settle down. By 1960, Bettina and Aly were engaged and expecting a child, whom she miscarried after being in a car accident.[19][20]
On 12 July 1957, upon the reading of the will of theAga Khan III, Aly Khan's eldest son, Karim Aga Khan, then a junior atHarvard University, was namedAga Khan IV and49th Imam of theIsmailis. It was the second time that the descent from father to son was circumvented in the community's 1,300-year history.[21] According to the Aga Khan's will, a statement of which was presented to the press by his secretary:
In view of the fundamentally altered conditions in the world in very recent years due to the great changes that have taken place, including the discoveries of atomic science, I am convinced that it is in the best interests of the Shia Muslim Ismaili 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.[21]
Aly Khan was the owner and breeder of racehorses in France, England and Ireland.Noel Murless the Champion Trainer on multiple occasions in England told his biographer "Apart from his immense charm, Aly was also highly intelligent, a first-class judge of a horse and of form and breeding. It is probably fair to say that, with his experience of international racing, he was the best judge of collateral form in the world, and his flair for pedigrees was unique."[22]
Aga Khan III was a prominent Racehorse owner and breeder. After the second world war, Aly Khan bought a half share in his father's racing interests. Early success for the partnership led to them heading the list of winning breeders from 1947 to 1949 and 1952.[23]
On 12 May 1960, a little more than two years after his appointment as Pakistan's Ambassador to the UN, Aly Khan sustained catastrophic head injuries in an automobile accident inSuresnes, France, a suburb of Paris, when the car he was driving collided with another vehicle at the intersection of boulevard Henri Sellier and rue du Mont Valerien, while he and his pregnant fiancée,Bettina, were heading to a party. He died shortly afterward atFoch Hospital (in Suresnes). Bettina survived with a minor injury to her forehead, though the shock of the accident resulted in a miscarriage. Aly's chauffeur, who was in the back seat, also survived, as did the driver of the oncoming car.[24]
Aly Khan was buried on the grounds ofchâteau de l'Horizon, his home in thesouth of France, where it was intended that he would remain until a mausoleum was built for him in Syria.[25] His remains were removed toDamascus, Syria, on 11 July 1972, and he was reinterred inSalamiyah, Syria.
His fortune went almost entirely to his children. The only beneficiaries of his will outside family and employees were Bettina, who received a US$280,000 bequest,[26] Lord Astor (one of his closest friends) and Sybilla Szczeniowska (a woman he met initially in Cairo in 1941) and her son Marek who received $14,000 and $56,000 respectively.[27]
Writing in The Times a few days after his deathLord Astor paid him a tribute. "If one only knew Aly Khan by repute it was easy to preconceive a dislike towards him. When one met him it was impossible not to be stimulated and attracted by his charm, his perfect manners, his vitality, his gaiety and sense of fun. But if you were fortunate enough to know him really well, and have him as a friend, you acquired a friendship which was incomparable - generous, imaginative, enduring and almost passionately warm."[28]
Due to his well-publicized romances, Aly Khan was mentioned in a verse ofNoël Coward's 1950s lyrics forCole Porter's 1928 song "Let's Do It, Let's Fall in Love": "Monkeys whenever you look do it / Aly Khan andKing Farouk do it / Let's do it, let's fall in love."
Lucille P. Markey, owner ofCalumet FarmThoroughbred racing stable inLexington, Kentucky, named one of her outstandingcolts, "Alydar" in his honor because she always addressed him as, "Aly Darling".
In the 20 May 2012 episode ofMad Men, Don Draper mentions that he thought Joan Harris was seeing Aly Khan, given the frequency of flower deliveries to her office. Later on in the episode, Joan Harris receives a bouquet of red roses (purportedly from Don Draper) with a note that says "Your mother did a good job – Ali Khan."
In aHoneymooners episode titled "The Golfer", which first aired on 15 October 1955, Alice Kramden – when her husband Ralph needs an excuse to not go golfing with his boss – exclaims, "Sure, you can always tell him you're going tiger hunting with Aly Khan."
He also appears inDominick Dunne's novelThe Two Mrs. Grenvilles, published in 1985.
| Diplomatic posts | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Pakistan Ambassador to the United Nations February 1958– May 1960 | Succeeded by |
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