On a cold February night in Tehran, a lady-in-waiting skillfully trimmed yards of fabric from the petticoat and trail of her lady’s bridal trousseau, just hours before the royal wedding was to take place. The wedding had already been delayed due to the ill-health of the bride and carrying her rather extravagant Christian Dior wedding ensemble was proving to be quite difficult for her. The dress contained over 37 yards of silver lamé, it had 20,000 feathers and 6,000 diamond pieces sewn in. A white Dior mink jacket accompanied the dress to protect the bride against cold. The year was 1951 and Soraya Esfandiari-Bakhtiari was about to marry the last Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. 

 It was love at first sight for Soraya and the Shah. In Oct 1950, the Queen Mother (Taj-ol-Moluk) had arranged for Soraya and her family to travel to Tehran from England where Soraya had gone to improve her English. She was already fluent in Persian, German and French. A dinner was immediately arranged for the two families to meet.

The Shah’s sister, Princess Shams, had told Soraya that her brother wasn’t particularly handsome. But when Mohammad Reza made his appearance, dressed in his favourite outfit — the uniform of a general of the Iranian Air Force — he appeared to be quite good looking. Soraya and the Shah spent much of the evening talking.

At 2am the same night, the Shah called Khalil Khan Esfandiari-Bakhtiari, Soraya’s father, to ask for her hand in marriage. Soraya gave her consent.

She was part of the Persian royal family for only seven years, yet died a princess

The announcement was made and her photograph was distributed to the press the very next day. As a symbol of their engagement, the Shah gave her a 22.37-carat diamond ring. Soraya was 18 and Mohammad Reza was 31 years old at that time.

The Shah had been briefly married before to Princess Fawzia Fuad of Egypt and had a daughter, Princess Shahnaz Pahlavi, with her. The marriage was short lived — lasting only six years.

The first two years of Shah and Soraya’s life were relatively uneventful, until 1953, when the Shah decided to sack his Prime Minister, Dr Mohammad Mossadegh, who had openly opposed the establishment of the Pahlavi dynasty as the rulers of Iran.

The royal couple

Fearing a public backlash, as Mossadegh was quite popular in Iran, he left with Soraya for Rome. The press descended on them during their stay there at the Hotel Excelsior. Soraya made a bit of a fashion statement in her famous polka-dotted strapless dress and large sunglasses. 

After Mossadegh’s overthrow in a coup backed by the US and the UK, the couple immediately returned to Tehran. 

The following years saw them travel all over the world on state business. They went to Russia, India, Britain, Turkey, Spain, Lebanon and the United States. When home, Soraya spent most of her time redecorating the royal palaces and attending charity events. Her father, Khalil Khan, was appointed ambassador to Germany. Soraya herself was half-German as her mother, Eva Karl, was from Berlin.

 Soraya and Mohammad Reza did not have children together. In fact this was precisely the reason for their eventual separation. The pressure to produce an heir had always been omnipresent but it escalated after an assassination attempt on Shah’s life in 1949. He had initially named his brother, Ali Raza Pahlavi, as his heir but Ali Raza died in a plane crash in 1954. Although Soraya had sought treatment for her inability to conceive but none of the treatments were successful.

 In July 1957, the couple discussed the survival of the dynasty in private and unable to agree on any solution they decided to part ways. Soraya left Tehran on Feb 14, 1958 taking her belongings and the presents she had received and moved into the Shah’s villa in Saint Moritz, Switzerland before moving back to Berlin with her parents. Several people from the Shah’s side tried to convince her to return and let the Shah take on a second wife, but she refused. They formally divorced on March 14, 1958. They were married for only seven years.

 Soraya moved around Europe following her divorce until finally making Rome her home. There she met Dino de Laurentiis, an Italian film producer, who offered her a part in a film he was making, called Three faces of a woman. One of the film’s directors was Franco Indovina. Soraya agreed to be a part of it. The Shah, however, was reportedly so enraged upon hearing that his ex- wife would publicly feature in romantic scenes with other men that he bought all the copies of the film and ordered them to be destroyed. One copy that was with Soraya was eventually sold at an auction in Paris in May 2002. Soraya began having a passionate affair with Franco Indovina and they were together for five years before he too died a tragic death in a plane crash in May 1972.

 Later in life, Soraya moved to Paris and spent her summers in Spain at the Villa Maryam. She died in Oct 2001 at the age of 69 due to a brain haemorrhage. Her funeral service was conducted at the American Church in Paris. Her brother, Bijan, also died suddenly in his hotel room before he could attend her funeral.

 Over 400 people attended her funeral including dignitaries from many countries. Darya Dadvar, a famous Iranian soprano, performed a beautiful Ave Maria by Franz Schubert on the occasion. Her body was taken to Germany in November 2001 and was buried in her family tomb in Westfriedhof, Munich.

Though their relationship had ended, Mohammad Raza continued to provide for Soraya. She had received a large settlement that included land and farms. She had even been given a diplomatic passport, the privileges of which she enjoyed until the 1979 Iranian Revolution saw the overthrow of the Shah. She was then given a Moroccan diplomatic passport on the orders of King Hasan.

 Mohammad Reza Pahlavi had also issued a special decree bestowing on Soraya the title of Imperial Princess for life. Thus, Soraya might have only been a royal consort for seven years, but she died a princess.

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, June 15th, 2014