HIM Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, Shah of Iran (1919-1980): Life Events and Death

[Asma2]

Does anyone know how many wives had Shah of Iran and for how long?

[Blueice]

Does anyone know how many wives had Shah of Iran and for how long?

As far as I am informed Shah of Iran Reza Pahlavi had two wives (successively) - the first one was beautiful green-eyed Princess Soraya (Esfandiary Bakhtiari), also known as a 'princess with a sad eyes'. Very sad and romantic love story. The marriage didn't last for long since she couldn't bare children. After they divorced, she became one of the most prominent members of the world's high society. Yet, they say she died of a broken heart (in Paris).

Second and, to my knowledge, last wife was Empress Farah Diba. She is the mother of Shah's children and his widow now.

The role of Epress Fawcia is confusing, though - whom was she married to?

[Blueice]

Former Iranian Empress and the second wife of Shah Reza Pahlavi - Farah Diba.

[Splodger]

Reza Shah had three wives. The first was Princess Fawzia of Egypt, the Second was Soraya who sadley was unable to have children and thus secure the line of succession. Empress Farah was the third wife and perhaps the most famous as she secured the succession with the birth of two sons as well as two daughters and she also became the first Persian Empress to ever be crowned.

[Asma2]

Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (October 26, 1919 - July 27, 1980) was the last Shah of Iran, ruling from 1941 until 1979. He was born in Tehran, Iran.


Shah Mohammad Reza PahlaviAs a young man, he was educated at Institute Le Rosey, a Swiss finishing school and in Tehran at the Military College.

His father, Reza Pahlavi, (1877-1944), was minister of war and was elected by the Iranian Assembly as Shah in 1925. Concerned that Reza Pahlavi was about to align his petroleum-rich country with Germany during World War II, Britain and the USSR occupied Iran and forced him to resign in favor of his son. His mother was the shah's second wife, Tadj ol-Molouk (1896 - 1982).

At the end of the War, political unrest dogged Iran and in 1953 the nation's socialist Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh forced the Shah to flee the country. He was quickly escorted back to power by a joint military operation orchestrated by the American CIA and British MI5.

With Iran's great oil wealth, Pahlavi became the preeminent leader of the Middle East. He abolished the multiparty system of government so that elections for one party only allowed him to rule as an absolute dictator. During this time the Shah formalised his secret police force, SAVAK. Pahlavi made major changes to curb certain ancient elite factions by breaking up all large and middle-sized estates for the benefit of more than four million small farmers. In what was called 'the White Revolution', he took a number of populist measures, including extended suffrage to women, to favour the people.

His policies led to strong economic growth during the 1960s and 1970s but at the same time, opposition to his autocratic rule increased. On January 16, 1979 he and his family were forced to flee Iran a second time following a year of extreme turmoil and public protests. Following the Shah's departure, conservative Muslims led by the Ayatollah Khomeini staged a revolt, abolishing the monarchy and establishing an Islamic Republic.

The exiled monarch, now largely unpopular with much of the world traveled from country to country seeking what he believed would be a temporary residence. For a while he stayed in Paraguay, but his non-Hodgkins lymphoma began to grow worse, and demanded immediate and sophisticated treatment. Reluctantly, Jimmy Carter allowed the Shah to make a brief stopover in the United States, and undergo medical treatment. The compromise was extremely unpopular in Iran, where the new regime had now villified the Shah as a "blood sucker" and American stooge. Khomeini demanded the former monarch's return to Iran to face trial and execution for his alleged misdeeds. Once the Shah's treatment had finished, the American government, eager to avoid further controversy sent Pahlavi out of the country. He eventually settled in Egypt, where he remained until his death on July 27, 1980.

The last shah of Iran was married three times.

His first wife was Princess Fawzia of Egypt (born: November 5, 1921), the dazzlingly beautiful daughter of King Fuad I of Egypt and his wife, Nazli Sabri, and a sister of the notorious King Farouk I of Egypt; they married in 1939 and divorced in 1948, after her failure to produce an heir to the throne. They had one daughter, Shahnaz Pahlavi (born: October 27, 1940).

