Just prior to Khurram’s birth, a soothsayer had reportedly predicted to Ruqaiya Sultan Begum that the still unborn child was destined for imperial greatness. So, when Khurram was born in 1592 and was only six days old, Akbar ordered that the prince be taken away from his mother and handed him over to Ruqaiya so that he could grow up under her care and Akbar could fulfill his aging wife's wish, to raise a Mughal emperor.[7]
Khurram remained with her, until he had turned 13. The young prince was then, finally, allowed to return to his father's household, and thus, be closer to his biological mother.[7] Ruqaiya oversaw Khurram's education as well for she, unlike her husband, was well educated.[18] Jahangir noted that Ruqaiya had loved Khurram "a thousand times more than if he had been her own son."[1] Indeed, the relationship that they shared was a close one, as upon the birth of his first child, Princess Parhez Banu Begum, Khurram, out of his affection for Ruqaiya, handed over the newly born princess to her and she was brought up by Ruqaiya.[19]
In 1607, Ruqaiya, for the first time, visited the mausoleum of her father Hindal Mirza as the imperial harem and Jahangir were on a hunting trip to Kabul.[20] Sher Afghan Quli Khan, the jagirdar of Burdwan died and his widowed wife, Mehr-un-Nissa (later Empress Nur Jahan) was summoned to Agra by Jahangir to act as lady-in-waiting to the now Dowager empress, Ruqaiy