'Persia and the Persian Question by the Hon. George Nathaniel Curzon, M.P.' [‎394] (447/714)

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PERSIA
sherbet, sugar candy, and tea, presented by servants who kneit. The
ablutions of the Walee Ahud were carefully performed after he had
drunk his tea. He wiped his little chin, where, Inshallah, his beard
will be, with most dignified gravity.'
And again in 183G :—
The little prince is grown since we last saw him. He has a beauti
ful but mournful cast of countenance, and was terribly bored, most
likely, poor child.
As a fact, the Vali-Ahd was very much neglected by his father,
over whom the young prince's mother had ceased to exercise any
charm. He lived in very difficult circumstances, often being com
pelled to borrow money in order to pay his daily expenses. Mo
hammed Shall favoured his younger son, Abbas Mirza, then styled
Naib-es-Sultaneh. who retired from the country soon after his elder
brother ascended the throne, and only returned to Persia in later
years after a long exile at Baghdad.
So much for the Shah in his early years. Soon after reaching
man's estate, his appearance was described by Mr. Binning in
terms which hardly ratify the promise of his childhood:—
The Shah is now (1851) in his twenty-second year, but looks older.
His complexion is very sallow, and his countenance, though not disagree
able, cannot be pronounced handsome. He wears moustaches, with but
the rudiments of a beard. 2
In middle life, the Shah's appearance is so familiar throughout
Europe as to need no lengthened description, and may be judged
of from the illustration which accompanies this text. The Kajars
are a handsome race, and if Nasr-ed-Din cannot equal the majestic
appearance of his great-grandfather, Fath Ali Shah, or even of his
grandfather. Abbas Mirza, both of whom were famous for their
long-bearded beauty, his mien and deportment are, at any rate,
kingly and pleasing. He, and his sons after him, have abandoned
the fashion of the beard that was set by his Kajar* predecessors,
and have reverted to the shaven cheeks and chin which we see in the
portraits of most of the Sefavi sovereigns. Though sixty years of
age, the Shah is erect, active, and robust, making the most of a
middle stature, and walking with a slow step and a peculiar jaunty
movement of the hips, which has a certain air of distinction.
1 Journal of a Residence in N. Persia, p. 136.
2 Journal of 'Two^Years' Travel in Persia, vol. ii. p. 236.