Adorable Times’ Newsletter

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Adorable Times’ Newsletter
Adorable Story #49: Karim Aga Khan and the creation of Costa Smeralda

Adorable Story #49: Karim Aga Khan and the creation of Costa Smeralda

How Prince Karim transformed a plot of pristine land into one of the most expensive real estate locations in Europe

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Alberto @ Adorable Times
Jan 27, 2024
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Adorable Times’ Newsletter
Adorable Times’ Newsletter
Adorable Story #49: Karim Aga Khan and the creation of Costa Smeralda
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“For the Costa Smeralda, we want to use everything we can that is authentically Sardinian”

— Prince Karim Aga Khan

Prince Karim Aga Khan (Aga Khan IV), then only 24 years old, oversees the development of Porto Cervo on the Costa Smeralda, Sardinia, 1960 — Photo © by Slim Aarons / Getty Images

Prince Karim Aga Khan was born on December 13, 1936, in Geneva, Switzerland.

He is the eldest son of Prince Aly Khan (1911–1960 — whom we already mentioned in the Adorable Story #48), and his first wife, Princess Taj-ud-dawlah Aga Khan — formerly Joan Yarde-Buller (1908–1997).

Despite being born premature, he was in good health. His younger brother, Amyn Aga Khan, arrived shortly before his first birthday.

His parents divorced in 1949 and Prince Aly Khan promptly remarried, this time to the American actress Rita Hayworth, with whom he fathered Princess Yasmin Aga Khan, making her Prince Karim’s half-sister.

Additionally, Karim Aga Khan had a half-brother, Patrick Benjamin Guinness, from his mother Joan Yarde-Buller’s previous marriage to Loel Guinness, a member of the prominent banking family.


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Early years

Prince Karim’s early years were spent in Nairobi, Kenya, where he received education through private tutors. He then proceeded to Institut Le Rosey in Switzerland, known for being one of the world’s most prestigious boarding schools, and he completed his education there with moderate success.

Despite an initial desire to pursue science at MIT, his grandfather Aga Khan III directed him towards Harvard University. At Harvard, he joined The Delphic Club and focused on Islamic history, eventually earning his Bachelor of Arts with Cum Laude honours in 1959.

The death of his grandfather in 1957 abruptly made Prince Karim the Aga Khan IV, taking on the religious title of Mawlānā Hazar Imam when he was still an university student.

He described the experience as a total life transformation, waking up to immense responsibilities for millions and forgoing his plan to earn a doctorate in History. Besides his academic achievements, he also excelled in sports, particularly as a competitive downhill skier: he even represented Iran in the 1964 Winter Olympics, demonstrating his proficiency in the sport.

Prince Karim Aga Khan on the cover of Town & Country, December 1961

The Creation of Costa Smeralda

In 1958, around the time the Aga Khan graduated from Harvard, the English banker John Duncan Miller visited Sardinia in his role as vice president of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), to check on the progress of a local mosquito-eradication program.

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