Dowlatshahi
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- for the town in Afghanistan see Dowlatshahi, Afghanistan
The Persian Prince, Mohammad Ali Mirza (محمد علي ميرزا), Qavam ol-Khelafa (aka Dowlatshah) (1789-1821), the Qajar King Fath Ali Shah’s eldest son (seven months older than Abbas Mirza Nayeb-Saltaneh), was born of a Georgian woman, Ziba-Chehr Khanoum. He was the governor of Kermanshah, and was second in line to the crown after the crown prince, Abbas Mirza.[1]
Dowlatshah carried the last, and initially very successful, attack on the Ottoman Iraq in 1821. Persia was resentful of the inability of the Ottoman government to protect the Shia population of Iraq against the Saudi-Wahhabi attacks that had begun in 1801. Many of the Shias killed in the raids were Iranians, some of whom closely related to the ruling Qajar dynasty of Persia. His forces quickly occupied Shahrazur and Kirkuk, and laid siege to Baghdad.
His skills and ambitions mirrored those of his younger brother. He was a great military leader and a patron of the arts, poetry and philosophy. The origin of family name "Dowlatshah" and "Dowlatshahi" is from this ancestor's title.
His children that now carry the royal family name Dowlatshahi دولتشاهی have roots in Kermanshah Province (A province in northwestern Iran). Nowadays, most of his children live in United States and are well-educated. The population of Dowlatshahi family members is estimated to be more than 100,000, out of which more than 75% hold a university degree. Many Iranians still respect this old royal family and know them as Shazdeh (Shazdeh is an acronym for Shah Zadeh, which means "Born in Royal Family").
Related families: Farmanfarmaian family, Azod family, Vaziri family
