Princess Saleha Sultan, the titular queen of Bhopal and wife of the late Nawab Bashir Yar Jung of the Paigah family, passed away in Hyderabad on Sunday. She was 80. The funeral will take place in Bhopal on Monday. Her husband Nawab Bashir Yar Jung from the Paigah family, whose father constructed the Falaknuma Palace, passed away in 2019.
Princess Saleha was the eldest child of the Nawab of Pataudi senior Hajji Nawab Hafiz Muahmmad Hamidullah Khan and Nawab Begum of Bhopal Sajida Sultan. She was the sister of Nawab Muhammad Mansur Ali Khan Bahadur known as Tiger Pataudi.
Though she was elder to Tiger Pataudi, she was never recognised as the ‘Nawab’ of Bhopal. After the death of Sajid Sultan, the ‘Nawab Begum of Bhopal’, Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi was recognised as the head of the royal house of Bhopal and retained that title till his death.