Farah Pahlavi - Iran's Last Empress

Empress Farah of Iran

This must be a significant moment for Farah Pahlavi, Iran’s last Empress. Ever since she and her family were forced into exile in 1979, her greatest wish has been to see the brutal Islamic regime that overthrew the monarchy and oppressed the people fall from power, and for Iran to be free. Now, at eighty-seven years of age, it seems that this wish may finally be within reach.

Married to the Shah of Iran at just 21, Farah served her country for two decades before the revolution, first as Queen Consort and from 1967 as Empress (Shahbanou). Throughout her reign, she was and in exile remains, deeply devoted to shaping a modern Iran; championing education, women’s rights, and cultural life.

Mohammad Reza Shah and Shabanou Farah.

Farah Diba was born in 1938 to an upper-class Iranian family, whose fortune started to dwindle following her father's early death when Farah was just nine. She was devastated by his passing as the two shared a close bond. Having undertaken his own studies in Paris, her father often spoke nostalgically of his time there and Farah sought to follow in his footsteps. With a growing interest in architecture, the bright, independent, and hardworking young woman enrolled at the École Spéciale d’Architecture on the Boulevard Raspail.

It was during this time in Paris when Farah first met her future husband, Mohammad Reza Shah, at a reception he hosted at the embassy for Iranian students studying in France. The meeting was brief and formal, and Farah was just one of many students in attendance, but they would soon meet again. During the same period but on a separate occasion, Farah was introduced the Shah’s daughter, Princess Shahnaz, who was struck by her charm, intelligence and compassion for others, and the two women, close in age, formed a friendship.

The Shah had been married twice before: first to Princess Fawzia of Egypt, a short-lived and unhappy union that produced a daughter, Princess Shahnaz, and second to Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary, a love match that ended in divorce when Soraya was unable to produce an heir. By 1959, the Shah was divorced and in desparate need of an heir. It was Princess Shahnaz who suggested that her friend, Farah Diba, with her kindness, intelligence, and warmth, would make an ideal Queen of Iran. Acting as matchmaker, Shahnaz hosted an informal gathering at her home in Tehran, reintroducing Farah to her father for the first time since their meeting in Paris. The connection between the two was immediate, and after a short courtship their engagement was announced. Farah Diba married Mohammad Reza Shah on December 20, 1959, and the following year she gave birth to their first child, the nation’s long-awaited heir, Crown Prince Reza.

Farah was just twenty-one when she married the Shah and found herself surrounded by unimaginable splendour and extravagance. Yet family members and childhood friends would insist that the privilege and grandeur never changed her character. She remained the warm, considerate, down-to-earth person they had always known.

From the outset of her marriage, Farah understood that her new position carried immense responsibility. She felt a strong personal calling to serve, dedicating her time, energy, and resources to the welfare of her country, always considering in her every action how she could help the Iranian people. She was particularly interested in social welfare, working closely alongside her husband in his efforts modernize Iran at a time when illiteracy still proliferated, when women’s rights were still limited and when much of the country remained undeveloped. Spearheading countless initiatives, Farah sought to improve the quality of life of even the most vulnerable members of society.

Education reform was one of Farah's main priorities. Recognizing the value of her own academic opportunities, she became a passionate advocate for expanding higher education, especially for women. In 1964, she founded the Farah Pahlavi University, later renamed the Al-Zahra University, exclusively for women. She also promoted literacy across the nation at a time when many throughout Iran couldn’t read or write, founding the Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults. Known as Kanoon in Iran, its work initially centered on establishing children's libraries in both cities and rural areas and translating Western classics into Persian before eventually publishing its own works and launching a theater centre, becoming a hub for artists, writers and creators . Farah also presided over several institutions such as the High Council of Education, the Academy of Sciences and the High Counsel for Scientific Research.

Public health was another key area of focus of Farah’s work. She was notably progressive in embracing science and medicine at a time when many social taboos still existed in Iran. She became the first woman in a Muslim country to publicly donate blood, helping to normalize the practice and encouraging others to follow her example. In 1974, the Iranian National Blood Transfusion Service was founded under her patronage. Farah also personally visited Iran’s leper colonies, seeking to eradicate the stigma attached to the disease. She was the driving force in the development of Behkadeh Raji, Iran’s first self-sustaining colony for those affected by leprosy, where patients were treated with compassion and dignity and lived alongside their healthy family members. In addition, Farah served as president and chief patron of the National Society for the Fight Against Cancer, using her role to modernize Iran’s oncological infrastructure and promote public awareness.

Farah broke many boundaries during her reign. She was the first woman in Iran’s modern history to be crowned Empress and the first woman in the Muslim world to hold the title of Shahbanou. She was also the only woman in Iran’s history to be designated as Regent, meaning she could assume power if her husband was incapacitated or until her son came of age, a powerful testament to both her own role and the broader role of women in Iranian society. Farah was instrumental in improving the legal status of women in Iran, vocally advocating for reforms that were, and remain, unique in the Middle East. These included the right to vote, to run for office (leading to the first woman being elected to the Iranian parliament), the right to initiate divorce, and the right of mothers to seek custody of their children. One of her proudest moments came on February 27, 1963, known as Women’s Emancipation Day, when women were formally granted full equality.

Empress Farah on her coronation day, 1967.

One of the Empress’s greatest passions, which remains so to this day, is culture and the arts, unsurprising given her background studying architecture in cosmopolitan Paris. She aimed to turn Iran into a cultural focal point where Eastern and Western influences could converge. She spearheaded the Shiraz Arts Festival, an event which took place eleven times between 1967 and 1977, celebrating music, theatre, dance and visual arts, bringing artists together from around the world and from all walks of life. A longtime supporter of traditional Iranian craftsmanship, Farah helped to establish the Carpet Museum of Tehran as well as the Reza Abbasi Museum, home to a large collection of ancient Persian art and artifacts, procuring the return to Iran of many pieces that made their way into foreign collections. Most notably, Farah amassed one of the world’s greatest modern art collections for the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, including works by Pablo Picasso, Vincent Van Gogh, Jackson Pollock and Andy Warhol, who famously travelled to Tehran in 1976 to capture images of the Shah and Shahbanou on which to base his silkscreen portraits of the couple. His portrait of the Empress graces the cover of "Iran Modern: The Empress of Art", the 2018 book released by Assouline as part of their Impossible Collection, which chronicles the Empress’s journey in assembling a world-class art collection for her country.

The cover of "Iran Modern: The Empress of Art", from Assouline's Impossible Collection, featuring a portrait of Empress Farah by Andy Warhol.

Sadly, all the progress ushered in by the Shah and Shahbanou came to a halt with the Islamic Revolution of 1979, culminating in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynasty. The imperial family left Iran on January 16, 1979, embarking on a long and uncertain exile, spending over a year seeking asylum before finding refuge in Egypt under the protection of President Anwar Sadat. On July 27, 1980, Mohammad Reza Shah, age 60, died of cancer. Following his passing, Farah spent two years in Egypt until the death of President Sadat before moving to the US at the invitation of President Ronald Reagan. Today, the former Empress, who has always remained a Francophile, divides her time between France and the United States, where her son Reza lives with his wife and three daughters.

Prior to the revolution, Iran was arguably the most progressive country in the Middle East, particularly in terms of human rights and opportunities for women. My hope is that Farah, Iran's former Empress, will see her beloved son, the former Crown Prince Reza, lead a free and secular Iran, ushering in a new era of peace for the Middle East and in international relations.