Ahmad Shah was born at the
Arg royal palace in Kabul. At the time of his birth he was second in the line of succession to the throne after his older brother
Muhammed Akbar Khan, Crown Prince of Afghanistan. However, following the death of his brother on 26 November 1942, he became the
heir apparent and Crown Prince. Ahmad Shah represented his father several times as
regent when the latter was abroad. He was educated first at the
Esteqlal High School, and College of Military Science, in Kabul. He later attended the
University of Oxford and the
Institut d'études politiques de Paris, before working at the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kabul. His father's reign ended on 17 July 1973, when he was ousted by a
coup with Afghanistan being declared a
republic by
Mohammad Daoud Khan, a member of the royal family. The Crown Prince was one of fourteen members of the royal family arrested following the coup. He was allowed to leave the country for
Rome on 26 July. Following the overthrow of the monarchy, the Crown Prince settled in
Alexandria in the U.S. state of
Virginia and took to writing poetry, keeping a low profile even after the former king's return to Afghanistan in 2002. He died on 4 June 2024, at the age of 89. At the time of his death, he was the oldest surviving male heir of the last reigning King of Afghanistan. ==Marriage and issue==