jentiff

This is a quite amazing photo of the Shah Mozaffar ad-Din (Reign 1896-1907) visit to England in 1902 with King Edward VII and the Princes of Wales Victoria. This has to be one of the biggest gathering of Persian Lion and Sun medals displayed in a group photo. The Shah visited the United Kingdom in August 1902 on the promise of receiving the Order of the Garter as it had been previously given to his father, Nasser-ed-Din Shah. King Edward VII refused to give this high honor to a non-Christian. Lord Lansdowne, the Foreign Secretary, had designs drawn up for a new version of the Order, without the Cross of St. George. The King was so enraged by the sight of the design, though, that he threw it out of his yacht's porthole. I am guessing that this photo was taken on the very same Royal Yacht. However, in 1903, the King had to back down and the Shah was appointed a member of the Order.

Just found some caption ID on this photo:

Seated in the picture from left to right:

His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales George V,

His Majesty the Shah of Persia,

Her Majesty Queen Alexandra,

His Majesty King Edward VII and Her Royal Highness Princess of Wales Victoria.

NOTE: The diamond on the cap of Mozzafar-e-Din Shah, The Shah of Persia, is the famous "Darya e Noor" aka "Sea of light", it is the sister diamond to the "Koh e Noor" or "Mountain of Light" which is now part of the British Crown Jewels.

Standing from left to right:

Ala-ol-Saltaneh (Minister in the Persian Embassy in London),

Seif-ol-Sultan, Hakim-el-Molk Grand Vazir Secretary of State for the Imperial Court ,

Movassagh-el-Molk,

Fakhr-el-Molk,

Prime Minister of Persia Mirza Ali Asghar Khan Amin-al-Sultan Atabak e Azam

Husseingholi Khan Navab,

Amir Bahador Hossein Pasha Khan (Minister of War)

Paul Ketabchi Khan,

Vakile-e-Doleh,

Mohandess-ol-Mamalek,

Movassegh-ol-Molk,

Mirza Ebrahim Khan (later Hakim-el-Molk) Hakimi Physician to the Shah (Mirza Mahmoud Khan's nephew and son in law)

Movassagh-e-Doleh,

Doctor Sir Hugh Adcock,

Hajeb-e-Doleh Davaloo Qajar, Ebrahim Hakimi's cousin,

Prince Arthur of Connaught and Doctor C Lindsey.

Hello,

My great-great grandfather was H.H. Topakyan (persian consul of new york circa 1900).

I have tons of signed portraits, awards, etc in my possession. I have been researching for quite sometime on what looks to be an original photograph of the one you posted above. It is in its original large frame (no glass), and slightly damaged across George V's face. Knowing the extensive collection HH had of high profiles, I had little doubt it was an original.

Can you tell me anything more about this photograph in the respect of rarity? Should I be regarding this as a valuable possession or merely a cool souvenir?

I would appreciate anything you could tell me.

file://localhost/Users/jentiff/Desktop/photo-1.JPG