Tadj ol-Molouk

Tadj ol-Molouk
Empress consort of Iran
Tenure 15 December 1925 – 16 September 1941
Spouse Rezā Shāh
Issue Shams Pahlavi
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
Ashraf Pahlavi
Ali Reza Pahlavi I
Full name
English: Tadj ol-Molouk
Persian: تاج‌الملوک‎
House House of Pahlavi
Father Teymūr Khan Ayromlou
Born 17 March 1896
Baku, Russian Empire now Azerbaijan
Died 10 March 1982 (aged 85)
Acapulco, Mexico now Mexico
Religion Islam

Tadj ol-Molouk (born Nimtaj Ayromlou; 17 March 1896 – 10 March 1982) was Empress consort of Iran as the wife of Reza Shah, founder of the Pahlavi dynasty and Shah of Iran between 1925 and 1941. The title she was given after becoming Empress means "Crown of the Kings" in the Persian language. She was the daughter of Brigadier General Teymūr Khan Ayromlou.[1] Her family were Ayrums; a sub-ethnic group of Azerbaijanis from the Caucasus who arrived in Iran in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Soon after arriving in Iran, some Ayrums became Iranian generals, notably her first cousin General Muhammad-Husayn Ayrom, but most others were to settle as nobility. A few Ayrum women, namely herself and Noushafarin Ayromlou (her mother-in-law), were to become royalty.

Biography

Tadj ol-Molouk (Nimtaj Ayromlou) was the first Empress of Iran to have played a public role, and to have performed an official position out in public society. She played an important part in the abolition of the veil in Iran during the reign of her husband. In the winter of 1934, Reza Shah demanded the presence of the Empress and the two princesses in an official ceremony at the Tehran Teacher's College. All three were present at this ceremony and were dressed in Western clothes, without a veil. This was the first time an Iranian queen showed herself in public. Afterwards, the Shah had pictures of his wife and daughters published; other men were ordered to unveil their wives and daughters. With this, the veil was abolished. Reza Shah was deposed in 1941.

Empress Nimtaj had four children: Shams Pahlavi, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran, and his twin sister Ashraf, and Ali Reza Pahlavi I.[2]

Before the 1979 revolution, Tadj ol-Molouk was sent by Mohammad Reza Pahlavi to the house of Shams Pahlavi in Beverly Hills.[3] She arrived in Los Angeles on 30 December 1978 abroad an Imperial Iranian Air Force Boeing 747.[4] Soon after her arrival, on 2 January 1979, Iranian students in the city attacked the house and attempted to burn it.[3][5] Then she and her daughter took refuge at the Palm Springs estate of Walter Annenberg, former US ambassador to Great Britain.[3]

She died in Acapulco (Mexico) on 10 March 1982[6] after a lengthy battle with leukemia seven days before her 86th birthday.

Titles

Styles of
Empress Tadj ol-Molouk of Iran
Reference style Her Imperial Majesty
Spoken style Your Imperial Majesty
Alternative style Ma'am

Honours

National honours

Foreign honours

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Royal Ark
  2. ↑ Cyrus Ghani; Sīrūs Ġanī (6 January 2001). Iran and the Rise of the Reza Shah: From Qajar Collapse to Pahlavi Power. I.B.Tauris. p. 194. ISBN 978-1-86064-629-4. Retrieved 19 June 2013.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Scott, Lois (24 February 1980). "The Shah's dawnfall". The Victoria Advocate. Retrieved 5 November 2012.
  4. ↑ Kent, Thomas (30 December 1978). "Shah looking for way out Iran". Williamson Daily News (Tehran). AP. Retrieved 5 November 2012.
  5. ↑ "Riots force Shah's mother to leave house". Boca Raton News (Beverly Hills). AP. 3 January 1979. Retrieved 5 November 2012.
  6. ↑ "Late Shah's mother dies". Gadsden Times (Paris). AP. 16 March 1982. Retrieved 5 November 2012.
  7. ↑ http://fouman.com/Y/Image/History/Reza_Shah_Tajolmoluk.jpg
  8. ↑ , The Empress Consort sat at the end left
Iranian royalty
Preceded by
Fatemeh Khanoum		 Queen consort of Iran
1926–1941 		Succeeded by
Fawzia of Egypt