Leading the charge of westernization by the Iranian Royal Family

The Story of a Princess with sad eyes in the palace of loneliness

THE STORY OF A PRINCESS WITH SAD EYES

SHA’S EX-WIFE PRINCESS SORAYA

PERSIAN BEAUTY

During the 1950s and the 1960s, Soraya was on all the magazine covers.Her legendary beauty had conquered Mohamed Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran.The Shah had discoverd her on a snapshot photo and fell in love instantly.

ENGAGEMENT

The diamond engagement ring of the late Iranian Princess Soraya . The ring, which was given to the princess by the Shah of Iran in 1950, is made of a 22.37 carat diamond

VINTAGE WEDDING PHOTO ALBUM

MATRIMONY

WEDDING

The princess' Christian Dior wedding gown and mink cape had a homecoming of sorts, purchased for just over $4,000 by the French fashion house

FASHION

Emilio Schuberth evening dress worn by Queen Soraya of Iran, 1953 by lupe

Fontana 1960 vintage formal evening dress in china blue with embroidery created for Princess Soraya of Persia

FAIRY TALE MOMENTS

The Imperial Couple Attending an Official Ceremony

H.M. Shah Mohamed Reza Pahlavi & Empress Soraya at Reception In London In 1955 | Once upon a time in Tehran,There was a Queen Soraya

FASHION CELEBRITY

Empress Soraya of Persia (Iran) poses in the studio of Italian fashion designer Emilio Schuberth, left, with an evening dress made of white Organdy

ALBUM

PALACE OF LONELINESS

DESPAIR

THE SAGA OF AN ENDLESSSORROW

Empress Soraya smoking a cigarette

Shah lighting cigarette for his wife Soraya

CIGARETTE CASE

EMPRESS SORAYA A GOLD AND SAPPHIRE SET CIGARETTE BOX BY CARTIER, LONDON, 1947 The 9 carat gold box of rectangular form with rounded sides, the cover set with six square-cut sapphires on raised square mounts, with swivelling clasp with rope twist decoration and two further sapphires at each end, the cover engraved with the lion and sun motif of the Pahlavi dynasty, maker's name engraved on the front edge of the cover and hallmarked on the inside base and cover

A Golden Cigarette Case, Given By the Shah

Beach highlife

The one-off luxurious Chrysler 300K Special was a gift of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi to his second wife, Soraya Esfandiari Bhaktiar

PRINCESS SORAYA’S

Princess Soraya's Antique Roger Vivier Shoes

Travel of Princess Soraya in the United States

Empress Soraya, the second wife of the last Shah of Iran, died in Paris at the age of 69. . One of the most glamorous women of her day, she became Empress of Iran aged just 16, but was repudiated by her husband seven years later because she was unable to bear him an heir to the peacock throne.

BIOGRAPHY

PRINCESS SORAYA (1932-2001)

Born in Isfahan, Iran, Soraya Esfandiary was the eldest child and only daughter of Khalil Esfandiary—a noble of the Bakhtiari tribe of southern Iran who was the Iranian ambassador to West Germany in the 1950s—and his Russian-born German wife, Eva Karl. She had one sibling, a younger brother, Bijan. Her family had long been involved in the Iranian government and diplomatic corps. An uncle, Sardar Assad, was a leader in the Iranian constitutional movement of the early 20th century.

Soraya Esfandiari-Bakhtiari was born in Iran on June 22, 1932, to an Iranian businessman and his German wife. She moved to Berlin when she was only eight months old. She had a nomadic childhood as her family settled in many different countries, from Iran to Switzerland, where she studied in a boarding school at Montreux.

MOTHER AND DAUGHTER

Princess Soraya with her brother, Bijan

Soraya with mother and father

Soraya Esfandiari Bakthiari was Iranian through her father abnd German through her mother. 1932: June 22, Soraya was born in Isfahan, Iran.

Soraya with her mother Eva and brother Bijan

Soraya and friend in Berlin Zoo

Soraya with mother Eva and brother Bijan

in 1947

Soraya in 1947

Bhaktiar Family

Soraya's German Grandparents, Mr. & Mrs. Karl

Bibi Maryam, Paternal Grand mother and Esfandiar Khan , Paternal Grand father

Princess Soraya became Empress of Iran when she was barely 16, but was repudiated by her husband seven years later for not being able to bear him an heir to the peacock throne.

