Farah Pahlavi
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Farah Diba, as she appeared during the visit of US president Richard Nixon to Iran on May 30, 1972. |
The Empress of Iran, Farah Pahlavi (born
October 14,
1938 in
Tehran,
Iran) (born as
Farah Diba) was the third wife of
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi of Iran and the last (and only modern)
Shahbanu (Empress) of
Persia.
She was Queen from her marriage to the Shah in 1959, and in 1967 was the first Empress of Iran to be crowned in modern times. The end of the monarchy in 1979 made her the last such royal.
She was born in
Tehran to Sohrab Diba and Farideh Diba; she was the only child. Her father Sohrab was a military officer whose family was originally from
Iranian Azarbaijan; he died when she was a child. Her mother oversaw Farah's education. She studied at the
French school in Tehran and
École Spéciale d'Architecture in
Paris, where she was professor
Albert Besson's student. While a student, she was introduced to the
Shah by his son in law, at that time,
Ardeshir Zahedi. The shah eventually proposed to her, and the two were wed on
December 21 1959. She gave birth to four children with the Shah:
*
Reza Cyrus Pahlavi (born on
October 30 1960)
*
Farahnaz Pahlavi (born on
March 12 1963)
*
Ali Reza Pahlavi (born on
April 28 1966)
*
Leila Pahlavi (
March 27,
1970 -
June 10 2001)
After the
Iranian Revolution of
1979, she escorted her husband into exile, until his death on
July 27 1980. She currently resides in
Connecticut, in the
United States and
Paris, FranceFarah Pahlavi has recently authored a book about her marriage to the Shah entitled,
An Enduring Love: My Life with the Shah- A Memoir.
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Iranian women*
Farah Pahlavi's official website*
Farah Pahlavi, Iran's Ex-Empress, Receives the Anne Morrow Lindbergh Grace and Distinction Award 2005
