Few religious leaders can claim to have charmed British royalty, owned legendary racehorses and become a symbol for unimaginable wealth.
But the Aga Khan, who died on Tuesday aged 88, gracefully straddled the contrasting worlds – and was known just as much for his colourful personal life as his incredible charitable influence.
Born in Switzerland before being educated at elite private boarding school Institut Le Rosey, he succeeded to the title aged just 20 while half-way through his Harvard degree.
Described by Vanity Fair as a ‘one man state’, he arranged meetings that breached the Cold War divide and the even competed for Iran in the 1964 Winter Olympics.
The King was made aware of the death of his personal friend of many years and is said to have been deeply saddened. He is believed to be in touch with his family privately.
The Aga Khan’s death was fittingly revealed by his charity – the Aga Khan Foundation.
They said that he died peacefully in Lisbon, Portugal, surrounded by his family, noting that an announcement on his successor will come later. It is expected to be his eldest son Prince Rahim, 53.
The Aga Khan, whose ancestors fled Persia for India two centuries ago, by contrast spent much of his later life in France, also claiming British citizenship.
The eldest son of Prince Aly Khan by his first wife, Joan Yarde-Buller, he spent his early life in Nairobi, Kenya, after being born in Geneva in 1936. His half-sister Yasmin was the daughter of Hollywood starlet Rita Hayworth.
His followers say he was a direct descendent of the Prophet Mohammed through his daughter, Hazrat Bibi Fatima, and the Prophet’s cousin and son-in-law, Hazrat Ali.
The Ismailis – a sect originally centered in India but which expanded to large communities in east Africa, Central and South Asia and the Middle East – consider it a duty to tithe up to 10 per cent of their income to him as steward.
The charities funded by his immense wealth are now famous for their work in poor and war-torn parts of the world.
And while the extent of the Aga Khan’s financial empire is hard to measure, some reports estimate his personal wealth to be in the billions.
The Aga Kahn III broke with 1,300 years of tradition to make Prince Karim Al-Hussaini his successor, allowing the title to skip over a generation.
When he returned to the university following an eight-month break when he succeeded his grandfather, he said it was ‘a big joke on campus’ with his classmates calling him ‘Jesus’.
‘I was an undergraduate who knew what his work for the rest of his life was going to be,’ he said in a 2012 interview with Vanity Fair magazine. ‘I don’t think anyone in my situation would have been prepared.’
But his open mindedness was a key part of his grandfather’s reason for bringing him into the role so early – he said in his will: ‘In view of the altered conditions in the World in very recent years, including the discoveries of atomic sciences, I am convinced that it is in the best interest of the Shia Muslim Ismailian Community that I should be succeeded by a young man.’
Treated as a head of state, the Aga Khan was given the title of ‘His Highness’ by Queen Elizabeth in July 1957, two weeks after his grandfather unexpectedly made him heir to the family’s 1,300-year dynasty as leader of the Ismaili Muslim sect. He became the Aga Khan IV on Oct. 19, 1957, in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, on the spot where his grandfather once had his weight equaled in diamonds in gifts from his followers.
While the Aga Khan’s charity work remains at the heart of his legend – so too is his vibrant and colourful personal story.
His first wife was British model Sally Croker-Poole, who he married in 1969. She had been one of the last generation of debutantes, and, the daughter of a Lieutenant Colonel in New Delhi, she was presented to the Queen in 1958.
A divorcee, she had previously been married to Lord James Charles Crichton-Stuart, son of the 5th Marquess of Bute. But just a year after their divorce went through she married the Aga Khan, changing her name to Salimah Aga Khan.
The couple had two sons and a daughter, before calling it quits after 25 years in 1995. She reportedly received a £50 million payout.
Soon after, the Prince married Princess Gabriele zu Leiningen, who was 27 years his junior, at his huge Aiglemont estate, near Paris.
A German former pop singer who converted to Islam for her marriage, she adopted the new name of Inaara ad together they had a son.