Sha fell in love with Soraya when he saw a friend’s photograph of her

Though her father hoped she would secure herself a well-to-do husband at an early age, yet Soraya had other plans. She persuaded him to let her live in London when she was just 16, where she was befriended by the Shah’s sister, Princess Chams.

When the newly-divorced Iranian ruler saw a picture of the dark-haired, emerald-eyed teenager, he was smitten. After their first meeting he asked her father Khalil for Soraya’s hand in marriage.

The bride wore a beautifully crafted wedding dress by Christian Dior consisting of 37 yards of silver lace with 20,000 feathers and 6,000 diamond pieces sewn on.

The ceremony was decorated with 1.5 tonnes of orchids, tulips, and carnations, sent by plane from the Netherlands, and entertainment included an equestrian circus sent from Rome. The bride wore a silver lamé gown studded with pearls and trimmed with marabou stork feathers, designed for the occasion by Christian Dior. She

also wore a full-length female white-mink cape.

Soraya married the Shah at Marble Palace, Tehran, on 12 February 1951

Shah of Iran with his spouse, Princess Soraya and their German Shepherd

Soon after her marriage with Shah, Queen Soraya busied herself with renovating and fixing up their residential palaces and attending to charity organizations formed under her patronage.

"Queen Soraya Pahlavi Charity" was the principal charity of her patronage, which was formed and managed efficiently by Forough Zafar.

GIFTS FOR THE WEDDING

a Steuben glass Bowl of Legends designed by Sidney Waugh and sent by U.S. President and Mrs. Truman

a mink coat and a desk set with black diamonds sent by Joseph Stalin

Silver Georgian candlesticks from King George VI and Queen Elizabeth

Alam (second from left) with Queen Soraya Esfandiari

When she was 20, her husband started forcing her to produce an heir to the throne, but Soraya was unable to have children. As per the Persian constitution, if the Shah had no issue, then the royal line would end. Soraya left Iran, on the seventh anniversary of her fairy-tale marriage. A month later, the Shah divorced her.

One day in July 1957 the couple went for a long walk in the Palace grounds. The Shah talked about the dynasty's survival and brought up the heir issue and the fact that they would soon have to make a decision no matter how painful. They talked about alternatives like the Shah taking a second wife and perhaps changing the constitution to allow one of his half brothers to become king after him. They couldn't agree on any of these alternatives and found each one unacceptable. They finally decided with tears in their eyes and with very heavy hearts, to separate. Before departure for Europe, Soraya burnt all her personal papers; packed her souvenirs and gifts she had received, and left Tehran on the 14th of February 1958 never to see her beloved country again.

On 21 March 1958, the Iranian New Year's Day, a weeping Shah announced his divorce to the Iranian people in a speech that was broadcast on radio and television; he said that he would not remarry in haste. The headline-making divorce inspired French songwriter Françoise Mallet-Jorris to write a hit pop song, Je veux pleurer comme Soraya (I Want to Cry Like Soraya). The marriage was officially ended on 6 April 1958.

Though the wedding took place during a heavy snow, deemed a good omen, the imperial couple's marriage had disintegrated by early 1958 owing to Soraya's apparent infertility, for which she had sought treatment in Switzerland and France, and the Shah's suggestion that he take a second wife in order to produce an heir. She left Iran in February and eventually went to her parents' home in Cologne, Germany, where the Shah sent his wife's uncle, Senator Sardar Assad Bakhtiari in early March, 1958, in a failed attempt to convince her to return to Iran. On 10 March, a council of advisers met with the Shah to discuss the situation of the troubled marriage and the lack of an heir. Four days later, it was announced that the imperial couple would divorce. It was, the 25-year-old queen said, "a sacrifice of my own happiness."She later told reporters that her husband had no choice but to divorce her.

