Soraya Esfandiary

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Queen Soraya of Iran, on the cover of the Italian magazine Epoca, in 1953.
Queen Soraya of Iran, on the cover of the Italian magazine Epoca, in 1953.
See also the Soraya disambiguation page.

Soraya Esfandiary (Persian: ثریا اسفندیاری‎, UniPers: Sorayâ Asfandiyâri) (June 22, 1932 - October 26, 2001) was the second wife and Queen consort of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran.

Though her husband's title, Shahanshah (King of Kings), is the equivalent of emperor, it was not until 1967 that a complementary feminine title, Shahbanu, was created to designate the wife of a Shah. Until then, wives of Shahs, including Soraya, bore the title Maleke (borrowed from Arabic Malika), though in the popular press they frequently and incorrectly were called Empress.

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[edit] Birth

Born in Isfahan, Persia, Soraya Esfandiary was the eldest child and only daughter of Khalil Esfandiary -- a notable of the powerful Bakhtiari tribe of southern Iran who was the Iranian ambassador to West Germany in the 1950s -- and his Russian-born German wife, Eva Klein. She had one 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.[1]

[edit] Marriage to the Shah

The green-eyed Soraya, an Ava Gardner lookalike, was introduced to the recently divorced Shah in Paris in 1948 by Forough Zafar Bakhtiari, a relative, when she was still a student at a Swiss finishing school.[2] Soon engaged (the Shah gave her a 22.37-carat diamond engagement ring),[1] she married him at Golestan Palace in Tehran on February 12, 1951; originally, the couple had planned to wed on 27 December 1950, but the ceremony had to be postponed due to the bride being ill.[3]

Though the Shah announced that guests should donate money to a special charity for the Iranian poor, among the wedding gifts was a mink coat and a desk set with black diamonds sent by Joseph Stalin, a Steuben glass Bowl of Legends designed by Sidney Waugh and sent by U.S. President and Mrs. Truman, and silver Georgian candlesticks from King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, [4], and the 2,000 guests included Aga Khan III. The ceremony was decorated with 1.5 tons of orchids, tulips, and carnations, sent by plane from the Netherlands, and entertainment included an equestrian circus sent from Rome.[5] The bride wore a silver lamé gown studded with pearls and trimmed with marabou feathers,[6] designed for the occasion by Christian Dior. She also wore a full-length female white-mink cape.

[edit] Infertility and divorce

Though the wedding took place during a heavy snow, deemed a good omen, the imperial couple's marriage had disintegrated by early 1958 over 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.[7] 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.[8] On 10 March, a council of advisors met with the Shah to discuss the situation of the troubled marriage and the lack of an a heir.[9] 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."[10] She later told reporters that her husband had no choice but to divorce her. He was very sad about it.[11]

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 and 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 April 6, 1958.

According to a report in The New York Times, extensive negotiations had preceded the divorce in order to convince Queen Soraya to allow her husband to take a second wife, as was allowed by his Muslim faith. The Queen, however, citing what she called her European principles regarding the sanctity of marriage, stated that "she could not accept the idea of sharing her husband's love with another woman."[12]

In a statement issued to the Iranian people from her parents' home in Germany, Soraya said, "Since His Imperial Majesty Riza [sic] Shah Pahlevi [sic] 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."[13]

After the divorce, the Shah, who 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. Pope John XXIII reportedly vetoed the suggestion. 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."[14]

[edit] Career as actress and depression

Granted the style and title Her Imperial Highness the Princess Soraya of Iran, the former queen 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.[15] Instead, she starred in the 1965 movie Les trois visages d'une femme (Three Faces of a Woman) and became the companion of its Italian director, Franco Indovina (1932-1972). After Indovina's death in a plane crash, she spent the remainder of her life unhappily, by her own admission, wandering through Europe, buying antiques and couture, appearing at social events in a desultory fashion, and generally becoming known as a serious depressive. l

[edit] Death

Grave of Soraya Esfandiary Bachtiari at Westfriedhof (Munich)
Grave of Soraya Esfandiary Bachtiari at Westfriedhof (Munich)

Princess Soraya of Iran died of undisclosed causes in her apartment in Paris, France; she was 69. After a funeral at the American Cathedral in Paris on 6 November 2001—which was attended by Princess Ashraf Pahlavi, Prince Gholam Reza Pahlavi, the Count and Countess of Paris, the Prince and Princess of Naples, Prince Michel of Orléans, and Princess Ira von Fürstenberg—she was buried in the Westfriedhof, a cemetery in Munich, Germany, along with her parents and brother.[2] In 2002, her tomb was defaced with the words "miserable parasite," followed by the phrase "Didn't work from the ages of 25 to 60." The vandalism made headlines throughout Europe.

Upon learning of her death, her younger brother, Bijan, who died in Paris, one week after Soraya, sadly commented, "After her, I don't have anyone to talk to." Since Soraya's death, several young women have come forward claiming to be her illegitimate daughter, reportedly born in 1962, according to the Persian-language weekly Nimrooz; the claims have not been confirmed.[3]. The newspaper also published an article in 2001 which suggested, without proof, that Princess Soraya and her brother had been murdered.[4]

The former queen's belongings were sold at auction in Paris after her death, for more than $8.3 million. Her Dior wedding dress brought $1.2 million.

[edit] Memoirs

Princess Soraya wrote two memoirs. The first, published in 1964 and published in the United States by Doubleday, was Princess 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, which was translated into English as Palace of Solitude (London: Quartet Books Ltd, 1992); ISBN 0-7043-7020-4.

[edit] Trivia

The French rose grower, François Meilland, bred a rose in the former queen's honor, which he called 'Empress Soraya'.[16]

A French 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.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Shah To Wed, Iran Hears, The New York Times, 10 October 1950, p. 12.
  2. ^ Shah To Wed, Iran Hears, The New York Times, 10 October 1950, p. 12.
  3. ^ Wedding of Shah Postponed, The New York Times, 22 December 1950, p. 10.
  4. ^ Teheran Awaits Wedding, The New York Times, 11 February 1951, p. 35
  5. ^ Iran's Shah To Wed In Splendor Today, The New York Times, 12 February 1951, p. 6.
  6. ^ Shah of Iran Wed in Palatial Rites, The New York Times, 13 February 1951, p. 14,
  7. ^ Iran Shah Divorces His Childless Queen, The New York Times, 14 March 1958, p. 2.
  8. ^ Shah's Plea to Queen Held Vain, The New York Times, 6 March 1958, p. 3.
  9. ^ Iran Decision Pending, The New York Times, 11 March 1958, p. 2.
  10. ^ Queen of Iran Accepts Divorce As Sacrifice, The New York Times, 15 March 1958, p. 4.
  11. ^ Soraya Arrives for U.S. Holiday, The New York Times, 23 April 1958, p. 35.
  12. ^ Iran Shah Divorces His Childless Queen, The New York Times, 14 March 1958, p. 2.
  13. ^ Queen of Iran Accepts Divorce As Sacrifice, The New York Times, 15 March 1958, p. 4.
  14. ^ Paul Hofmann, Pope Bans Marriage of Princess to Shah, The New York Times, 24 February 1959, p. 1.
  15. ^ Soraya Taking Screen Role, The New York Times, 8 October 1963, p. 48.
  16. ^ François Meilland, 46, The New York Times, 17 June 1958, p. 29.

[edit] Titles from birth to death

  • Miss Soraya Esfandiary
  • Her Imperial Majesty the Queen of Iran
  • Her Imperial Highness the Princess Soraya of Iran

[edit] External links

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