tribal khanship into a centralized and stable monarchy based on the old imperial design. Marriage and children Fath-Ali Shah is reported to have had more than 1,000 spouses. He was survived by fifty-seven sons and forty-six daughters, along with 296 grandsons and 292 granddaughters. A book published in England in 1874 provided different numbers: "It is believed that Fetteh Ali had the largest number of children ever born to a man. Like a pious Mohammedan, he had only four wives, but his harem generally contained from 800 to 1,000 ladies. By these he had 130 sons and 150 daughters, and it is believed that at the time of his death his descendants numbered five thousand souls. The three grandsons who merit notice were the sons of Hussein Ali, the governor of Fars, who aspired to the throne. The princes, Riza Kuli Mirza, Nejeff Kuli Mirza, and Timour Mirza, were at Shiraz when their father attempted to seize the throne. They were able to make their escape from the city." While this is a large number of children, the claim that Fatḥ-ʻAli holds the record is not true. (Moulay Ismail ibn Sharif, who lived a hundred years earlier in Morocco, is said to hold the record for the most number of children born to a man.) Fatḥ-Ali's first son, Mohammad Ali Mirza Dowlat Shah, was seven months older than the second son Abbas Mirza. Yet it was the latter who was named "Wali-ahd" or crown prince. This was on account of the fact that Dowlat Shah's mother, Ziba Chehreh Khanoum, was of non-Qajar origin (she was Georgian woman), and therefore he was passed over in favour of his younger brother. Consorts Ziba Chehar Khanum, a Georgian woman from the Tzicara Chwili family; Badr Jahan Khanum, daughter of Muhammad Jafar Khan Bastami Arab; Asiyeh Khanum "Mehd-i-aulya", daughter of Fath Ali Khan Davallu; Nushafrin Khanum, a Zand woman; Maryam Khanom, a Jewish woman from Mazandaran; Hajiyeh Badr al-Nesa Khanum Badran, daughter of Mustafa Quli Khan Qajar Qavanlu; Kheyr al-Nessa Khanum (Aay Baaji), daughter of Majnoun Khan Pazouki, daughter of Morteza Qoli Khan Qajar Qavanlu; Tawus Khanum "Taj-al-Dawleh", a Georgian concubine from Esfahan. Golbadan Baji Khanum "Khazen-ol-Dowleh", a Georgian concubine, originally a woman in service to Fath Ali Shah's mother; Kulsum Khanum, a woman from the family of Sayyeds of Pazvar; Begum Jan Khanum, a woman from Qazvin; Agha Baji Begum, daughter of Ibrahim