In a statement issued to the Iranian people from her parents' home in Germany, Soraya said, "Since His Imperial Majesty Reza Shah Pahlavi has deemed it necessary that a successor to the throne must be of direct descent in the male line from generation to generation to generation, I will with my deepest regret in the interest of the future of the State and of the welfare of the people in accordance with the desire of His Majesty the Emperor sacrifice my own happiness, and I will declare my consent to a separation from His Imperial Majesty."

The Shah and Soraya divorced on the 14th March 1958 after 7 years of marriage. They had already said their sad tearful good byes in private. Their love for one another remained until the end. Soraya began her grief in private and in dignity like a true Bakhtiari.

After the divorce, the Shah, who had told a reporter who asked about his feelings for the former Queen that "nobody can carry a torch longer than me", indicated his interest in marrying Princess Maria Gabriella of Savoy, a daughter of the deposed Italian king Umberto II. In an editorial about the rumors surrounding the marriage of "a Muslim sovereign and a Catholic princess", the Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, considered the match "a grave danger."

Upon the divorce, Soraya ceased being a queen, but a day later she was granted the personal style and title Her Imperial Highness Princess Soraya of Iran.

The period of sadness and aimless life seemed to have no end for her. Now alone and without any aids or protection of the Imperial court, she had to do everything herself, and even harder still was that she now had to learn how to live the life of an ordinary citizen again.

She was alone, frightened, and uncertain of her future. Her only security and comfort was in her immediate family. She began traveling extensively.

A LIFE OF HARDSHIPS

She was allured by the movie industry as it had always been her dream to one day become a movie star. She met Dino de Laurentis at a party one evening in Rome. Dino offered her a role in a movie he was making. Soraya readily accepted. The movie's title was "Three faces of a woman" and Mauro Bolognini, Michelangelo Antonioni and Franco Indovina directed it. The movie was a disaster.

The rumor has it that when the Shah heard that Soraya was to appear in a movie, he was so infuriated that the whole world would now see his ex-wife in romantic scenes that he ordered all the copies be bought and destroyed. Soraya kept one copy, which was eventually sold at the auction of her estate in Paris in May of 2002 together with all her personal effects.

CAREER AS AN ACTRESSHaving granted the royal title Princess of Iran soon after her divorce, she moved to France.

Princess Soraya launched a brief career as a film actress, for which she used only her first name. Initially, it was announced that she would portray Catherine the Great in a movie about the Russian empress by Dino De Laurentiis , but that project fell through. Instead, she starred in the 1965 movie I tre volti (The Three Faces)and became the companion of its Italian director, Franco Indovina (1932–72). She also appeared as a character named Soraya in the 1965 movie She. After Indovina's death in a plane crash, she spent the remainder of her life in Europe, succumbing to depression, which she outlined in her 1991 memoir, Le Palais Des Solitudes (The Palace of Loneliness).

Princess Soraya of Iran, filming next to ancient ruins, 1964.

Movie PosterAuction of Soraya's belongings

With Austrian Swiss actor, Maximilian Schell in

BANISHED QUEEN’S HOLIDAY

Princess of Loneliness, Soraya Esfandiary

MEMOIRS

Princess Soraya wrote two memoirs. The first, published in 1964 and published in the United States by Doubleday, wasPrincess Soraya: Autobiography of Her Imperial Highness. A decade before her death, she and a collaborator, Louis Valentin, wrote another memoir in French, Le Palais des Solitudes (Paris: France Loisirs/Michel Laffon, 1991), which was translated into English as Palace of Solitude (London: Quartet Books Ltd, 1992); ISBN 0-7043-7020-4.

LEGACYSoraya's divorce from the Shah inspired French songwriter Francoise Mallet-Jorris to write "Je veux pleurer comme Soraya“ (I Want to Cry Like Soraya). The French rose grower, François Meilland, bred a sunflower in the former queen's honor, which he called Empress Soraya.

An Italian/German television movie about the princess's life, Soraya (a.k.a. Sad Princess) was broadcast in 2003, starring Anna Valle (Miss Italy 1995) as Soraya and Erol Sander as the Shah. French actress Mathilda May appeared as the Shah's sister, Princess Shams Pahlavi.

