The three Qajar monarchs who ruled between 1797 and 1896 each had their own ideas about the obligations of royal office. Yet all considered themselves to be defenders of common assets and felt a sense of pride in their achievement of having essentially maintained the status quo while at the same time introducing reforms concomitant with modern conceptions of institutional structures and governance. Over the course of a century, the Qajar dynasty contemplated its own image as a reflection of Safavid heritage, aspiring to conquests and the proliferation of its prestigious cultural heritage. It did not merely imitate Safavid culture but basked in its own cultural production, creating a cult of personality around the dynasty’s – increasingly precarious – grandeur.