hossein ala's father, prince mohammad-ali ala' os-saltaneh (1838–1917), prime minister, foreign minister and diplomat, was married to homa khanom azemat od-dowleh, the daughter of the renowned intellectual, majd ol-molk sinaki, four of whose grandsons were to become prime ministers: qavam os-saltaneh, vosuq od-dowleh, hossein ala and ali amini. fereydoun ala's mother fatemeh, was the only daughter of abolqasem khan gharagozlou naser ol-molk (1856–1927), the first iranian oxonian (balliol college, oxford), sometime prime minister and later regent (1910–1914) while the future ahmad shah qajar was still a minor. he had been raised by his grandfather, mahmoud khan naser ol-molk qaragozlou farmanfarma, who married the daughter of crown prince abbas mirza, the combative son of fath-ali shah qajar. during his retirement in paris, abolqasem khan translated two of shakespeare's plays (othello and the merchant of venice) into lapidary persian – the first time works of the famous bard of avon had been rendered in that language.