| Farah Pahlavi | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait,c. 1973 | |
| Queen/empress consort of Iran[a] | |
| Tenure | 21 December 1959 –11 February 1979 |
| Coronation | 26 October 1967 |
| Born | Farah Diba (1938-10-14)14 October 1938 (age 87) Tehran,Imperial State of Iran[3] |
| Spouse | |
| Issue | |
| House | Pahlavi (by marriage) |
| Father | Sohrab Diba |
| Mother | Farideh Ghotbi |
| Signature |  Persian signature  Latin signature |
 |
Extended royal family |
Farah Pahlavi (Persian:فرح پهلوی;née Diba [دیبا]; born 14 October 1938) is theformer queen and last empress (شهبانو,Shahbânu) of Iran and is the third wife and widow of the lastshah of Iran,Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
She was born into a prosperous Iranian family whose fortunes were diminished after her father's early death. While studying architecture inParis, she was introduced to the Shah at theIranian embassy, and they were married in December 1959. The Shah's first two marriages had not produced a son—necessary forroyal succession—resulting in great rejoicing at the birth ofCrown Prince Reza in October of the following year. As a philanthropist, she advanced the welfare of Iranian civil society through the establishment of charities, and founded Iran'sShiraz University, Iran's first American-style university, increasing the number of women students. She also facilitated the recall of Iranian antiquities from museums abroad.
By 1978, growinganti-imperial unrest fueled by growing inequality between rich and poor throughout Iran was showing clear signs ofimpending revolution, prompting Farah and the Shah to leave the country in January 1979 under the threat of a death sentence. For that reason, most countries were reluctant toharbour them, withAnwar Sadat's Egypt being an exception. Facing execution should he return, and in ill health, Mohammad Reza died inexile in July 1980. While in exile, Farah has continued her charity work, dividing her time betweenWashington and Paris.[citation needed]
Farah Diba was born on 14 October 1938 inTehran to an upper-class family.[4][5][6] She is the only child of Captain Sohrab Diba (1899–1948), an officer in theImperial Iranian Armed Forces and a graduate of theFrench Military Academy of St. Cyr, and his wifeFarideh Ghotbi (1920–2000). In her memoir, Farah writes that her father's family were natives ofIranian Azerbaijan while her mother's family were ofGilak origin, fromLahijan on the Iranian coast of theCaspian Sea.[7]
In the late 19th century, her grandfather had been a diplomat serving as the Persian Ambassador to theRomanov Court inSt. Petersburg, Russia.[8] She is moreover a relative of Iranian politicianAbolhassan Diba, Iranian architectKamran Diba, and Iranian-American curatorLayla Diba.[9]
Farah wrote in her memoir that she had a close bond with her father, and his unexpected death in 1948 deeply affected her.[7] The young family was in a difficult financial state. In their reduced circumstances, they were forced to move from their large family villa in northernTehran into a shared apartment with one of Farideh Ghotbi's brothers.
The young Farah Diba began her education atTehran's Italian School, then moved to the FrenchJeanne d’Arc School until the age of sixteen and later to theLycée Razi.[10] She was an athlete in her youth, becoming captain of her school's basketball team. Upon finishing her studies at theLycée Razi, she pursued an interest in architecture at theÉcole Spéciale d'Architecture in Paris,[11] where she was a student ofAlbert Besson.
Many Iranian students who were studying abroad at this time were dependent on State sponsorship. Therefore, when theShah, as head of state, made official visits to foreign countries, he frequently met with a selection of local Iranian students. It was during such a meeting, in 1959 at the Iranian Embassy inParis, that Farah Diba was first presented to Mohammed Reza Pahlavi.
After returning to Tehran in the summer of 1959, Mohammad Reza and Farah Diba began their courtship. The couple announced their engagement on 23 November 1959.
Farah Diba marriedShah Mohammed Reza on 20 December 1959, aged 21. The young Queen of Iran (as she wasstyled at the time) was the object of much curiosity and her wedding received worldwide press attention. Her gown was designed byYves Saint Laurent, then a designer at the house ofDior, and she wore the newly commissionedNoor-ol-Ain Diamondtiara.[12]
After the pomp and celebrations associated with the imperial wedding, the success of this union depended on the birth of a male heir. Although he had been married twice before, the Shah's previous marriages had given him only a daughter who, underagnatic primogeniture, could not inherit the throne. The pressure for Farah was acute. The shah himself was deeply anxious to have a male heir as were the members of his government.[13] Furthermore, it was known that the dissolution of the Mohammad Reza's previous marriage toQueen Soraya had been due to her infertility.[14]
The couple had four children:
The exact role the new queen would play, in public or government affairs, was uncertain with her main role being simply to give the Shah a male heir.[16] Within the Imperial Household, her public function was secondary to the far more pressing matter of assuring the succession. However, after the birth of the Crown Prince, the Queen was free to devote more of her time to other activities and official pursuits.
