Fateh Ali Shah died at Isfahan while on his way to Shiraz to compel the obedience of his son Hussein Ali Mirza, who in expectation of his father's death from age and infirmity had decided to withhold payment of revenue to the Crown.

The rebellious son advanced with an army, and took possession of the jewels and treasure which his father had brought with him; and his brother, the Zil-es-Sultan, seized what had been left at Tehran, but Mohamed Shah afterwards regained possession of the whole.
Nasr-ed-Din, son and heir-apparent of Mohamed Shah, was present at his post of Governor-General of Azerbaijan when his father died in Tehran, and there was an interval of disturbance for the six or seven weeks which passed between the death of the one King and the coronation of the other.

During this period revolution prevailed in the towns, and robbery and violence in the country.

The son of Ali Mirza, the Zil-es-Sultan, the Prince-Governor of Tehran, who had disputed the succession of Mohamed Shah, issued forth from his retirement in Kasvin to contest the Crown with his cousin; but the attempt came to an inglorious end.

A revolt at Meshed with a similar object also failed, and then Mirza Taki Khan, Amir-i-Nizam, proceeded successfully to consolidate the power of Nasr-ed-Din Shah, whose long reign, and on the whole good rule, have so accustomed the people to peace that the old ways of revolution and revolt on the death of a Shah have been forgotten and changed.
The regalia and Crown jewels of Persia mentioned in these changes of royal rule have, by inexplicable good fortune, been preserved from plunder while in the hands of rebels.