Here is a candid view of the young Aga Khan
spiritual leader of 20 million people
and the most celebrated undergraduate in America.
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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.
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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
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