At the age of nine, Princess Ruqaiya married her first cousin, Akbar, in November of 1551 at Kabul, Afghanistan, shortly after her husband's first appointment as a viceroy in the province of Ghazni, Afghanistan. The marriage was arranged by Ruqaiya's uncle and Akbar's father, Emperor Humayun, and took place soon after the untimely death of Ruqaiya's father, Hindal Mirza, who died in battle. Upon their marriage, Humayun conferred on the young couple, all the wealth of his deceased younger brother, Hindal, and, Ghazni, which was one of Hindal's jagir, was given to his nephew and son-in-law, Akbar, to whom were also transferred Hindal's army and adherents.
Ruqaiya became Empress of the Mughal Empire at the age of fourteen years following her husband's accession to the throne in 1556. As empress, she bore the exalted title of Padshah begum, a title reserved for the first lady of the Empire and the Emperor's principal consort and therefore, rightly bestowed upon Ruqaiya.
Akbar's profound love and affection for his wife came to the fore in his early middle-age, when he stated that had he been wiser earlier in his life, he would not have married more than once. He regretted to have ever taken another wife apart from Ruqaiya, and even went so far as to recommend monogamy, saying, "To seek more than one wife is to work one's own undoing. In case she [the wife] were barren or bore no son, it might then be expedient. Throughout her fifty three years of marriage, Ruqaiya remained childless, but assumed the primary responsibility for the upbringing of her grandson, Prince Khurram (the future Emperor Shah Jahan).
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