Prince Aly Salomone Aga Khan (13 June 1911 – 12 May 1960) was an Italy-born Ismaili Sayyid who served as Pakistan's ambassador to the United Nations. He was the son of Sultan Muhammad Shah (Aga Khan III), and the father of Karim al-Husseini (Aga Khan IV).
A socialite, racehorse owner and jockey, he was the third husband of actress Rita Hayworth. After being passed over for succession as the Aga Khan, he served as the Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the United Nations from 1958 to 1960, where he became a vice president of the General Assembly.
Birth and education
Aly Khan was born in Turin, Italy, the younger son and only surviving child of Sultan Mohammad Shah (who served as the titular Aga Khan III) and Cleofe Catterina Teresa "Ginetta" Magliano. His father was born in Karachi, British India (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. Aly Khan was educated by private tutors in India and France during his childhood. He later trained in England as a lawyer. As a 12-year-old boy, he knew Orson Welles, who was approximately four years younger. Welles and Khan both married Rita Hayworth, becoming her second and third husbands, respectively.
Military service and honours
In 1939, Aly Khan joined the French Foreign Legion and served with its cavalry division in Egypt and the Middle East. In 1940, he joined the Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry, becoming a lieutenant colonel in 1944. That year, he participated in the Allied 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 the Legion of Honour in 1950.
He also was awarded the Croix de Guerre and the United States Bronze Star Medal.
Khan was installed as the 1st Colonel of the Regiment of the newly raised 4 Cavalry Regiment (1 November 1956), Pakistan Army in a military ceremony during 1957. He retained this honour until his death.
Ambassador of Pakistan to the United Nations
In November 1957 Aly Khan met President Iskander 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.
As a member of the United Nations Political and Security Committee representing Pakistan, Khan's brief U.N. posting was viewed with surprise by many observers, some of whom considered him "the Asian-African answer to Irene 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 her Republican fundraising efforts.
Khan was elected as vice president of the United Nations General Assembly on 17 September 1958 and also served as chairman of the U.N.'s Peace Observation Committee.
Personal life
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 debutante Margaret Whigham, later Duchess of Argyll, Thelma, Viscountess Furness, an American who was simultaneously involved with the Prince of Wales, British entertainer Joyce Grenfell and British socialite and hostess Pat Marlowe. 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."
First marriage
Aly Khan was named co-respondent in the Guinness v Guinness and Khan divorce suit between Joan Barbara Guinness (née Yarde-Buller, 1908–1997; daughter of John Reginald Lopes Yarde-Buller, 3rd Baron Churston), and Group Captain Thomas Loel Guinness MP, a scion of the Guinness Brewery family. In 1935, Guinness sued for divorce, naming Khan as the "third party", he cited as evidence that his wife and 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 (Khan) and desired her husband to divorce her". The case was uncontested, and Khan was ordered to pay all costs.
Khan and Joan Barbara Guinness were married in Paris on 18 May 1936, a few days after Guinness's divorce became absolute. Before the wedding, the bride converted to Islam and took the name Taj-ud-dawlah or "crown of the realm". The couple's first child, Karim al-Husseini, was born in Geneva seven months later, on 13 December 1936, and is said to have been a premature child. The couple also had a second son, Amyn Muhammad Aga Khan, who was also born premature at seven months the following year. Joan also had a son by her previous marriage, Patrick Guinness.
Khan and Joan divorced in 1949, in part due to his extramarital affairs with, among others, Pamela Churchill. After the divorce, Joan became the longtime mistress and eventual wife of the newspaper magnate Seymour Berry, 2nd Viscount Camrose. Khan married American actress Rita Hayworth within weeks of his divorce.
Second marriage and divorce
thumb|right|upright|[[Rita Hayworth and Aly Khan at their wedding reception in the garden of the Château de l'Horizon, near Cannes (27 May 1949)]]
On 27 May (civil) and 28 May (religious) 1949, in Cannes, France, Aly Khan married American film star Rita Hayworth, who left her film career to marry him. Their daughter, Yasmin Aga Khan, was born on .
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 the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club anyway. Her filly, Double Rose, won several races in France and finished second in the 1949 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.
In 1951, while still married to Hayworth, Khan was spotted dancing with the actress Joan Fontaine in the nightclub where he and his wife had met. Hayworth threatened to divorce him in Reno, Nevada, US. In early May, Hayworth moved to Nevada to establish legal residence to qualify for a divorce. She stayed at Lake Tahoe, Nevada with their daughter, saying there was a risk 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."
Hayworth said she might convert to Islam, but did not. During the custody fight over their daughter Yasmin, Khan said he wanted her raised as a Muslim; Hayworth (who was raised a Roman Catholic) wanted the child to be a Christian.
Khan and 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 him for two or three months each year. Hayworth said:
Engagement
While still married to Hayworth, Khan began a relationship with American film and stage actress Gene 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 Khan and moved back to the United States to tend to her mental health. In the late 1950s Khan was known for dating the fashion model Simone Micheline Bodin (who called herself Bettina Graziani). Khan persuaded her to retire from modelling and settle down. By 1960, Bettina and Khan were engaged and expecting a child, whom she miscarried after being in a car accident.
Inheritance skips a generation
On 12 July 1957, upon the reading of the will of the Aga Khan III, Aly Khan's eldest son, Karim Aga Khan, then a junior at Harvard University, was named Aga Khan IV and 49th Imam of the Ismailis. It was the second time that the descent from father to son was circumvented in the community's 1,300-year history. According to the Aga Khan's will, a statement of which was presented to the press by his secretary: