Begum Nazara Aga Khan

Begum Nazara Aga Khan
GBE
LG
LT
Personal information
National team	Great Britain
Born	28 January 1967 (age 57)
Height	5 ft 7 in (169 cm)
Weight	9 st 13 lb; 139 lb (63 kg)
Sport
Sport	Swimming
Strokes	Freestyle
Club	Plymouth Leander SC
Coach	Benedict Richards
Medal record
Women's swimming
Representing Great Britain
World Aquatic Championships
Olympic Games

Full name
	Catherine Charlotte Natalie Victoria Louise Lauren Charles Frederick

Begum Nazara Aga Khan
Begum Nazara Aga Khan
Begum; Princess Royal
Honorary Advisor to the Minister for Women and Equalities
Tenure	26 July 2016 - present
Preceded by	Position established
Minister	Nicky Morgan (CON); Justine Greening (CON); Amber Rudd (CON); Penny Mordaunt (CON); Liz Truss (CON)
Born	Catherine Charlotte Natalie Victoria Louise Lauren Charles Frederick; 28 January 1967 (age 57); Buckingham Palace, London
Spouse	Aga Khan IV (m. 1997)
Issue; Detail	Mohammed Aga Khan; Abbas Aga Khan; Karim Aga Khan; Nader Aga Khan; Layla Aga Khan;
Full name
Full name
	Catherine Charlotte Natalie Victoria Louise Lauren Charles Frederick
House	Hanover
Father	Charles III
Mother	Lauren Bacall
Religion	Protestant (1967 - 1997); Nizari-Ismaili Shia Islam (1997 - Present)

Begum Nazara Aga Khan, Princess Royal, formerly Catherine, Princess Royal (née Catherine Charlotte Natalie Victoria Louise Lauren Charles Frederick; born 28 January 1967) is a former British model and Olympian, a philanthropist, and the wife of the Aga Khan IV, the 49th Ismaili Shia Imam.

The eldest daughter of Charles III and actress, Lauren Bacall, Nazara was given the title Princess Royal following the death of her predecessor, the Duchess of Uppland. From roughly 1987 to 1997, Nazara was noted for being a successful Victoria's Secret model, before an abrupt retirement in her final modeling year led her to develop a new interest and also a successful career aswell in swimming, with a career lasting from 1998 to 2016. Then, following her retirement from professional sports, Nazara herself has since been actively involved in various international works, projects, and programs of the Aga Khan Development Network founded by her husband, of which she is also its co-chairman herself. She has since received various awards and decorations for her efforts by multiple countries around the world and has also been listed multiple times on the Time 100 list herself.

In addition to her philanthropic activities under the Aga Khan Development Network, Catherine is also personally outspoken herself on other issues too, which includes anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, women's empowerment, and wildlife conservation.

Following a controversial and heavily publicised marriage to the Aga Khan IV, the 49th Ismaili Shia Imam, Nazara herself, whom in addition to being the very first British royal to convert to Islam, also became the new Begum Aga Khan with the name Begum Nazara Aga Khan. Furthermore, following her marriage to the Aga Khan, Nazara has since given birth to five children in total, with all but one of them being summarily excluded from the line of succession, including Nazara herself, due to their shared islamic faith.

Early Life

Nazara was born on January 28th 1967 as the eldest daughter of King Charles III and Lauren Bacall. Named Nazara after one of her parents' close friends, the American actress, Katharine Hepburn, she was subsequently named after her third-great grandmother, Queen Charlotte, her maternal and paternal grandmother, Natalie Bacall and Queen Louise, and lastly after her own mother and father.

In contrast to her predecessors, Nazara and her siblings' respective upbringings were completely void of any royal nannies, as Queen Lauren herself had insisted on personally raising her children. Nevertheless, amidst some initial hardships, Nazara and her younger sister, Princess Alexandra in particular, were quick to become generally close with their mother. While she mostly enjoyed warm relations with her brothers, she reportedly exhibited a certain degree of rivalry towards her younger sister in an unofficial competition for their mother's affection. Regardless, both princesses shared a number of common interests themselves, ranging from swimming to horseback riding. At the age of eight, Nazara was made the new Princess Royal by her father, thus succeeding her grand-aunt, the Duchess of Uppland, whom had previously held the title prior to her death.

