Wajid Ali Shah (Urdu: ) (30 July 1822 1 September 1887) was the eleventh and last King of Awadh, holding the position for 9 years, from 13 February 1847 to 11 February 1856.Wajid Ali Shah's first wife was Alam Ara who was better known as Khas Mahal (transl.special wife) because of her exquisite beauty. She was one of two Nikahi wives.

His kingdom, long protected by the East India Company (EIC) under treaty, was annexed by the EIC on 11 February 1856, two days before the ninth anniversary of his coronation. The Nawab was exiled to Garden Reach in Metiabruz, then a suburb of Kolkata, where he lived out the rest of his life on a generous pension. He was a poet, playwright, dancer and great patron of the arts. He is widely credited with the revival of Kathak as a major form of classical Indian dance.

Awadh (Hindi: [əˈʋədʱ] (listen)), known in British historical texts as Avadh or Oudh, is a region and proposed state in the modern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, which was before independence known as the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh. Awadh is bounded by the Ganges Doab to the southwest, Rohilkhand to the northwest, Nepal to the north, and Bhojpur-Purvanchal to the east. Its inhabitants are referred to as Awadhis.It was established as one of the twelve original subahs (top-level imperial provinces) under 16th-century Mughal emperor Akbar and became a hereditary tributary polity around 1722, with Faizabad as its initial capital and Saadat Ali Khan as its first Subadar Nawab and progenitor of a dynasty of Nawabs of Awadh (often styled Nawab Wazir al-Mamalik). The traditional capital of Awadh is Lucknow, also the station of the British Resident, which now is the capital of Uttar Pradesh.