But just six years later they too announced their separation – and in the course of their highly publicised break-up it was claimed that his estranged wife hired surveillance experts to prove her belief that her husband was having an affair.
Leiningen, who was herself previously married to a minor European prince, accused him of having an affair with an air hostess before the saga came to an end behind closed doors in 2014.
The while settlement was a French record, and five times more than an earlier payout made in Paris before it was appealed, many commentators believed the Aga Khan had got off lightly. Some had predicted the divorce could end up costing him £500million.
In Britain, the Aga Khan was perhaps known as a horse-racing magnate, who loved to compete with his animals across the UK. It is telling that his £100milion yacht was named Alamshar after one of his prized beasts.
He was most famously the lead owner of Shergar, who won the Epsom Derby in spectacular fashion with a record-breaking lead of ten lengths in 1981.
With a white blaze on his face and white socks he was an instant favourite with the fans – before he was retired aged three to one of his Irish stud farms.
But in a shocking case he was kidnapped along with his groom John Fitzgerald in February 1983 from his stud farm in Ballymanny, County Kildare, by a group of masked men.
Whilst Fitzgerald was soon released, the thieves – who investigators believe were members of the IRA – demanded £2million for Shergar’s return.
The Aga Khan believed that if a ransom was paid, it would place all his horses at risk and refused to hand over the cash.
The mystery was so notorious that on the following day The Daily Mail headline ran: ‘Hunt For The Super-Horse: Armed kidnappers demand £2 m ransom for Shergar’.
After a series of phone calls, the kidnappers broke off contact and the magnificent horse was never seen again.
And while the mysterious stories linked to the religious leader make up a key part of our national story – for many countries he is even more ingrained for his work as a charitable powerhouse.
In 2023 the Aga Khan Foundation poured a total of £58.13million into charitable activities with the aim of promoting and providing for the advancement of education, health, rural development, the environment and support to civil society organisations for the public benefit.
The UK Government has worked closely with the AKDN in Central Asia and Tanzania, as well as in Afghanistan where the Aga Khan Foundation implement Department for International Development programmes including delivering an education programme under the Girls’ Education Challenge.
It says it works in over 30 countries and has an annual budget of about $1 billion for nonprofit development activities.
A network of hospitals bearing his name are scattered in places where health care had lacked for the poorest, including Bangladesh, Tajikistan and Afghanistan, where he spent tens of millions of dollars for development of local economies.
He also founded the Nation Media Group, the largest independent media organisation in east and central Africa.
A defender of Islamic culture and values, he was widely regarded as a builder of bridges between Muslim societies and the West despite – or perhaps because of – his reticence to become involved in politics.
As a statesman, the Aga Khan facilitated diplomatic talks at regional and global levels, including the landmark 1985 summit between Presidents Reagan and Gorbachev in Geneva.
The organisations work to promote understanding about Muslim cultures and to connect the public to global development issues.
In an announcement on social media, the Aga Khan Development Network said: ‘His Highness Prince Karim Al-Hussaini, Aga Khan IV, 49th hereditary Imam of the Shia Ismaili Muslims and direct descendant of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), passed away peacefully in Lisbon on 4 February 2025, aged 88, surrounded by his family.
‘Prince Karim Aga Khan was the founder and chairman of the Aga Khan Development Network. The announcement of his designated successor will follow.
‘Leaders and staff of the Aga Khan Development Network offer our condolences to the family of His Highness and to the Ismaili community worldwide.
‘As we honour the legacy of our founder, Prince Karim Aga Khan, we continue to work with our partners to improve the quality of life for individuals and communities across the world, as he wished, irrespective of their religious affiliations or origins.’
The Aga Khan is survived by his children Princess Zahra, Prince Rahim, Prince Hussain and Prince Aly Muhammad, his brother Prince Amyn Muhammad, half-sister Princess Yasmin, and four grandchildren.
