Humaira Begum

Humaira Begum (; 24 July 1918 – 26 June 2002) was the wife and first cousin of King Zahir and the last Queen of Afghanistan.

Marriage

Humaira Begum was the daughter of Sardar Ahmad Shah Khan, brother of the royal consort Mah Parwar Begum and Minister of the Royal Court, and his first wife Zarin Begum, who was cousin of King Amanullah Khan and eldest daughter of General H.E. Loinab Khush Dil Khan, Governor of Kabul and Kandahar. She married her first cousin, the Crown Prince of Afghanistan Mohammed Zahir on 7 November 1931 in Kabul, at the age of 13.

Mohammed Zahir Shah and Humaira Begum had six sons and two daughters:

Princess Bilqis Begum (born 17 April 1932). Prince Muhammed Akbar Khan (4 August 1933 – 26 November 1942). Crown Prince Ahmad Shah (23 September 1934 – 4 June 2024). Princess Maryam Begum (2 November 1936 – 25 December 2021). Prince Muhammed Nadir Khan (21 May 1941 – 3 April 2022). Prince Shah Mahmoud Khan (15 November 1946 – 7 December 2002). Prince Muhammed Daoud Pashtunyar Khan (born 14 April 1949). Prince Mir Wais Khan (7 January 1957 – 29 September 2023).

Queen of Afghanistan

On 8 November 1933, she became Queen of Afghanistan when her husband was proclaimed king after the assassination of her father-in-law, King Mohammad Nadir Shah.

During the first part of her husband's reign, Queen Humaira did not play a big public role. King Amanullah had been deposed in 1929 because of discontent partially caused by the example of Queen Soraya Tarzi, who appeared in public with her husband unveiled, and his successor reinstated the veil and gender seclusion. During the 1930s, the royal women continued to dress in Western fashion inside the enclosed royal palace compound of Kabul, but reverted to covering themselves in the traditional veil when they left the royal compound, and no longer showed themselves in public.

This changed after the Second World War, when modernization reforms were seen as necessary by the government, including reforms in women's position. In 1946, Queen Humaira became the protector of the newly founded Women's Welfare Association, which was the first-ever Women's Institute in Afghanistan, and signified resuming the women's movement.

In 1959, she supported the call by prime minister Mohammed Daoud Khan for women to voluntary remove their veil by removing her own. This was a big event in the history of women in Afghanistan, and it was also an intentional part of the women's emancipation policy of the Daoud government at that time. The step was carefully prepared by introducing women workers at the Radio Kabul in 1957, sending women delegates to the Asian Women's Conference in Kairo, and employing forty girls to the government pottery factory in 1958.

Her body was returned to Afghanistan on 29 June, and was greeted at the airport by military personnel, tribal representatives in traditional robes, and cabinet ministers from Hamid Karzai's government. Memorial and funeral services were also held for her in two Kabul mosques. Her remains were buried in the Royal Mausoleum in Kabul.

Honours

National honours

Foreign honours Grand Cross of the Order of the Legion of Honour Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, Special Issue Iranian imperial family: Dame Grand Cordon of the Imperial Order of the Pleiades, 1st Class Paulownia Dame Grand Cordon of the Order of the Precious Crown

Ancestry