His second wife was Soraya Esfandiary Bakhtiari (June 22, 1932-October 26, 2001), daughter of Khalil Esfandiary Bakhtiari, Ambassador of Iran to the Federal Republic of Germany, and his German wife, Eva Karl; they were married in 1951 and divorced in 1958 when it became apparent that she could not bear children. (Given the title Princess Soraya of Iran after the divorce, she later became a film actress, appearing the 1965 movie "Three Faces of a Woman," and mistress of its Italian director Franco Indovina, 1932-1972.) The shah's third wife was Farah Diba (born: October 14, 1938), daughter of Sohrab Diba, Capt., Imperial Iranian Army, and his wife, Faredeh Gothbi. They were married in 1959, and Farah was created Shahbanu, or empress, a title created especially for her (previous royal wives had been known as Malika, or queen); she bore him four children:
Cyrus Reza (born: October 31, 1960)
Yasmina Farahnaz (born: March 12, 1963)
Ali-Reza Pahlavi (born: April 28, 1966)
Leila Pahlavi (March 27, 1970 - June 10, 2001)

[sol_anglada]

Hello,
This week marks the 25th anniversary of His Majesty the Shah Reza Pahlavi's death. I invite you to post here all the pictures you have of Him and also the pictures that wil be taken on the occasion of the commemmoration in The Cayro of this sad event.
Sol

[hilal]

See you!
http://www.rezapahlavi.org/father/funeral.html
On www.farahpahlavi.org video files Remembering the Shah.
http://www.aryamehr.org/pic/last/last.htm

[hilal]

1.- 2. Last days at Cairo Hospital.
3.- The Funeral

[hilal]

and Remembering the Shah.

[Lilygal]

Did Princess Shahnaz ever attend the funeral in Cairo?

[grecka]

I am sure Shahnaz attended the funeral. She was, after all, his eldest daughter.

[sol_anglada]

It's curious that this year, very special because is the 25 anniversary of the Shah's death, there are no news about the commemoration of this sad event. Other years we had more pics and information.

Originally Posted by grecka

I am sure Shahnaz attended the funeral. She was, after all, his eldest daughter.

[snow]

thanks for opening this thread, it is a shame that, princess shahnaz has never really been included as a full member of the family, look at the jordanian royal family ,despite being from FOUR different mothers they all show a united front in public.princess shahnaz is briefly and discreetly introduced in both the empress and crown prince's web site, and there is no mention of her children at all, after all they are late shah's grand children too and one must not forget that their blood is thick with royalty since they are also decendants of the egyptian royal family and also qajar royal family too...

[Lilygal]

Perhaps she does'nt want to be included with the Royal family. she definitely does keep quite a distance form them. Though surprising no mention is made of her at the funeral. And one would think she would atleast visit her own father's grave, perhaps she does this discreetly outside the public eye unlike her step mother and haf siblings.

[Alicky]

When the Reza and Fawzia divorced, Shahnaz had to stay in Iran and rarely saw her mother from then on out(once or twice in Switzerland in later years). Shahnaz was deemed virtually invisible by her father after Fawzia's departure.

As you might expect, she had an extremely dysfunctional and emotionally neglected childhood, and it carried into her adulthood. She developed heavy drug problems and went through a series of lovers and stormy relationships and a suicide attempt or two. The Shah threatened to disown her many times, only to be talked out of it by officials(most notably C.M. Alan) and Reza married her off for a political alliance. They divorced a few years later.

Eventually Reza got really tired of her and said demanded that she either immediately leave the country, change her lifestyle, get disowned or marry quietly in Switzerland coming back to Iran only when given permission. She picked the third option.

Apparently, she's still in Switzerland with her second husband and children, and now devoutly religious.

[Roshanah]

Well done Shahnaz! Good for you! may you have all the happiness that Allah S.W.T. intends for you.:)

[Lilygal]

I also heard that Shahnza changes her name to something more muslim

[Lilygal]

I think Princess Farahnza looks quite ill or maybe she is just very thin.

[cute_girl]

Originally Posted by Alicky

She developed heavy drug problems and went through a series of lovers and stormy relationships and a suicide attempt or two. The Shah threatened to disown her many times, only to be talked out of it by officials(most notably C.M. Alan) and Reza married her off for a political alliance. They divorced a few years later.
Eventually Reza got really tired of her and said demanded that she either immediately leave the country, change her lifestyle, get disowned or marry quietly in Switzerland coming back to Iran only when given permission. She picked the third option.
Apparently, she's still in Switzerland with her second husband and children, and now devoutly religious.

what's the source of this?this is the first time I'm reading such things about her.
for always I've read that from the very begining she was quite religious,and those who were against Shah always appreciated her and wrote to her to complain.she's always described as the only one with clean hands and past in shah's family.
actually she got married too young to be invovled in stormy relationships.she was only 16.

[Alicky]

Where did you hear otherwise? What books did you get to read I mean. (I'd like to expand my Iranian library!) Personally, I don't get to hear a lot about Shahnaz, but everything I've ever read resembles what I wrote. I didn't know she was sixteen when she married, but I didn't say that she had her stormy relationships before she was married anyway.