Pahlavi, Soraya (1932—)
Pahlavi, Soraya (1932—)
Empress of Iran. Name variations: Princess Soraya Esfandiari Bakhtiari; Princess Soraya; HM Empress Soraya; Queen of Persia. Born Soraya EsfandiariBakhtiari on June 22, 1932, in Isfahan, Iran; daughter of Khalil Esfandiari Bakhtiari and Eva Karl; educated in Isfahan, England and Switzerland; became second wife of Muhammad Reza Pahlavi also known as Riza I Pahlavi, shah of Iran (r. 1941–1979, deposed), on February 12, 1951 (divorced on March 14, 1958); no children. Muhammad Reza Pahlavi was also married to Fawzia and to Farah Pahlavi .
Born in 1932 in Isfahan, central Iran, to a German mother and a father who belonged to a powerful but non-royal Iranian family, Soraya Pahlavi was educated first in Isfahan and then in England and Switzerland. This foreign background caused some grumblings among the Iranian citizenry when in 1951 she was married to the shah of Iran, Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, who had divorced his first wife Fawzia three years earlier. Soraya spent seven years at the royal court in Iran, where she reportedly kept a pet seal in the palace fountain. However, she failed to give birth to any children (specifically, a male heir), and in 1958 the shah divorced her. She later wrote Soraya: The Autobiography of Her Imperial Highness Princess Soraya.
Susan J. J. , freelance writer, Berea, Ohio