FILMOGRAPHY

FILM AND TELEVISIONYEAR TITLE ROLE NOTES

1953 ZWISCHEN GLUCK KRONE Herself Archive footage

1963 I tre volti Herself/Linda

/Mrs. Melville

1965 She Soraya

1998 Legenden Herself Episode: “Soraya”

EMPRESS SORAYA’S JEWELLERY

Empress Soraya's- Ruby & Diamond In Brooch & Ring - 1954

Emerald & diamond In Ear Clips & Ring, By Van Cleef

Sapphire & Diamonds In Necklace With A Diamond Ring

A Turquoise & Diamond Set

Iranian Jewels belonging to Empress

Soraya by Bvlgari

Empress Soraya,This stunning diamond necklace from Bulgari

IRANIAN CROWN JEWELS WORN BY EMPRESS SORAYA

Iranian Crown Jewel Emeralds worn by Queen Soraya for her 1951 wedding.

First created for the Shah's second wife Princess Soraya. Made by Arthus Bertrand of Paris and the same was worn by Princess Farah, Sha’s third wife

ANTIQUE VINTAGE FOOTWEAR AND ACCESSORIES

Princess Soraya's Antique Roger Vivier Shoes

Life after divorce Soraya lived in Rome for a while heart broken and a recluse. She rented a pretty villa located among vineyards, thirty minutes from Rome.

Italian Film Director offered her the role in a movie

IN EXILE IN ROME

She became restless and during the summer months when Rome became too hot, she traveled to Northern Europe and stayed in Cologne for a while with her mother with whom she felt secure.

Enjoying the company of her mother

In 1963, with mother Eva

Princess Soraya Esfandiary with her mother, Eva

Princess celebrates her birthday

In the European society, she took precedence over many members of the highest nobility. She enjoyed the diplomatic passport and the privileges that came with it until the 1979 Iranian revolution when King Hassan of Morocco ordered that a Moroccan diplomatic passport be issued to her. Eventually, she became a German citizen just a few years before her death.

With her brother Bijan in later years

Soraya continued her life in Paris and spent her summers at her Villa Maryam (named after her grandmother) in Marbella, Spain. She led a high social life and spent her time with a select few friends. The sad end came at 2 PM Thursday 25th of October 2001. She was only 69. She was found dead by her maid on the floor of her bedroom in her apartment at 46 Ave Montaign. She died due to massive brain hemorrhage . Bijan (1937–2001) (who died in Paris one week after Soraya), sadly commented, "After her, I don't have anyone to talk to.“

The service at the American Church in Paris, a close walking distance from Soraya's apartment was arranged for the 7th of November 2001 and her brother Bijan along with other family members and Paris dignitaries were to attend the services. Bijan, aided by a companion, traveled by car from Koln a few days earlier. Sadly while staying at Hotel George V in Paris, Bijan died suddenly before he could attend the funeral of his sister

The memorial service began at 3 PM when the coffin was brought in draped in blue silk and adorned with a single rose carried by 6 pallbearers.

A distinguished former cabinet minister of Iran, Dr. Majid Majidi spoke on behalf of the Iranian exiles in France and expressed his condolences to the Bakhtiari family for their loss. Iranian soprano, Darya Dadvar delivered a beautiful Ava Maria by Franz Schubert to the music of the organist.

As a young girl, Soraya had pictures of some movie stars framed, in addition to a photo of the young Shah. She would tell all her friends and cousins that one day she will either become an actress or marry the king. None of her aspirations brought her lasting happiness.

REFERENCES

1. Hello! HelloMagazine.com2. Business India 3. Soraya, Queen of Persia by Walter W. Krause 1956 London4. Soraya, The Autobiography of Her Imperial Highness. Doubleday

& Co., New York. As recalled by Marie Meghdadi, Forough Zafar's daughter. As recalled and told by Princess Soraya to her close friends

5. Autobiography of H.I.H, Princess Soraya; English translation from German.

6. Soraya, The Autobiography of H.R.H. Princess Soraya. Page 93. Doubleday and Company, NY 1964

7. "Mission for My Country" by Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. Hutchinson & Co. Ltd. 1961

8. Autobiography of Soraya "Le Palais Des Soltudes". 1st Edition, Michel Lafon, 1991