Wajid Ali Shah

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-->Wajid Ali Shah (, ) (b. 30 July 1822 - d. 1 September 1887)<!--

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-->was fifth King of Oudh, holding the position from 13 February 1847 to 7 February 1856.

He was the tenth and last nawab of the princely kingdom of Oudh in present day Uttar Pradesh in India. He ascended the throne of Awadh in 1847 and ruled for nine years. His kingdom, long protected by the British under treaty, was eventually annexed peacefully on February 7, 1856 - days before the ninth anniversary of his coronation. The Nawab was exiled to Garden Reach in Metiabruz, then a suburb of Kolkata, where he lived out the rest of his life off a generous pension. He was a poet, playwright, dancer and great patron of the arts. He is widely credited with the revival of Kathak as a major form of classical Indian dance.

As a Nawab

Wajid Ali Shah succeeded to the throne of Oudh when its glory days were at its peak and passing. The British had annexed much of the kingdom under the treaty of 1801, and had impoverished Oudh by imposing a hugely expensive, British-run army and repeated demands for loans. The independence of Oudh in name was tolerated by the British only because they still needed a buffer state between their presence in the...
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