Brig. (retd) S. A. H. Rizvi, M.C., was a family friend of the Maharaja. The prince's name came up during a family conversation. The Maharaja was desirous of meeting the prince and invited him to be his guest. The prince obliged and was put up at the historic Nadesar palace (Summer House) where the prince's great grandfather Wajid Ali Shah, King of Oudh, stayed on his way to Calcutta after abdicating the kingdom of Oudh in 1856. The prince was accorded the same royal suite where the king stayed, during that stop over at Benares. Further, the Maharaja insisted on the prince being his guest, whenever he would visit Benares for any work. The prince reciprocated this magnanimous gesture by inviting the Maharaja to be his guest, in the death centenary of Wajid Ali Shah at his mausoleum in Matiaburj, Calcutta in 1987. In the same year, living upto the spirit of communal harmony of his forefather, the Maharaja was a Chief Guest in a muslim public function of Milad-un-Nabi at Zakaria Street, Calcutta.

Photos of that function will be posted soon.

For those who wish to know more :-

      Prince Anjum Quder passed away on 23^rdJuly, 1997, succeeded by his eldest son Yusuf Ali Mirza, U.K.
      H.H. Maharaja of Benares, Dr. Vibhuti Narain Singh, passed away on 25^th December, 2000
      Brig (retd.) S. A. H. Rizvi, M.C., year of death is currently unavailable. His son Brig. S. A. A. Rizvi, has retired too.

      Rajkumar Anant Narain Singh succeeds his father and is the present Maharaja of Benares