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The saying "it is worth its weight in gold" is true in the case of the almighty Aga Khan

, imam of the Nizari Ismaili Muslims, with almost twenty million followers scattered around the planet.

The predecessors of the current Karim Shah sat during his enthronement on the plate of a balance while the faithful filled the other with gold and diamonds until they reached his weight.

The ritual was repeated annually and they say it is the origin of the colossal fortune of the Aga Khan,

to recognize the direct descendants of Muhammad through Fatima, daughter of the prophet, and his son-in-law, Ali .

Karim Al Yussayny, proclaimed IV Aga Kahn on July 11, 1957 at the age of 20, broke this tradition and at his "installation" ceremony, the takht nashini, held that October in Dar es-Salam, Tanzania, refused to sit on the scales .

Not surprisingly, his grandfather, Sultan Mahommed Shah, appointed him successor, skipping over his son, Ali Khan, to modernize the dynasty.

He succeeded, because the image of this

, the most opposite to the usual of a Muslim imam that we can conceive.

Not only because of his enormous personal fortune, which Forbes estimated at one billion dollars, higher than that of Elizabeth of England, but also because of his status as a modern businessman at the head of his hotel and aeronautical companies, as well as directing the Aga Khan Fund. for Economic Development, a philanthropic giant known as the second UN.

Aimed at improving living conditions in disadvantaged communities in Asia and Africa,

, including Infanta Cristina, current inter-agency coordinator at the trust's cultural division in Geneva.

Position that he obtained thanks to the close friendship of Don Juan Carlos with Karim Aga Khan, who coincided as teenagers in the exclusive Swiss boarding school of Le Rosey.

The imam has been one of the most mediatic characters of the international jet, promoter in the 60s of the luxurious tourist enclave of Porto Cervo, in Sardinia, a territory populated by deer that gave way to mansions where Margarita from England, the actress Catherine Deneuve , Grace Kelly and Rainero or the beatle Ringo Starr.

One of them, with a private port and surrounded by forest, was that of the Aga Khan, also owner of the Costa Esmeralda Yacht Club, where his multimillionaire yachts such as Bill Gates, the Russian Usmanov, with his Dilbar, valued at 550 million euros, docked. , and monarchs like Don Juan Carlos with Fortuna.

, in France, where he lived, to his mansion on the Emerald Coast, traveling in his private plane to exclusive jet events or equestrian events such as Ascot, to see his racehorses compete.

Beautiful women have been his weakness, shared by his father and grandfather, the Aga Khan III, who married four times, the second time with the Italian dancer Cleope Teresa Magliano, whom he conquered with a 61-carat diamond.

She was the mother of his son Ali Khan, Karim's father,

actress Rita Hayworth, with whom he had a daughter, Yasmin.

Karim was married twice, first to Sarah Croker, a sought-after British model who was the world image of Pons cosmetics.

He met her on New Year's Eve 1968 in Saint Moritz, the favorite refuge of the imam, who came to participate in two Winter Olympics, and after her wedding in October 1969, she became Begum Salima.

In 1970, his firstborn was born, Zhara, in 71, Rahim, and in 74, Hussein.

... "Karim had boundless jealousy, he couldn't go out without her permission, he feared the judgment of his faithful Ishmaelites," he confessed.

In a file photo in the company of Juan Carlos I.

His union with Salima lasted twenty-five years, whom he divorced amicably in 1995 in exchange for the title of princess and 30 million dollars.

In 1998, he married a German aristocrat, Gabrielle, from the Thyssen family, with whom he had his fourth son, Ali Muhammad, in 2000. Four years later he

by paying his ex €60 million.

His last known love was Countess Beatrice von der Schulenburg.

The aura of frivolity that has surrounded his existence masks an arduous reality marked by his destiny as a religious leader.

, he was the son of Prince Ali Khan, who sided with the Allies in World War II, and his first wife, Tajuddawlah, an English daughter of Baron Churston.

He spent his childhood as a refugee with his parents in Nairobi, educating himself with his brother Amyn with

and at the age of 7 he led his first mass prayer.

After the war he returned to Switzerland, where he studied high school at Le Rosay, although he continued to delve into Islam with the scholar Mustafa Khamal, who also taught him Arabic and Urdu.

At the age of 18,

and was an excellent student, although his classmates were shocked by his austerity, since he had few clothes and did not have his own car.

In 1954, he interrupted his American dream, which he later resumed, at the order of his grandfather to travel for 18 months through Africa and India to make himself known, since he had in mind to name him a successor, which happened after the death of Sultan Mahommed in July from 1957.

Currently, Karim Aga Khan is

, who lives in Lisbon, where he acquired in 2016 for 12 million euros the sumptuous palace of Henrique de Mendoza, his current residence and headquarters of his foundation, achieving Portuguese nationality in 2019. Retired from worldly life, they assure that he is currently considering abdicating in his son Rahim.

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