Prince Arfa' was a remarkable man, The son of a Tabrizi cloth merchant, by dint of hard study and good fortune he attracted the attention of Naser ed-Din Shah and rose rapidly through the bureaucracy. He became ambassador at St Petersburg and consul in Tiflis...

Dr Homa Katouzian is the Iran Heritage Foundation Research Fellow, St Antony’s College, and Member, Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Oxford. He is Senior Editor, Iran Namag, A Quarterly of Iranian Studies; Co-editor, Routledge book series in Iranian Studies; and Editor, International Journal of...