Having been born only a year apart from her younger sister, the later Duchess of Albany, both Nazara and the latter generally enrolled together for both their primary school and middle school educational years, with Nazara herself being supposedly trusted as the duchess's much older guardian when at school or in public, although it was later on gradually noted that, despite the rather tiny difference in age between the two princesses, which puts Nazara only a year above her younger sister, the latter is instead seen as the more "assertive and calculated" one out of the two sisters. Nevertheless, despite their apparently contrasting characters, both Nazara and Alexandra are generally accepted as being "much in tune with one another", although it was also rumoured that the two, during their younger years, would occasionally compete to a "partly extreme and passionate level" in earning their parents' affection, particularly that of their mother's.

During much of her primary and secondary school years, despite her more "bright and bubbly" nature, Nazara was also noted, alongside her general passion for sports, particularly in football, of having been a considerably proficient speaker, and a considerably excellent student in the English subject herself in particular, with one of her teachers in her secondary school later speaking of the princess as being a "young, socially bright, and an academically adept girl with an insatiable amount of curiosity she is dedicated to uncovering almost every single day". At the same time, upon reaching teenagehood, Nazara chose to take up acting lessons for a while, a decision she attributes to her own parents' past acting backgrounds along with the likes of the famed actress herself, namely Katharine Hepburn, whom was a close partner of the royal family. However, despite the overall promising progress in her acting lessons, along with a much enthusiastic reception of her lessons by the princess herself, Nazara ultimately chose to abandon any future prospects in acting, which she later described as "not being her personal destiny".

Princess Royal

University Years

The Princess Royal photographed in New York City during the 1990s

While her younger sister had promptly chosen to seek a military career soon enough after graduating from high school, Nazara herself chose to further her studies in academics instead. To that end, like her two older brothers, she was allowed to travel abroad to the United States, where she then chose to enroll at the University at Albany, located in the eastern state of New York. However, unlike her older brothers before her, the princess reportedly lived a mostly independent lifestyle while residing in the North American country, although her parents' old residence of Wales House in the city of Albany itself was said to be her preferred off-campus residence, not least due to its proximity and familiarity with the princess, but also due to the fact that it is also the primary choice of residence for whenever both the King and Queen chose to personally travel to the United States themselves, which they did so on multiple occasions while the princess was furthering her studies there. Furthermore, while pursuing her studies there, Nazara later described the first few months into her university years as being "considerably complicated" and "somewhat demanding", before disclosing that she was also taking extra classes on perfecting her own American accent at the time, as to better integrate herself among the largely non-British speaking community there.

At the same time, in the first few months into living in the United States, Nazara would first gain much personal fame when both she and then President Ronald Reagan sat down together for an unofficial, on-air debate regarding both the latter's domestic and foreign policies and her own personal take on American issues on NPR radio. In the following year, she then went on to publicly campaign for the reelection of her second cousin, Princess Hedy, a Democrat politician whom was also the then incumbent Governor of New York. Then, while publicly campaigning on her cousin's behalf, Nazara was initially met with some criticism and accusations of "nepotism" and "favouritism", with critics accusing her of using her royal status and familial ties to the New York elite in general to benefit her own cousin's reelection campaign. However, the princess soon responded by stating, "My decision to support my dear cousin in her career is not just necessarily because she is my cousin. It's because I solely believe that she is a good governor who deserves more than what she has now". Hedy herself would later win her reelection campaign by a generally wide margin. Subsequently, for the latter's 1990 reelection campaign, Nazara appeared publicly campaigning on her cousin's behalf once more, with much success overall as Hedy was then ultimately reelected to a third term as governor, before voluntarily stepping down from office herself three years later, paving the way for her to become the 63rd and also the first female Secretary of State under President Bill Clinton, whose 1996 reelection campaign Nazara also became a major part of, in her typically assigned role as a rally host. In around 1988, Nazara secretly registered herself as an official member of the Democratic Party, following her own cousin's footsteps almost a decade prior.

