Why Did the Qajar Princess Have Mustaches?

Written by Margot Cleverly

An old photograph from 1884 is causing a storm online today. It shows a woman with masculine features, prominent mustache and thick eyebrows. The Internet ridicules her appearance, creating thousands of memes. The truth, however, is completely different. Zahra Khanom Taj al-Saltaneh was a beauty icon of her times and one of the most influential women in the Middle East.

Beauty That Shocks Today

The Persian Qajar dynasty ruled from the late 18th century until 1925. During this period, aesthetic standards were completely different from those of today. Masculine facial features were considered a sign of aristocracy and refinement. Harvard University Professor Afsaneh Najmabadi confirms this in his research. He analyzed hundreds of documents and photographs from that era.

Women from royal families deliberately emphasized the dark fuzz above their upper lip. Some even painted it on with cosmetics. Thick eyebrows meeting above the nose were equally desirable. This seems strange today, but culture is fluid. Each era creates its own ideals.

Belgian traveler Serena visited the Persian court in 1877. She recorded her impressions after meeting aristocratic ladies. She was surprised by their appearance, particularly the visible facial hair. For her it was unusual, but it was not considered a defect. On the contrary, it testified to high social status.

Cultural context is crucial. What causes laughter today once inspired admiration. Zahra Khanom was considered a beauty precisely because of these features. She had dozens of admirers. Some sources even mention 140 candidates for her hand.

Daughter of a Monarch Who Chose Rebellion

Zahra was born in 1883 as the child of King Nasser al-Din Shah. The Persian monarchy was then one of the most powerful forces in the region. The Qajar dynasty controlled vast territories. Royal children had their future secured, but without freedom of choice.

Tradition dictated strict rules. Girls were prepared for marriage from early childhood. Zahra’s first engagement took place when she was eight years old. Her fiancé was a peer. This union ultimately did not materialize, but it shows the mechanisms of the era.

At age thirteen, Zahra married Amir Hussein Khan. He was the son of the defense minister, an aristocrat of high status. The marriage seemed an ideal family alliance. She gave birth to four children, fulfilling the duties of wife and mother.

Her husband, however, broke his vow of fidelity. In Persian culture, men were allowed much more. Zahra did not intend to accept this. Her decision shook all of Persia. She became the first woman in the royal family to demand a divorce and obtain it.

Revolution of One Woman

Persian culture of the 19th century placed strict limitations on women. The hijab was mandatory in public space. Women could not make independent life decisions. Education was reserved mainly for men. In this context, Zahra’s actions were almost impossible.

The princess mastered several foreign languages. She read European literature and Persian poetry. She was interested in politics and philosophy. She wanted to share her knowledge, which was then unacceptable for a woman. She broke successive barriers with determination.

Publicly removing the hijab caused a scandal. No woman from the aristocracy had dared such a step before. Zahra did it demonstratively, aware of the consequences. She aroused the fury of conservative clergy. The royal family found itself under pressure.

She also began writing memoirs. In them she described her struggle with tradition and religious commandments. She criticized Shiite rules limiting women’s freedom. Her texts circulated secretly among educated Persians. She became a symbol of the fight for equality decades before the era of feminism.

Muse of Poets and Symbol of Change

Zahra refused subsequent marriages. She preferred independence to financial security. She was financially secure as the monarch’s daughter. She could therefore afford to live by her own rules. This was an extraordinary rarity in those times.

She fell in love with poet Aref Ghazwini. He was one of the most important creators of Persian literature in the early 20th century. Zahra inspired him to write. She appeared in his poems as the ideal of a free and unbending woman. Their relationship was more spiritual than formal.

Persian literature of that period often addressed themes of social change. Ghazwini belonged to progressive intellectuals. Together with Zahra, they formed a duo fighting with words for a new Persia. Their activity influenced the next generation of reformers.

She died on January 25, 1936. She was 53 years old. Her life coincided with a period of gigantic transformations in Iran. The Qajar dynasty fell in 1925. The new Pahlavi regime began modernizing the country. Zahra did not live to see full emancipation of women, but she won space for them.

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Margot Cleverly

+ posts

Margot's journey into women's history began with a box of forgotten letters in a Cambridge archive – suffragettes whose voices had been silenced for over a century. Since then, she's been on a mission to uncover the stories history overlooked.

What she writes about: Queens who ruled from the shadows. Scientists whose male colleagues took credit. Revolutionaries who risked everything. But also ordinary women – those who survived wars, raised families through upheaval, and shaped their communities in ways no one bothered to record.

Margot turns historical figures into real people. She writes with warmth and detail, making centuries-old stories feel surprisingly relevant. Rigorous research meets accessible storytelling – no dusty academic jargon, just compelling narratives backed by solid facts.

When she's not writing, you'll find her in regional archives, collecting oral histories, or visiting sites connected to the women she writes about.