Just prior to Shah Jahan's birth, a soothsayer had reportedly predicted to the childless Empress Ruqaiya Sultan Begum, Akbar's first wife and chief consort, that the still unborn child was destined for imperial greatness. So, when Shah Jahan 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 wife's wish to raise a Mughal emperor. Ruqaiya assumed the primary responsibility for Shah Jahan's upbringing and he grew up under her care. The two shared a close relationship with each other as Salim noted in his memoirs that Ruqaiya had loved his son [Shah Jahan ], "a thousand times more than if he had been her own [son]."