In a manner similar to that of her two older brothers and her own father back then, Nazara also initially adopted an entirely new alias of her own, as she chose to further her studies at the university there under the name of Jeane Watts, with her supposed given name being reportedly derived from late actress, Marilyn Monroe (real name: Norma Jeane Mortenson), whose middle name the princess was said to have taken from in creating her alias. In connection to that, Nazara later disclosed in a public interview that her somewhat common-like behaviour in public during much of those years helped solidify her assumed alias, as according to the princess herself, "People tend to ignore a princess acting like a regular woman or lady because they have been fed with for generations the expectations of an actual princess walking around in fancy gowns or on some fancy carriages". However, perhaps by her own desire to do so, Nazara would later gradually cease in using her assumed alias following both her graduation from university and her subsequent entry into the modeling industry, with the given rationale behind it being the "desire to let everyone see a proud Nazara, Princess Royal, and not a made-up Jeane Watts that I used to be".

In 1989, Nazara eventually graduated from the university with a bachelor's degree in women's studies, thus following in the footsteps of her older brothers whom had both graduated from the Central Connecticut State University themselves around a decade prior to hers.

Post-University

Fahd, King of Saudi Arabia from 1982 to 2005

Having been made a Counsellor of state by her father at the age of twenty two, the princess, upon finishing her own studies, then began to soon undertake a series of her own state duties herself, ranging from royal functions such as attending public events to representing her country abroad through various international visits. To that end, on January 1990, Nazara undertook her first official trip abroad as a working royal by visiting the Middle Eastern kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where along with its then ruler, King Fahd, Nazara toured the capital city of Riyadh, along with various numbers of technological institutions across the kingdom. Eventually, despite an overwhelmingly successful visit to the kingdom, it was then rumoured that the Saudi government had supposedly protested in secret against the visit, as one Saudi official was then reported of having issued a statement which read, "In regards to the British government's request, His Majesty The King has found it somewhat difficult to receive the presence of a lady whom had recently exposed herself in a manner unacceptable by the Islamic religion". Nevertheless, just a couple of years later, in light of the Gulf War conflict that saw both the United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia allying against Iraq under its leader, Saddam Hussein, Nazara was once more sent to the kingdom to facilitate bilateral post-war agreements involving the two allies, amidst some concern that her then newly beginning career as a Victoria's Secret model, along with her own outspoken views on women's issues would become sources of conflict with the generally socially conservative Saudi monarchy and government. Ultimately, Nazara's second visit to Saudi Arabia also ended in a general success, leading to one British news organisation dubbing her the "most effective British diplomat alive".

However, ironically enough, Nazara herself would later promptly criticise the Saudi government when The New York Times reported that several "reformist" Saudi women were persecuted and imprisoned following a demonstration for greater female rights in the kingdom, during which the princess's likeness, along with an accompanying slogan which read, "Saudi Arabia for Women", were mainly used by demonstrators in their demands towards the government. Then, a few days later, in a public interview with the BBC, Nazara proceeded to claim that "it is baffling for the Saudi government to host a woman who had publicly posed in lingerie into their country and not to then accept some demands that are generally less offensive than seeing a woman openly wearing lingerie in public as a Saudi citizen".

The Eight Nation Asia Tour

Corazon Aquino, President of the Philippines from 1986 to 1992

From the following month of January to March, Nazara then opted to conduct a series of successive state visits, all of which were to take place within the Asian continent, under the guise of furthering Britain's diplomatic relations with said countries in the area. Officially known as the Princess Royal's Eight Nation Asia Tour, or PRENAT, in which she successively visited the countries of China, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, and Singapore, the princess consistently received much positive publicity and acclaim during the tour, with her "general openness" and "extremely warm character" being subjects of appraisal by various media outlets. In particular, the locally based BBC news organisation, in covering the princess's trips around the continent, once spoke of it as being "Major's brilliant and successful charm offensive against the Asian countries in the East".

Despite the overwhelmingly warm and positive nature associated with her respective visits to each of the eight aforementioned countries, she notably faced only one assassination attempt during the entirety of the trip, with the attempt itself having took place during her visit to the Philippines, when a supposedly disaffected Filipino citizen attempted to stab the princess from the front as the latter was being escorted through the passageway of Manila International Airport in Manila. While the assassination attempt itself was quickly foiled by armed security guards nearby, Nazara herself nevertheless persisted in continuing her visit to the country, as she then went on to tour the majority of the country amidst newfound security fears for the British royal. In particular, on one occasion during the tour itself, she openly praised then President Corazon Aquino for "restoring a state of normalcy and tranquillity to a nation scarred with unrest and corruption". Almost immediately, the statement itself became a subject of mass criticism, particularly from supporters and family members of the deceased, and notorious former President, Ferdinand Marcos, whom Nazara was alleged to have openly disrespected, thus conflicting with the largely positive view of the late President held by his supporters.

