'My other daughters and their husbands are poor people, they barely survive themselves so cannot help us.' Sultana, who lives with her only unmarried daughter, Madhu Begum, said: 'We have been living, but God knows how. She shares a kitchen with her neighbours and washes in the street using water from public taps.ĭespite evidence that she is related to the 19th century royal family, Sultana goes about her daily life on a basic pension of just £60 a month. The Mughal heiress is forced to live in a tiny two-room hut in Howrah, a slum area of Kolkatta. She receives a sultry £60 a month as part of a pensionįilthy: Sultana Begum walks along the corridors of her tiny two-room home (left) and walks along the dirt-ridden streets in the slums outside Kolkata (right)Įver since the death of her husband Prince Mirza Bedar Bukht in 1980, Sultana has descended into a life of poverty. The 60-year-old is the great grand daughter-in-law of the last emperor of India, Bahadur Shah Zafar, and struggles to make ends meet on a basic pension, despite her royal heritage.ĭestitute: Her relatives once ruled over a mighty empire, but now she barely has enough money to look after her family of her six children, five daughters and one sonįamily: Sultana Begum is seen with her Grandson Muhammed Jejan in West Bengal, India. She is confined to life in a slum on the outskirts of Kolkatta (once known as Calcutta). Her ancestors would have lived in luxurious palaces while they ruled over a vast and wealthy empire.īut Sultana Begum's lifestyle is a far cry from the conditions enjoyed by the rulers of the Mughal empire. > Their home is a two-room hut in a bleak shantytown in Kolkatta > Descendants of the last Mughal emperor survive on a pension of £60 > After ruling India for 300 years, he was overthrown by Britain in 1857 > Sultana Begum, 60, married the great-grandson of Bahadur Shah Zafar The slumdog princess: How the descendant of the Indian Moghul rulers who built the Taj Mahal now lives in desperate poverty Dailymail Revealed the Story of the Great Grandson of Bahadur Shah Zafar

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