20 Facts About Soraya Tarzi

Soraya Tarzi was Queen of Afghanistan as the wife of King Amanullah Khan.

Soraya Tarzi played a major part in the modernization reforms of Amanullah Khan, particularly regarding the emancipation of women.

Suraiya Shahzada Tarzi was born on 24 November 1899, in Damascus, Syria, then part of the Ottoman Empire.

Soraya Tarzi was the daughter of the Afghan political figure Sardar Mahmud Beg Tarzi, and granddaughter of Sardar Ghulam Muhammad Tarzi.

Soraya Tarzi belonged to the Mohammadzai Pashtun tribe, a sub-tribe of the Barakzai dynasty.

Soraya Tarzi studied in Syria, learning Western and modern values, which would influence her future actions and beliefs.

Amanullah and Soraya Tarzi struck an affinity, chose to marry and married on 30 August 1913 at Qawm-i-Bagh Palace in Kabul.

When she married into the royal family Soraya Tarzi grew to be one of the region's most important figures.

Soraya Tarzi was the future King Amanullah's only wife, which broke centuries of tradition.

Amanullah and Soraya Tarzi had ten children, four sons and six daughters:.

Queen Soraya Tarzi was the first Muslim consort who appeared in public together with her husband, something which was unheard of at the time.

Soraya Tarzi participated with him in the hunting parties, riding on horseback, and in some Cabinet meetings.

In 1921, Soraya Tarzi founded and contributed to the first magazine for women, Ishadul Naswan which was edited by her mother, as well as the first women's organisation, Anjuman-i Himayat-i-Niswan, which promoted women's welfare and had an office to which women could report mistreatment by their husbands, brothers, and fathers.

Soraya Tarzi founded a theatre in Paghman which, although segregated for women, still gave women an opportunity to find their own social scene and break the harem seclusion.

Queen Soraya Tarzi encouraged women to get education and opened the first primary school for girls in Kabul, the Masturat School, in 1921, as well as the first hospital for women, the Masturat Hospital, in 1924.

In 1926 on the anniversary of independence from the British, Soraya Tarzi gave a public speech:.

Soraya Tarzi sent 15 young women to Turkey for higher education in 1928.

Soraya Tarzi noted that the Queen had many questions, since she was due to visit Europe.

Soraya Tarzi did not wear a hijab for the visit, which inspired the Shah to begin introducing similar reforms in Iran.

Soraya Tarzi is buried in Bagh-e Amir Shaheed, the family mausoleum in a large marble plaza, covered by a dome roof held up by blue columns in the heart of Jalalabad, next to her husband the King, who had died eight years earlier.