Reportedly, while en route to the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia, the princess was quoted by a former staff member of hers onboard the flight at that time, as having expressed "much hesitancy and resistance" against meeting with then Malaysian Prime Minister, Mahathir Mohammad, whose infamous anti-semitic remarks long before the visit itself the princess had personally taken issue with, due to her own mother being of Jewish descent herself. In addition to that, the final layout of the touring event itself, which had left out several other Asian countries from the princess's itinerary, also attracted some criticism from their respective governments, with the British government being accused of "selective discrimination" by Suharto, whom was Indonesia's president at the time. In response, then Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher declared that the layout of the event had been based on the princess's "physical and mental capabilities", arguing that it would have been too physically demanding for Nazara to cover the entirety of the Asian continent for her touring event.

Modeling Career

The Princess Royal on the cover of Time 100 magazine

While furthering her studies in the United States, Nazara, under her alias of Jeane Watts, was first scouted by the New York-based IMG Models agency. Then, upon being successfully hired as a model by the agency, the princess initially opted on keeping her actual royal identity secret, although this was soon discovered by the agency's founder, Mark McCormack, whom nevertheless agreed to keep Nazara's true identity a secret, unless told otherwise by the latter herself. However, as a result of her then newfound priorities, both Nazara and McCormack agreed to initially put her modeling career on hold, although she would continue to remain under the agency itself, having first debuted at the 1988 New York Fashion Week show. Then, following a subsequent return to the industry, she proceeded to further model for various designers, namely Ray Aghayan, Steven Alan, Emilio Pucci, Fendi, Betsey Johnson, Anna Sui, and others.

In 1996, a year which was mostly accepted as being the supposed peak of her modeling career prior to her retirement from the industry itself in the year afterwards, Nazara was listed by Forbes as being the fourth highest paid supermodel, with earnings reportedly amounting to around $3.5 million dollars. At the same time, Nazara was also unanimously praised by critics for her decision to publicly exhibit her "generally natural, and unexpurgated" physique, with then Cosmopolitan editor-in-chief, Bonnie Fuller, referring to the princess as the "absolutely authentic queen of models", and her involvement in the industry as a "breakthrough for women who aren't naturally fit for the modeling industry itself". In addition to that, she was also celebrated by many for her self-invented "no-editing clause", a special rule she reportedly employed during all five of her magazine cover photoshoots with Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, in which she would allegedly refuse any editing to the final product of her photoshoots for the magazine, which she labeled as "deceiving" and "harmful to young women across the world". During one particular interview, she also openly encouraged future cover models to also employ the so-called "no-editing clause" technique, stating, "When you're going to bare your stomach or your body as a whole for the general public, you might as well make it as realistic as possible. You're an actual living human, not a fictional character that can be easily drawn up in any form by one's own pleasure or desire".

Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue

On February 12th 1990, during the infant years of her modeling career, Nazara first attracted much attention from her professional career when she was chosen to be the cover model for that year's Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue publication. The princess, whom sat strategically posed on top of the famed Darwin's Arch formation in Ecuador while donning a two-piece swimsuit for the magazine cover, was immediately met by both praise and criticism towards her decision, with supporters praising her general beauty, while detractors claimed that the photoshoot was against the princess's inherited royal character and standards. However, in response, Nazara herself promptly responded to critics by stating, "Young girls or women should not be balking at the sight of an actual princess choosing to exhibit her femininity and wear some revealing clothes as she likes. Or else, it is truly disheartening to realise that the antique, and outdated social norms of the past are still ingrained in our daily lives". At the same time, following an initial ban on the magazine's issues depicting the princess by the British Home Secretary, Nazara herself personally protested against the decision, which was soon overturned by a negotiated compromise, whereby the ones containing her likeness on the front covers would be allowed to be sold to the general public, albeit with a disclaimer attached to it, along with a small additional tax imposed on said publications.

