Pickthall’s Islamic Politics 131
suitable husband for Abdul Majid ii’s niece. The double marriage took place
on 12 November 1931 in Nice, with the ex-Caliph himself performing the Nika.
The signatories to the wedding contract included members of the Ottoman
royal family as well as Hydari, Pickthall and Trench, and the British Consul in
Nice, Wiseman Keogh. Also present at the ceremony were Lady Hydari and
Muriel Pickthall.90 The Nizam raised the pension he was conferring on the ex-
Caliph forthwith. In a photograph taken on the wedding day Pickthall can be
seen standing by Sir Akbar Hydari, who donned the traditional Bohra turban
for the occasion (Figure 5.1).
The Foreign Office was sanguine about the developments, unlike the Gov-
ernment of India. For the former, there was as much need to be alarmed as
the French government might be “if a Parma prince marries a princess of the
90 The Times (London), 13 November 1931. Muriel’s presence suggests that she, like her hus-
band, had a sociable and gregarious side.
Figure 5.1 Group photo of the wedding of ex-Caliph Abdul Majid ii’s daughter Princess Durru
Shehvar, with the Nizam’s elder son and heir, Azam Jah. Pickthall is seen standing by
Sir Akbar Hydari (wearing traditional Bohra Muslim headgear) November 1931
Reproduced in Pictorial Hyderabad, Chandrakanth Press, 2007, 2nd.
edition.