Education Of A Horse Trader

One balmy evening during their late and much-chronicled marriage, His Highness, The Prince Aly Khan and Actress Rita Hayworth accompanied a party of friends to a Cairo nightclub. The feature attraction was a renowned belly dancer. When she wove into the spotlight, clothed only in a few yards of gold fringe and heavy, half-lowered eyelids, Aly stared so fixedly at her gyrating half-naked torso that one of the women guests, with a sidelong glance at Rita, cattily commented on it. Rita smiled sweetly. "You don't understand. What interests Aly is the revolutions per minute. It's all the same to him whether it's the RPM of an engine, a race horse—or a woman's stomach."

Although this wifely observation sounds remarkably improbable, friends who know Aly best claim it was remarkably sagacious. "Speed is a drug to Aly," said a woman friend. "I think he needs it to keep up his confidence." "He's always either restless or reckless," said an aide.

Forty-seven years, a thickening waistline and a bothersome leg injury have almost halted Aly's participation in sports, but otherwise there is no evidence that his pace is slowing. At the United Nations, where he holds forth as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Permanent Representative from Pakistan, he maintains an overcrowded schedule which leaves his secretaries exhausted, his aides nettled and onlookers astounded. "The poor guy's throttle must be stuck," commented a newsman.

There is no sign, either, that Aly has lost his appreciative eye for women, a characteristic which has made his name a familiar word from Bangkok to Broken Bow. Although many people find it both tiresome and distasteful, it is almost impossible to discuss Aly without mentioning his love life. Just recently a distinguished and highly placed gentleman whose pronouncements usually concern world affairs was asked what he thought of Aly's work at the U.N. "The trouble with Aly," he said bluntly, "is that he is grossly oversexed. If he would stop chasing women he would probably be all right. But the man must have three or four of them at a time. He doesn't chase tarts. He runs after lots of decent, respectable women. And he has made many enemies doing it."

When he finally got down to Aly's U.N. work the gentleman's tone changed. "He has won respect as a sincere fellow," he said. "He has lots of money and entertains lavishly. This is important because it gives him a chance to meet many people. I give him a good mark. He has efficient help and they keep him on the ball. He is no exhibitionist. His standing with nine or 10 Moslem countries is excellent. They think a great deal of him."

Most people at the U.N. feel Aly is doing a good job, though he has not yet faced the test of a give-and-take debate on the floor or weathered an ordeal inevitably awaiting every Pakistani Ambassador, a verbal brawl with his country's implacable, long-winded and unpredictable enemy, India's Krishna Menon. It is to Aly's credit that he has gained as much acceptance at the U.N. as he has. There was a notable lack of enthusiasm among delegates when he was appointed, and in Pakistan there were some outraged cries that he was not even a Pakistani. This objection was highly technical, to say the least, since nobody has been a Pakistani for more than 11 years.

Aly's ties with Pakistan have been closer than most people realize. The late Aga was born in Karachi and was a friend and adviser of the founders of the new country and reputedly once declined the post of governor-general. Aly has been in and out of the country constantly, deputizing for his father on business with the rich and influential Ismaili community there. He is a close personal friend of most of the officers in the military junta ruling Pakistan and was, in fact, made a full colonel in the Pakistan army before his appointment to the U.N. His father's esteemed reputation in Pakistan certainly was an advantage, but Aly got his U.N. job on his own through his military and Ismaili connections.

Aly's U.N. career did not get off to a rousing start, largely because his first big party at Pakistan House was zealously promoted by his old and stubbornly gregarious friend Elsa Maxwell, and liberally sprinkled with a caf� society crowd. This caused some delegates to wonder if he intended using his U.N. post as an excuse for more playboying. It was only after they saw how seriously he was taking his U.N. duties that they accepted him, and his splendiferous parties have now become the rage of the U.N.

Although he probably has only himself to blame, it is a lamentable fact that Aly's playing and romancing almost invariably overshadow or obscure some of his soldierly accomplishments and many good qualities. People who know him only by reputation are generally surprised to find he has considerable charm and an impressive knowledge of world affairs. A well-known diplomat voiced a familiar complaint: "Most of my friends don't understand why I like Aly until I introduce them to him. The truth is, he's a highly likable fellow." Not boastfully, but almost sorrowfully, the old Aga commented, "My son Aly is an extremely warmhearted person who loves entertaining, who loves to be surrounded by friends to whom he gives hospitality with both hands."

But Aly's lavish hospitality also has brought him considerable censure. One critic trenchantly remarked that the underlying theme of all his costly parties seems to be, "I want to be happy, but I can't be happy until you are happy, too." Even Aly's admirers usually concede he was guilty of exquisite bad taste when he paid for and carefully stage-managed his eye-popping extravaganza of a wedding to Rita Hayworth in the summer of 1949.