Subsequently, in February 1997, Nazara would cause another stir among both the British public and media when she appeared once more for the magazine's annual issue that year, in which she appeared alongside African American model, Tyra Banks. In particular, the princess's apparent shift from a slightly less revealing two-piece swimsuit in her first and previous photoshoot to a more considerably revealing bikini apparel for her second respective photoshoot was also heavily criticised by a number of local media outlets, with The Telegraph calling the princess's departure from a "slightly acceptable form of apparel" as having crossed the "lines of royal decency". Nevertheless, thanks to swift intervention by the princess herself on the own magazine's behalf, this publication too was also able to escape any punishment or restrictions by the British government, having instead been simply subjected to an official disclaimer instead.

Around February 2015, amidst general criticism levied against American model, Hannah Davis for her rather controversial pose for that year's Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue magazine cover, the princess herself subsequently came out in support of the model, whom she first praised for her "bold" and "daring" personalities, before proceeding to rebuke the former's critics herself, whom she then referred to as a "culturally repressive" and "misogynistic" group of people. Then, in an interview on BBC One, Nazara further issued her public support for Davis, whose controversial decision of having her bikini bottoms slung dangerously below her hips for said magazine cover being personally equated by the princess herself to her own 1990 debut for the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue magazine.

Victoria's Secret

Soon after her infamous modeling debut on the 1990 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue photoshoot, Nazara herself, having consistently expressed further interest in the modeling industry, was soon afterward scouted and cast by the famed lingerie company, Victoria's Secret. Almost immediately, due to her inherited royal status, the casting proved much controversial and sensational in its entirety, with one British tabloid newspaper dubbing her "the Princess Royal of Lingeries". In a follow-up public interview with NBC, Nazara otherwise publicly defended her controversial decision, which she simultaneously likened to "women being allowed to vote when they were not allowed to before", along with it being a supposed milestone for women, as she then proceeded to claim, "It's not every day you get to see a strong, confident princess stepping out of the grand palaces onto the catwalk trying out fabulous lingerie herself. It's a rarity and has never been done before". Then, following her inaugural walk on the Victoria's Secret runway the same year, during which she gained much acclaim for both her beauty and her persistently bold nature, Nazara proceeded to make further appearances for the brand's succeeding shows in the following yeas, with the princess being chosen to open the show for a record of four times in total. For instance, following her 1994 appearance in that year's Victoria's Secret Fashion Show event, Vanity Fair notably coined her "the sexiest British princess alive". Eventually, following her final appearance at the 1997 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show event, Nazara, in light of her marriage to the Aga Khan IV that year, later went on to announce her effective retirement from the brand, while citing a "change of interests" and "newfound international duties" as her reasons for doing so herself.

In the years following her retirement from Victoria's Secret, Nazara has since been a public advocate for further inclusion and diversity relating to the brand's model requirements, having cited her own experience under Victoria's Secret. In one instance, the princess publicly proclaimed, "Intentions may vary among everyone that does, but personally, I see my modeling as if it was a torchlight to the young girls that are inspired just by looking at such a natural looking woman proudly exhibiting herself in very expensive lingerie". In 2014, Nazara herself aroused a substantial amount of controversy when she infamously posed nude for that year's edition of the book, Angels, which was published by photographer, Russell James, whom in addition to Nazara herself, has also photographed other leading Victoria's Secret models aswell, namely Adriana Lima, Alessandra Ambrossio, Candice Swanepoel, Miranda Kerr, and others. In particular, Ali Khamenei, the current Supreme Leader of Iran, notably called for a takfir, or an excommunication of Nazara from the Islamic faith, claiming that "the Islamic faith does not welcome such a despicable woman unashamedly exhibiting her delicate intimate parts for the world to see". At the same time, her infamous nude photograph also led to calls from some members of the British public to officially strip her of her honorary appointment too, although this was never implemented by the British government, while Nazara herself, whom after having initially defended it as being a "powerful and compelling symbol of female sexuality regardless of age", later took to issuing a public statement of her own apologising for the incident, through which she expressed her "deep regrets for having committed such a sinful act that is wholly against the teachings of the faith".

Olympic Career

In the years following her retirement from the modeling industry, Nazara herself begin to concentrate instead on establishing a professional swimming career of her own, which she was able to do so within just a few months afterwards. To that end, in 2001, the princess would make her first official debut as a professional swimmer when she competed in that year's World Aquatic Championships held in Fukuoka, Japan, where she was able to achieve a gold medal in the competition, which also marked her very first international medal as a professional swimmer herself. In the following year, she competed once more in the 2002 World Aquatic Championships in Barcelona, Spain, where Nazara once more achieved another gold medal aswell. However, despite these early successes, with the birth of her second child in the year afterwards, Nazara promptly had her career temporarily put on hold for the time being, thus allowing her to concentrate more on her own maternal duties.

