Heir, regency deputy, and thirty-three-year reign
Shah Jehan Begum was the only child of Jehangir Mahomed Khan and Sikandar Begum. A will naming her father's illegitimate son as successor "was however set aside, and the Shah Jehan Begum was recognized by the British Government as heir."
In July 1855 she "was married to Baki Mahomed Khan, Commander-in-Chief of the Bhopal army," under an arrangement "that the Shah Jehan should succeed to the throne on coming of age, her husband being titular Nawab." In 1859, of age, she "offered to waive her right to the throne in favour of her mother," and the succession instead passed at once to Sikandar Begum, "the succession remaining with the Shah Jehan Begum and her heirs." In 1863, while Sikandar Begum went on pilgrimage to Mecca, Shah Jehan was left "in charge of the State."
Her husband died in June 1867, "leaving one child, a daughter, the Sultan Jehan Begum, aged eleven years." On Sikandar Begum's death on 18 October 1868, "the Shah Jehan Begum was duly installed on the throne in November, 1868, and her daughter, the Sultan Jehan Begum recognized as heir."
" She "passed away at fifteen minutes past twelvest 12 o'clock on the 28th day of Safar, in the year 1319 A.H. (June 16th, 1901)," in the presence of the Political Agent, Captain Lang, and her Minister, Maulavi Abdul Jabbar Khan Sahib.