Like many other royal consorts, Farah initially limited herself to a ceremonial role. In 1961 during a visit to France, theFrancophile Farah befriended the French culture ministerAndré Malraux, leading her to arrange the exchange of cultural artifacts between French and Iranian art galleries and museums, a lively trade that continued until the Islamic revolution of 1979.[17] She spent much of her time attending the openings of various education and health-care institutions without venturing too deeply into controversial issues. However, as time progressed, this position changed. The Queen became much more actively involved in government affairs where it concerned issues and causes that interested her. She used her proximity and influence with her husband Mohammad Reza, to secure funding and focus attention on causes, particularly in the areas of women's rights and cultural development.[16] Farah's concerns were the "realms of education, health, culture and social matters" with politics being excluded from her purview.[16]
One of Farah's main initiatives was founding Pahlavi University (nowShiraz University), which was meant to improve the education of Iranian women, and was the first American-style university in Iran; before then, Iranian universities had always been modeled on the French style.[16] The Empress wrote in 1978 that her duties were:
I could not write in detail of all the organizations over which I preside and in which I take a very active part, in the realms of education, health, culture and social matters. It would need a further book. A simple list would perhaps give some idea: the Organization for Family Well Being-nurseries for the children of working mothers, teaching women and girls to read, professional training, family planning; the Organization for Blood Transfusion; the Organization for the Fight Against Cancer; the Organization for Help to the Needy, the Health Organization ... the Children's Centre; the Centre for the Intellectual Development of Children ... the Imperial Institute of Philosophy; the Foundation for Iranian Culture; the Festival of Shiraz, the Tehran Cinema Festival; the Iranian Folklore Organization; the Asiatic Institute; the Civilisations Discussion Centre; the Pahlavi University; the Academy of Sciences.[16]
Farah worked long hours at her charitable activities, from about 9 am to 9 pm every weekday.[16] Eventually, the Queen came to preside over a staff of 40 who handled various requests for assistance on a range of issues. She became one of the most highly visible figures in the Imperial Government and the patron of 24 educational, health and cultural organizations.[16] Her humanitarian role earned her immense popularity for a time, particularly in the early 1970s.[18] During this period, she travelled a great deal within Iran, visiting some of the more remote parts of the country and meeting with the local citizens.
Farah's significance was exemplified by her part in the 1967 Coronation Ceremonies, where she was crowned as the firstshahbanu (empress) of modern Iran. It was again confirmed when the Shah named her as the officialregent should he die or be incapacitated before the Crown Prince's 21st birthday. The naming of a woman as regent was highly unusual for a Middle Eastern or Muslim monarchy.[18] The great wealth generated by Iran's oil encouraged a sense of Iranian nationalism at the Imperial Court. The Empress recalled of her days as a university student in 1950s France about being asked where she was from:
When I told them Iran ... the Europeans would recoil in horror as if Iranians were barbarians and loathsome. But after Iran became wealthy under the Shah in the 1970s, Iranians were courted everywhere. Yes, Your Majesty. Of course, Your Majesty. If you please, Your Majesty. Fawning all over us. Greedy sycophants. Then they loved Iranians.[19]
From the beginning of her royal life, Farah took an active interest in promoting culture and the arts in Iran. Through her patronage, numerous organizations were created and fostered to further her ambition of bringing historical and contemporary Iranian Art to prominence both inside Iran and in the Western world.
In addition to her own efforts, Farah sought to achieve this goal with the assistance of various foundations and advisers. Her ministry encouraged many forms of artistic expression, including traditional Iranian arts (such as weaving, singing, and poetry recital) as well as Western theatre. Her most recognized endeavour in supporting the performing arts was her patronage of theShiraz Arts Festival. This occasionally controversial event was held annually from 1967 until 1977 and featured live performances by both Iranian and Western artists.[21]
The majority of her time, however, went into the creation of museums and the building of their collections.
As a former architecture student, Farah's appreciation of it is demonstrated in theRoyal Palace of Niavaran, designed by Mohsen Foroughi, and completed in 1968: it mixes traditional Iranian architecture with 1960's contemporary design. Nearby is the personal library of the Empress, consisting of 22,000 books, comprising principally works on Western and Eastern art, philosophy and religion; the interior was designed by Aziz Farmanfarmayan.