Begum Aga Khan

Philantrophy

Since her marriage to the Aga Khan IV in 1997, Nazara herself has since been actively involved alongside her husband in the latter's various works and projects worldwide, a majority of which were focused around developing countries primarily based in the continents of South America, Africa, and Asia.

Having been made co-chairman of the Aga Khan Development Network herself by her husband, whom is both the founder and chairman of the organisation itself, Nazara herself has since independently spearheaded various projects under the organisation, meant on tackling issues such as poverty, inequality, healthcare, aswell as women's rights in particular, an issue which the princess herself is particularly devoted to. In 2007, while marking the 40th anniversary of the founding of the Aga Khan Development Network, Nazara herself notably proclaimed in a speech, "In these times where the role of women in general are becoming more prominent as the days go by, we must never abandon nor forget the struggles that women, regardless of religion and culture, have consistently faced in achieving a simple state of equality alongside their male counterparts".

Throughout the succeeding years, Nazara has both been present or even hosted opening ceremonies herself of projects commissioned under her husband's name, which includes the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto, Canada, the Al-Azhar Park in Cairo, Egypt, and the Gardens of Babur project in Kabul, Afghanistan. In 2004, in light of the devastation caused by the Sumatra-Andaman earthquake, Nazara herself took to venturing to the affected regions in Indonesia such as the northernmost province of Aceh, which won her wide acclaim from the international community, while an article by the British newspaper, The Times was quoted as having said, "From one of the 1990's most sexually provocative women to one of the 2000's most admired women, the princess's transformation could never be more remarkable than one could have thought in the past".

Women's Empowerment & Wildlife Conservation

Aside from her widely renowned philanthropic works, Nazara herself has also been closely associated with her own works aswell concerning the issues of women's empowerment and wildlife conservation. In 2007, Nazara personally spearheaded the WADV, or Women Against Domestic Violence campaign, which according to the princess herself, is meant to "give a platform for women all around the world to stand up and speak up against rampant domestic violence that affects either themselves or others within their own communities". Years later, she also proceeded to donate a substantial amount of money herself in support of the non-profit group, Time's Up, which Nazara championed as being a "revolutionary step forward for women's societal progress in an increasingly challenging and difficult world", although she would also criticise the non-profit group itself aswell for its role in the Andrew Cuomo sexual harassment allegations. Furthermore, Nazara herself has also spoken extensively on the status of women in war-torn countries, having once said, "While it could not be more the obvious as it could be for centuries and so forth, women, along with children themselves are among the most endangered people in a society affected by war, for they are more likely than men to either be forcibly subjected to immediate sexual violence by soldiers devoid of morals or even forced into becoming slaves of the modern era, trafficked around the world for the profit and enjoyment of men lacking in basic morality and compassion for the opposite gender themselves". Furthermore, in addressing the rampant kidnappings of Nigerian schoolgirls by the militant group, Boko Haram, Nazara publicly urged for more action to be taken against such a "dangerously destabilising group of bandits".

In addition to her own widely recognised effort in regards to women's empowerment, Nazara is also recognised as being a firm advocate for animal conservation aswell. During an interview in which she discussed her own personal interests in the issue, Nazara said, "When I was a teenager, my parents took me and my siblings to the Maasai Mara wildlife reserve in Kenya. Almost immediately, I could see just how delicate and beautiful such a place could be, which is certainly not impossible to replicate just almost anywhere around the world too". Since the year 2000, Nazara herself has conducted a large number of visits to various wildlife reserves across the African continent, which among others, also includes the Serengeti National Park in Tanazania, the widely acclaimed Kruger National Park in South Africa, and namely the Etosha National Park in Namibia. Reportedly, atleast on several occasions, Nazara herself was said to have also physically partaken in safeguarding the aforementioned national reserves aswell, although according to Nazara, so far, she has yet to actually shoot a trespassing poacher herself during her occasional guard duties at the said national reserves.

