SHAH FORGOT TWO WIVES

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 17837, 21 July 1932, Page 12

SHAH FORGOT TWO WIVES

PROVIDED FOR 8, BUT ! HAD 10 i TRUST COMPANY’S RESPONSIBILITY NEW YORK, May IS. I _ When tho exiled Shah of Persia, ; Sultan Alnncd Shah Kadjar, made his will in Paris on October 22, 1928, ho provided for eight wives. But he for- : got that there were HI in iiis collection, so two of tho ladies wore, for the time being, left out in the cold. j

This interesting example of how a royal mind can skid is provided by the Guaranty Trust Company to-day in tiling with the surrogate its accounting as executor of the will of his late Imperial Majesty and the £OOO,OOO estate he left behind. The Shah died on February 27, 1930, naming the company as his executor, because part of his fortune consisted of securities in this city. Assuming its responsibilities, the Guaranty Trust immediately found itself in one of the queerest propositions, likely, that a financial institution could assume. In tho first place, there were the two wives the Shall had forgotten all about. The will had been probated hero on June 18, 1931, but when, the overlooked ladies stepped forward the probate proceedings had to be reopened in order that they could be made parties to the proceeding. LEARNED KORAN IN PARIS

That problem solved, tho trust company tackled the problem of educating the late Shah’s four children. Ho was a Mohammedan, and therefore the children had to be educated in that faith. The company brought three mothers from Persia in order that they might live in Paris with their respective offspring while said offspring were learning the Koran and absorbing such other incidentals of education as the Guaranty Trust Company, tiro royal ladies and the religious instructors considered necessary. It is probably the only instance since the United States set up business of a New York financial institution contributing Jo,Ake spread of tho Mohammedan religion. CLAIMANT TO THRONE APPEARS

,A claimant and pretender to the throne, it is disclosed by tho trust company’s report to the surrogate, made a claim to the royal property and tho royal jewels. This claim was resisted by the executor and the heirs of Sultan Ahmed Shah Kadjar on the ground that the cash, securities and jewels were his own personal property.

In addition to real pstato in Persia, he left a large collection of jewels, now in New York, appraised at £30,000, and cash and securities of an approximate value at the time of Iris death of £600,000. It is possible that the surrogate, in ruling on the claim, may be required to decide which member of the Kadjar family has tho right to succeed to tho Persian throne.

The late Shah provided liberally for the eight wives he could remember, but tho others will, of course, come in for their just portions. The eight were paid their share within 100 days after his death, as custom dictates. Otherwise, according to Persian belief, his spirit could not be at peace.