Short answers, pulled from the story.
Hamida Banu Begum was the empress consort of the second Mughal emperor Humayun and the mother of the third Mughal emperor Akbar, one of the greatest rulers in the empire's history. She was born around 1527 into a Shia pir family of Persian descent settled in Sindh, and she held the titles Mariam Makani and Padshah Begum during Akbar's reign.
Akbar was born early in the morning on the 15th of October 1542, the fourth day of Rajab, 949 AH, at Umerkot, a small desert town ruled by the Hindu Sodha Rajput Rana Prasad. His parents were the Mughal emperor Humayun and Hamida Banu Begum.
Hamida resisted the marriage proposal for forty days, and circumstantial evidence recorded by Gulbadan Begum in the Humayun-nama suggests she may have been romantically attached to Hindal Mirza, Humayun's younger brother, in whose household she lived. She only agreed after prolonged pursuit and at the insistence of Dildar Begum, Hindal's mother.
Hamida Banu Begum was buried at Humayun's Tomb in Delhi after her death on the 29th of August 1604 in Agra. She died nearly fifty years after her husband Humayun and just one year before her son Akbar.
Mariam Makani is a Persian title meaning dwelling with Mary, and it was bestowed on Hamida Banu Begum by her son Akbar, who regarded her as an epitome of innocence. She is also referred to as Hazrat in court chronicles produced under both Akbar and her grandson Jahangir.
Hamida Banu Begum intervened in imperial politics on several occasions, most notably during the ouster of the minister Bairam Khan in 1560 and during the rebellion of Prince Salim against his father Akbar. Her intercession in the Salim conflict helped bring about a reconciliation even after Salim had arranged the killing of Akbar's minister Abu'l-Fazl.