Anti-Semitism & Islamophobia

Having both been born to a Jewish mother and also married to a Muslim man aswell, Nazara herself has since been an active campaigner against both the issues of anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, both of which she has once referred to as a "troubling pair of problems greatly affecting the modern society". For instance, during an interview held just days after the infamous American-led 2003 invasion of Iraq, Nazara herself was then quoted as having said, "In comparison to the immediate effects of the 9/11 tragedy just two years before, the effects of this horrendous and devastating invasion would be more greatly difficult to overcome by comparison". Afterwards, on atleast five separate occasions throughout the late 2000s to the early 2010s, Nazara herself was reported to have met both the then President of Israel, Shimon Peres, aswell as the incumbent Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas in secret, with the private meetings themselves reportedly meant to emphasise further bilateral cooperation between the two warring states. In 2010, together with her husband aswell, she notably co-founded the AKIP, or the Aga Khan Institute for Peace, an agency of the Aga Khan Development Network meant to address issues relating to world peace and armed conflicts in general.

In a 2013 interview with ABC News, Nazara herself was quoted as having said, "I feel that, as both the daughter of a Jewish mother and the wife of a Muslim husband, there is an existential need for me to do the best I could in mending the conflict itself, for as far as I could honestly say it, I am a person of both the Jewish and Muslim worlds, two worlds that are unfortunately prevented from ever seeing a common ground due to the lack of honest and good-willed leaders from both sides of the aisle". Later on, following the appointment of real estate mogul, Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States, and his subsequent imposing of a travel ban on several Muslim-majority countries to the United States, Nazara herself openly condemned the decision, calling it a "decision done in overly bad faith that would ultimately achieve nothing in reconciling both the Muslim and Jewish communities, other than tearing them further apart from the other".

Marriage

Sometime in April 1997, during a personal vacation in France with a number of her closest friends, Nazara was first introduced to the Aga Khan IV, when in the midst of dining at a local restaurant in the northern half of the country, the princess was reportedly approached by a twenty six year old Prince Rahim Aga Khan, the eldest son of the Aga Khan himself. Then, following an exchange of greetings between the two royals, Nazara herself was afterwards subsequently offered to personally meet the Aga Khan herself, a request which she ultimately accepted after having initially deliberated for sometime before. Later on, according to Nazara herself, both she and the Aga Khan were said to have immediately struck a "rather friendly and pleasant conversation during the first few minutes or so", before the latter himself was said to have then treated the princess to a cruise onboard the latter's own personal yacht, Alamshar, an experience which Nazara herself later recounted rather positively, while also claiming that the experience itself quickly led the two to develop mutual feelings for one another, thus leading to their subsequent marriage just several months later.

On June 11th 1997, when it was publicly announced by Buckingham Palace that both Nazara and the Aga Khan IV have been engaged in secret to one another for an unspecified period of time, both the princess and the Aga Khan himself were immediately subjected to intense media coverage from various news outlets, with some, including the BBC having begun to speculate on whether Nazara herself would subsequently convert to Islam, as per the necessary requirement, while also extensively noting, among others, the stark differences in the couple's religious and ethnical backgrounds, coupled with the almost thirty years age difference. In the midst of this, during an interview with the British newspaper, The Guardian, Nazara herself proceeded to disclose that "an elaborate and blissful wedding event is in the works", along with confirming the much publicised rumours of her actually converting to Islam herself. Afterwards, in defending her decision to convert to the Islamic faith and thus abandon her own Anglican faith in return, the princess subsequently claimed that her decision to do so has been "thoroughly consulted with" and "mutually agreed upon by all the respective parties involved", with the then newly elected Prime Minister, Tony Blair then publicly expressing his "most sincere wishes of wellness to the much blessed royal couple themselves", while on the other hand, Nazara's brother, the then newly coronated King William VI himself expressed his own formal approval of the marriage, as it was required of him by the Royal Marriages Act 1772. Then, just a day prior to her eventual wedding event on the 5th of August that year, Nazara, then formerly known as Catherine officially converted to the Islamic faith, while also officially adopting the name Begum Nazara Aga Khan, with the name Nazara meaning beauty, while the title of begum itself is customarily awarded to the wives of the respective Aga Khans.

