42 Facts About Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary

Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary was Queen of Iran as the second wife of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, whom she married in 1951.

Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary rejected the Shah's suggestion that he might take a second wife in order to produce an heir, as he rejected her suggestion that he might abdicate in favor of his half-brother.

Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary was born in the English Missionary Hospital in Isfahan on 22 June 1932.

Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary had one sibling, a younger brother, Bijan.

Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary's family had long been involved in the Iranian government and diplomatic corps.

Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary was raised in Berlin and Isfahan, and educated in London and Switzerland.

In 1948, Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary was introduced to the recently divorced Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, by Forough Zafar Bakhtiari, a close relative of Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary's, via a photograph taken by Goodarz Bakhtiary, in London, per Forough Zafar's request.

At the time Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary had completed high school at a Swiss finishing school and was studying the English language in London.

Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary married the Shah at Marble Palace, Tehran, on 12 February 1951.

Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary's upbringing had been entirely German and Catholic, which left her with a mixed identity, and made her the object of much distrust in Iran with Muslim clerics saying the Shah should not marry this "half-European girl" who was not raised a Muslim.

Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary's marriage was troubled as Mohammad Reza's mother and sisters all saw her as a rival for his love just as they had with his first wife Princess Fawzia of Egypt, and continually snubbed and inflicted petty humiliations on her.

Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary hated Ernest Perron, the Shah's best friend and private secretary.

Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary called Perron a "homosexual who detested women, all women" and who "spread poison around the palace as well as our own quarters".

Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary wrote that Perron was a "cunning, perfidious and Machiavellian" man who "roused hatred, stirred gossip, reveled in every intrigue".

Much to her disgust, Mohammad Reza was "fascinated with this diabolical Swiss" who professed to be a "philosopher, poet, and a prophet"; the two men met every morning to discuss all the affairs of state in French as Perron was the man whose advice the Shah valued the most, and, as Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary soon learned, other matters were discussed as well.

Several times, Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary advised Mohammad Reza "to screw up his courage to the sticking point".

On 19 August 1953, Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary remembered how a glum Mohammad Reza was talking about moving to the United States when he received a telegram announcing that Mosaddegh had been overthrown, leading him to shout with joy.

Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary always praised her husband when he displayed "European" personality traits while criticizing him for "Oriental" behavior.

In contrast to the emphasis on the "filth" of Tehran, Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary wrote with open admiration about how Paris "dazzled" her.

In October 1954, Mohammad Reza told Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary he was concerned about the fact that she had not given him an heir and suggested that they visit the United States to seek the help of American fertility doctors.

In New York, Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary visited doctors who assured her that an inability to bear a child was due to the "shocks, upsets and vexations of the last two years", which reassured her, but in Boston, the doctors told her she was infertile and could never have children.

Much of the length of their trip was due to the Shah's efforts to do something to console Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary who took the news that she was infertile very badly.

Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary was fascinated with Hollywood and enjoyed meeting American film stars during her stay in Los Angeles.

Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary was widely condemned for the immorality of wearing her swimsuit, which was not considered a proper dress for a Muslim, and the photo was banned in Iran in an attempt to silence the criticism of the ulema.

In London, Mohammad Reza and Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary had dinner at Buckingham Palace with Queen Elizabeth II; Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh; the Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill and the Foreign Secretary Sir Anthony Eden.

The Shah's daughter by his first marriage, Princess Shahnaz, who was studying in Belgium, went to Cologne to see her father, which caused a jealous Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary to throw what was called an "embarrassing tantrum", demanding that her husband show love only to her, which finally led to the Shah to tell her to shut up.

Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary had sought treatment in Switzerland and France, and in St Louis with Dr William Masters.

Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary, who had never read the constitution, did not know that there was no "Council of Wise Men", which was the Shah's way of putting off a difficult decision by lying.

The Shah's domineering mother hated Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary and was pressuring him to divorce her, telling him it was his duty to father a son to continue the House of Pahlavi.

Mohammad Reza persuaded Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary to leave Iran while he promised he would call the "Council of Wise Men" to change the constitution.

Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary 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 in early March 1958, in a failed attempt to convince her to return to Iran.

Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary later told reporters that her husband had no choice but to divorce her.

Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary launched a brief career as a film actress, for which she used only her first name.

Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary appeared as a character named Soraya in the 1965 movie She.

Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary occasionally attended social events like the parties given by the Duchess de La Rochefoucauld.

Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary was a regular client of the hairdresser Alexandre Zouari.

Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary enjoyed going to the bar and the lobby of the Hotel Plaza Athenee located opposite her apartment.

Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary was often accompanied by her former lady-in-waiting and loyal friend Madame Chamrizad Firouzabadian.

In 1979, Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary wrote to Mohammad Reza as he was dying of cancer in Panama, saying she still loved him and wanted to see him one last time.

In 1980, it was agreed that Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary would visit Mohammad Reza in Cairo, but he died before she could make the trip, which led Milani to comment that Mohammad Reza and Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary were true "star-crossed lovers".

Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary did not communicate with Farah, even when both lived in Paris.

Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary died on 25 October 2001 of undisclosed causes in her apartment in Paris, France; she was 69.