Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah II, also known as Bahadur Shah Zafar was born as Mirza Abu Zafar Siraj-ud-din Muhammad. He was the son of Akbar II and the twentieth and last Mughal Emperor of India. He sat on the throne of the Mughal Empire in 1837 and the age of 62. He was a poet, musician, and calligrapher, more an aesthete than a political leader.

Throughout his reign, Bahadur Shah II was a client of the British Empire and was left without any real authority. One of the queens of Akbar II, wanted him to declare his son, Mirza Jahangir, as his successor. But, the East India Company exiles Jahangir after his attack on their residence in Red Fort, paving the way for Bahadur Shah to assume the throne.

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