Historically a culturally rich country, the Iran of the 1960s had little to show for it. Many of the great artistic treasures produced during its 2,500-year history had found their way into the hands of foreign museums and private collections. It became one of Farah's principal goals to procure for Iran an appropriate collection of its own historic artifacts. To that end, she secured from her husband's government permission and funds to "buy back" a wide selection of Iranian artifacts from foreign and domestic collections. This was achieved with the help of the brothers Houshang and Mehdi Mahboubian, the most prominent Iranian antiquities dealers of the era, who advised the Empress from 1972 to 1978.[22] With these artifacts she founded several national museums (many of which still survive to this day) and began an Iranian version of theNational Trust.[23]
Museums and cultural centres created under her guidance include the Negarestan Cultural Center, theReza Abbasi Museum, theKhorramabad Museum with its valuable collection ofLorestān bronzes, theNational Carpet Gallery and theGlassware and Ceramic Museum of Iran.[24]
Aside from building a collection of historic Iranian artifacts, Farah also expressed interest in acquiring contemporary Western and Iranian art. To this end, she put her significant patronage behind theTehran Museum of Contemporary Art.
Using funds allocated from the government, the Shahbanu took advantage of a somewhat depressed art market of the 1970s to purchase several important works of Western art. Under her guidance,[citation needed] the museum acquired nearly 150 works by such artists asPablo Picasso,Claude Monet,George Grosz,Andy Warhol,Jackson Pollock, andRoy Lichtenstein. The collection of theTehran Museum of Contemporary Art is considered to be one of the most significant outside Europe and the United States. The vast collection has been tastefully showcased in a large coffee table book published byAssouline titledIran Modern[25]According toParviz Tanavoli, a modern Iranian sculptor and a former Cultural Adviser to the Empress, that the impressive collection was amassed for "tens, not hundreds, of millions of dollars".[23] As of 2008[update], the value of these holdings are conservatively estimated to be near US$2.8 billion.[26]
The collection created a conundrum for the anti-westernIslamic Republic which took power after the fall of thePahlavi Dynasty in 1979. Although politically the fundamentalist government rejected Western influence in Iran, the Western art collection amassed by Farah was retained, most likely due to its enormous value. It was, nevertheless, not publicly displayed and spent nearly two decades in storage in the vaults of theTehran Museum of Contemporary Art. This caused much speculation as to the fate of the artwork which was only put to rest after a large portion of the collection was briefly seen again in an exhibition that took place in Tehran during September 2005.[26]
By early 1978, dissatisfaction with Iran'simperial government was pronounced. By the end of the year, citizens were holding demonstrations against the monarchy.[27] Pahlavi wrote in her memoirs that "there was an increasingly palpable sense of unease". Under these circumstances most of the Shahbanu's official activities were cancelled due to concerns for her safety.[13]
Riots and unrest grew more frequent and culminated in January 1979. The government enactedmartial law in most major Iranian cities and the country was on the verge of an open revolution. Mohammad Reza and Farah departed Iran via aircraft on 16 January 1979.
For more than a year, the couple searched for permanent asylum. Many governments were unwilling to allow them within their borders because therevolutionary government in Iran had ordered the Shah and Shahbanu's arrest and death and it was not known how much it would pressure foreign powers.
Egyptian presidentAnwar Sadat, who had maintained close relations with Mohammad Reza for years (and whose wifeJehan Sadat was friends with Farah), allowed them to stay in Egypt. They also spent time inMorocco, where they were guests ofKing Hassan II, and in theBahamas. When their Bahamian visas were not renewed, they went to Mexico and rented a villa inCuernavaca nearMexico City during the summer of 1979.
After leaving Egypt, Mohammad Reza's health further declined fromnon-Hodgkin's lymphoma. In October 1979, the couple was allowed into the United States for medical treatment, inflaming already tense relations between the US government and the revolutionaries inTehran. The tensions ultimately led to the attack and takeover of the American embassy in Tehran in what became known as theIran hostage crisis. The Shah and Shahbanu were not permitted to remain in the United States, and shortly after the Shah's surgical treatment on 22 October 1979, the couple departed forContadora Island inPanama. Both Mohammad Reza and Farah viewed theCarter administration with some antipathy in response to a lack of support.
Speculation arose that thePanamanian government was seeking to arrest Mohammad Reza in preparation for extradition to Iran.[28] The Shah and Shahbanu again made an appeal to President Anwar Sadat to return to Egypt (Empress Farah writes that this plea was made through a conversation between herself and Jehan Sadat). Their request was granted and they returned to Egypt in March 1980, where they remained until the Shah's death four months later on 27 July 1980.
