Gulbadan Begum of Natore


Gulbadan Begum was a Bengali social worker, and former head of the princely Singranatore family, the eldest daughter of Jalaluddin Mirza, the Zamindar of Natore.

Biography

Born in 1923 in the Bengal Presidency of the British Empire, she was named after her distant ancestor Princess Gulbadan Begum, the youngest daughter of Emperor Babur, by her grandfather, zamindar Mirza Zafar of Natore. Her younger sister, who married a Sardar of Natore was named Gulchehra Begum after Princess Gulchehra Begum, another daughter of Emperor Babur.
She was educated privately and in her teenage years she was married to Mullah Shamez Uddin Ahmed, the erstwhile Qadi of Natore and descendant of Mullah Shah Badakhshi. Her husband died in 1968 before the war of 1971. She had six children that survived to adulthood.
She died on May 8, 2005 at Army Cantonment and is buried at the Singranatore estate. At the end of 2005, following relinquishing command of the Bangladesh Army and upon military retirement, her third son Sahibzada Colonel Muhammad Shahid Sarwar Azam Shah Jahan assumed headship of the Singranatore family.

Family