Mohammed Zahir Shah, who as the last king of Afghanistan led his country through 40 years of stability before watching it unravel from exile, has died at the age of 92.

Zahir Shah died in his bed early this morning in his residence in Kabul, where he had spent the final years of his life as an ordinary citizen. He had been ill for some time.

His death was announced by President Hamid Karzai, his fellow Pashtun clansman, who declared three days of mourning for his passing. “I want to inform all my compatriots that his majesty, the Father of the Nation, Mohammed Zahir Shah, passed away today at 5:45 am," he said.

Tim Albone, Times correspondent in Kabul, said that flags were flying at half mast in the Afghan capital. "There's no huge outpouring but there is a definite sense of grief at his death. He was seen as the father of the nation, a man who ruled Afghanistan in the last peaceful era of its history."

Born on October 15, 1914, Zahir Shah took the throne at age 19 after being at the side of his father, King Nadir Shah, when he was shot dead in 1933 by a teenager at a school awards ceremony on the lawns of a Kabul palace.

For the next two decades, the bookish king remained in the shadows, allowing three uncles to run the government.

But he gradually gained in confidence and took full control in 1953, overseeing a cautious modernisation of his backward realm. He supported an end to purdah - the wearing of the veil - for women, used foreign cash to develop the country’s medieval infrastructure and managed to keep a balance between rival Soviet and Western interests.

A 1964 constitution even managed to turn Afghanistan into a modern democracy with free elections, a parliament and civil rights.

But as a king Zahir Shah was widely considered to be too weak and was accused of nepotism and economic incompetence. In 1973, while on holiday in Italy, he was overthrown in a bloodless coup by his cousin and former prime minister, Mohammad Daud, ending centuries of monarchy in Afghanistan.

From his exile in Italy, Zahir Shah the watched his country unravel, wracked by the Soviet occupation, an ensuing civil war and the hardline Islamist rule of the Taleban.

He finally returned home in 2002 after the ouster of the the Taleban by a US-led coalition but refused all entreaties to become involved in politics, accepting instead the title "Father of the Nation" from a constitutional assembly.

His wife Homaira, whom he married in 1931, died as she prepared to join him in Afghanistan shortly after his return. The couple had five sons and two daughters.

Among those paying tribute to the late king today was the Taleban itself. A Taleban spokesman said: “The Father of the Nation was a known figure in the history of Afghanistan and enjoyed a lot of credibility.

“Unfortunately, recently the Americans used him for their interests -- from his return to Afghanistan until the day he died, he served US interests and became a stooge."

Prayers for the late king will be held on Wednesday, and the funeral will take place on Thursday to allow time for foreign guests, including prime ministers and foreign ministers, to attend.

Zahir Shah will be buried in a mausoleum next to his father on a hill overlooking Kabul.

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