After the Shah's death, Farah spent two years in Egypt, where PresidentAnwar Sadat allowed her and the children to stay in theKoubbeh Palace. She was theregent inpretence from 27 July to 31 October 1980.[29] A few months after President Sadat'sassassination in October 1981, Farah and her family left Egypt. PresidentRonald Reagan informed her that she was welcome in the United States.[30]
Farah first settled inWilliamstown, Massachusetts, and later bought a home inGreenwich, Connecticut. After the death of her daughterPrincess Leila in 2001, she purchased a smaller home inPotomac, Maryland, nearWashington, D.C. to be closer to her son and grandchildren. Farah divides her time between Washington, D.C. andParis and makes an annual July visit to Mohammad Reza Shah'smausoleum at Cairo'sal-Rifa'i Mosque.[citation needed]
In several TV interviews in French andEnglish, Farah Pahlavi has spoken about her time as Empress of Iran, the Shah, her children, theIranian Revolution and her life in exile.[31]
Farah attendedthe funeral of former U.S. presidentRonald Reagan 2004 in Washington, D.C. She supports charities, including the International Fund Raising for Alzheimer Disease gala in Paris.[32]
Farah continues to appear at certain international royal events such as the2004 wedding ofCrown Prince Frederik of Denmark, the 2010 wedding ofPrince Nikolaos of Greece and Denmark, the2011 wedding ofAlbert II, Prince of Monaco, the 2016 wedding ofPrince Leka of Albania, the2023 funeral ofConstantine II of Greece, and the2023 wedding ofCrown Prince Hussein of Jordan.
During the2025–2026 Iranian protests, Pahlavi was interviewed byAgence France-Presse in Paris, where she said that her return to Iran "will take place soon", expressing admiration for protesters and saying that "there is no turning back" from the current protests.[33]
In 2003, Farah wrote a book about her marriage to Mohammad Reza entitledAn Enduring Love: My Life with the Shah. The publication of the former Empress's memoirs attracted international interest. It was a best-seller in Europe, with excerpts appearing in news magazines and the author appearing on talk shows and in other media outlets. However, opinion about the book, whichPublishers Weekly called "a candid, straightforward account" andThe Washington Post called "engrossing", was mixed.[citation needed]
Elaine Sciolino,The New York Times's Paris bureau chief, gave the book a less than flattering review, describing it as "well translated" but "full of anger and bitterness".[34] ButNational Review'sReza Bayegan, an Iranian writer, praised the memoir as "abound[ing] with affection and sympathy for her countrymen."[35]
In 2009, the Persian-Swedish directorNahid Persson Sarvestani released afeature length documentary about Farah Pahlavi's life, entitledThe Queen and I. The film was screened in various International film festivals such asIDFA andSundance.[36] In 2012, the Dutch director Kees Roorda wrote a play inspired by the life of Farah Pahlavi in exile, Liz Snoijink played Farah.[37]
| Styles of Empress Farah of Iran | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Reference style | Her Imperial Majesty |
| Spoken style | Your Imperial Majesty |
Member 1st Class of theOrder of the Pleiades[38]
Austria: Grand Star of theDecoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria[39]
Czechoslovakia: Grand Cross of theOrder of the White Lion[40]
Denmark:Order of the Elephant[41]
Italy: Grand Cross with Collar of theOrder of Merit of the Italian Republic[42]
Norway: Grand Cross of theOrder of Saint Olav
Spain: Grand Cross of theOrder of Isabella the Catholic[43]
Thailand: Dame of the Most IllustriousOrder of the Royal House of Chakri[44]Austria: Look! Women of the Year Hope Award[45]
France: Foreign Associate Academician of theAcadémie des Beaux-Arts[46]
Germany:Steiger Award[47]Germany:Südwestfalen Charlie Award[48]
United States:National Museum of Women in the Arts Award for International Cultural Patronage[49]His Imperial Highness Reza Pahlavi, Crown Prince of Iran, will reach his constitutional majority on the 9th of Aban, 1359 (31 October 1980). On this date, and in conformity with the Iranian Constitution, the regency of Her Imperial Majesty Farah Pahlavi, Shahbanou of Iran, will come to an end and His Imperial Highness, who on this occasion will send a message to the people of Iran, will succeed his father, His Imperial Majesty Mohammed Reza Shah Pahlavi, deceased in Cairo on Mordad 5, 1359 (27 July 1980).
Farah Pahlavi Born: 14 October 1938 | ||
| Iranian royalty | ||
|---|---|---|
| Vacant Title last held by Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary | Queen consort of Iran 1959–1967 Empress consort of Iran 1967–1979 | Monarchy abolished |
| Titles in pretence | ||
| Preceded byas Shah in pretence | — TITULAR — Regent of Iran 27 July 1980 – 31 October 1980 Reason for succession failure: Monarchy abolished in 1979 | Succeeded byas Shah in pretence |
