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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 8, 1959)
Here is a candid view of the young Aga Khan spiritual leader of 20 million people and the most celebrated undergraduate in America. ; li;:' r h-A R, : - Hf7:..i ifA . p? " I II) n I B A stack of books, modest quarters, sports shirt, and boyish grin might mark Karim Khan as typical student "not at all stuffy" but they hide a serious mind. lu j,nmwtniiimii .mum, .utttw ijyim J ""W fW tl Karim spends at least 2 hours daily with his secretary, Mme. Beguel, on matters of state. couraged. Harvard, moreover, has developed an excellent center for Middle Eastern studies. Karim relaxes in his room chiefly by reading and listening (simultaneously) to music high brow as well as Latin-American records. Some times he'll turn over a wastebasket and use it like a bongo drum, playing to the rhythms of a rumba. Once in a while he attends a jazz party, goes to a dance where he performs a nifty cha-cha or takes in a play in New York. Today he has virtu ally no intimate friends at school; most of his chums were graduated last year with his class. Perhaps because of his awe-inspiring eminence, Karim is generally a lonely young man at Cam bridge. He is accustomed to solitude. His parents were divorced 11 years ago and he has never had a normal family life. Aly, his father, was always gadding about, and his British-bom mother, mar ried three times, has had difficulty maintaining a home in London for Karim. Now, as the Aga Khan, he is finding life profoundly meaningful. It's clear that this serious-minded prince will be no bon vivant like his gaudy father. Both Aly and the late Aga had roistered around with the Inter national Set, frequenting the fashionable beaches at Cannes, the Royal Enclosure at Ascot, lavish masquerade balls in Venice. Ardent turfmen, their stables produced at least five Derby winners. But Harvard's Khan is no chip off the old blocks. He hates night clubs and race tracks, grows im patient with chitchat. "I've no intention of either becoming or becom ing known as a playboy," he says. "To me the question is whether one can live a serious religious life in this day, and I think he can." One of the world's most eligible bachelors, Karim once declared, "I thank God for women." "Girls take to me," he admits. "I don't know them very well, but those I do know are good friends platonic friends, of course." Before he was made Aga Khan IV, Karim had a wide selection of dates, at nearby Radcliffe and in New York. Last year, during his absence abroad, he played the field: Patricia Rawlings, a socially prominent British heiress; Gulzar Nurally, a Hin du; Amina Badrawi, an Egyptian; French film starlet Ann-Marie Mersen, and a bevy of others. Today he seems to focus on Sylvia Casablancas, a 17-year-old Mexican beauty in London who is attending "The Cygnets," an exclusive finishing (Continued) Family Weekly. February 1, 1959 TUB , f p Kb e 2. ft o W 3 !i5p'2,oldBgaS!H ; ft -4