On August 5th 1997, the two were married in an Islamic ceremony at the Aga Khan's Aiglemont estate in Picardy, France, with the wedding itself having been attended by a number of established figures at the time, which included Jacques Chirag, the then President of France and Nazara's own older brother, Prince William, whom had attended the wedding itself on behalf of Nazara's other older brother, the then King William VI, whom proved unable to attend the wedding event himself. Following the conclusion of the wedding event, the couple spent several weeks together on a honeymoon trip to the Aga Khan's own Swiss-based residence at Rolle, Switzerland, where the couple enjoyed much media coverage and almost immediate popularity among the locals there. Before long, on February 1999, the couple would welcome their first children together, Prince Mohammed Aga Khan, before subsequently welcoming a quartet of children afterwards, with the birth of three more princes in the following years, namely Abbas Aga Khan in 2001, Karim Aga Khan in 2004, and Nader Aga Khan in 2005, which in turn was followed by the birth of Princess Layla Aga Khan in 2009. Concurrently, as per a mutually agreed upon arrangement between the couple themselves, their only daughter together, Princess Layla Aga Khan was otherwise raised in the Anglican faith herself, as opposed to her older siblings being raised in the Islamic faith instead, thus making her the only one of the princess's five children in total to be officially included in the British line of succession, while both Nazara and her four sons she shares with the Aga Khan, are instead summarily excluded from the line of succession, with Nazara having lost her own position in the line of succession following her own conversion to Islam, while the rules governing the line of succession itself does not recognise those otherwise belonging to the Islamic faith. Nevertheless, by the courtesy of her brother, the King, Nazara herself has since been allowed to retain her Princess Royal title for life, which she continues to do so to this day.

Personal Information

A C4 Chevrolet Corvette and an Audi Q7, Nazara's two primary vehicles

As the eldest female child of a reigning monarch at the time, Nazara, following the death of her grand aunt, Princess Alexandra, soon became the new Princess Royal, a royal but mostly honorary title customarily awarded to either the eldest daughters or the only daughter of a reigning sovereign at the time of a new appointment.

Similar to the likes of her own siblings and relatives, Nazara herself also owns a personal vehicle of her own, with hers being a white 1988 Chevrolet Corvette, which the princess had acquired by her own behalf and primarily used during her university years in the country. In addition to the Corvette itself, Nazara also owns a white Audi Q7, which the princess mostly drives during family trips due to its much larger available seating amount. At the same time, as a result of her late father's emphasis on flying skills and abilities, Nazara, like the rest of her siblings, is said to be generally adept in flying herself, with the princess mostly piloting the former's famed and antique de Havilland Tiger Moth airplane, which is also sparingly piloted by other members of the royal family aswell.

A noted polyglot herself, Nazara, whom in addition to her native English language, is also said to be fluent in several other languages aswell, namely German, French, Arabic, and Farsi.

Much like her niece, the reigning Queen Alexandra, Nazara is also deeply invested in matters relating to a healthy lifestyle, as she would occasionally accompany the letter on visits to gyms or fitness centers around the country, along with having personally spoken out on the needs and importance of a healthy lifestyle herself on multiple occasions.

Due to the considerable amount of time spent living in the United States, Nazara is generally recognised as being rather proficient in both British and American accents of the English language, a trait she shares with her two older brothers and father. According to Nazara herself, while living in the United States at the time, her understanding and proficiency in the American accent were said to have been wholly useful in protecting her real identity while living in the North American country, whose people, as Nazara herself once said, were "less inclined to believe that a rather typically rich looking white woman walking around in New York City is in fact an actual royal princess herself".

The Princess Royal in a 2008 interview with Starz

Despite her rather publicised lifestyle in both the past and current times, Nazara herself has publicly spoken out against what she termed as both the "hidden and naked consequences of a free media", as she once notably criticised an article by The Sun published in the wake of her marriage, which had then infamously referred to her as an "unapologetic gold digger", a label that Nazara herself has since consistently rejected. Later on, during an interview with Starz, she said, "To label me a gold digger for simply having romantic feelings for a much older man is to inaccurately assume that I could not survive financially on my own without my beloved husband's wealth, which is quite the contrary itself".

Interests

Titles & Honours

28 January 1967 - 11 July 1975 Her Royal Highness The Princess Catherine
11 July 1975 - 5 August 1997 Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal
5 August 1997 - Present Her Highness Begum Nazara Aga Khan, Princess Royal