Farah, Empress, consort of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Shah of Iran, 1938-
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- Dukhtarak-i daryā, 1352 1973:title page (Shahbānū Faraḥ Pahlavī)
- The official website of Her Imperial Majesty Shahbanou Farah Pahlavi, URL: https://farahpahlavi.org/queen-farah-pahlavi/ viewed November 01, 2024:(Farah Pahlavi. Her Imperial Majesty Queen Farah Pahlavi, Shahbanou of Iran was born in Tehran on October 14, 1938, the only child of Mr. Sohrab Diba and Farideh Diba Ghotbi. Following the death of her father in 1947, Farah Pahlavi was educated at the Italian School and later the Jeanne D'Arc School. She obtained her baccalaureate from the Lycee Razi, a secular Persian and French High School in Tehran. Farah Diba was studying architecture in Paris in 1959 when she was introduced to Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi of Iran at an embassy reception. The couple's engagement was announced on December 1 and they were married three weeks later. Empress Farah gave birth to Crown Prince Reza in 1960, Princess Farahnaz in 1963, Prince Alireza in 1966, and Princess Leila in 1970. In the 1960s and '70s Empress Farah traveled widely within Iran to support her husband's social and economic reforms to advance the rights of women and children, the disabled and the handicapped, culture and the arts, science, and medicine, and architecture and the environment. Under the patronage of the Farah Pahlavi Foundation, she financially supported a network of museums, art centers, and dozens of charities. She worked tirelessly to champion Iranian culture and the arts and to encourage community-based village enterprises to revitalize traditional handicrafts. She established a series of landmark events to celebrate contemporary and modern Iranian art and culture including the Shiraz Festival of Arts, the Isfahan Festival of Popular Traditions, the Kerman Traditional Music Festival, the Tehran International Film Festival, and the Children's Film Festival. Empress Farah spearheaded an effort to promote children's literacy by establishing children's libraries in the cities and the countryside. She put her training as an architect to good use when she lobbied to save historic buildings from demolition, and by preserving open land from development so that parks and green spaces became a feature of crowded urban centers. She headed up the South Tehran Redevelopment Corporation which aimed to alleviate poverty and improve living conditions in Tehran southern suburbs. Empress Farah broke many barriers during her two decades on the throne. She was Iran's first crowned female sovereign and the first woman crowned anywhere in the Muslim world. She was the first woman in a Muslim country to publicly donate blood. As her husband's ambassador abroad, Empress Farah represented Iran in countries as varied as China, the United States, and Senegal, delivering major policy addresses and attending international conferences. Empress Farah is most proud of her ground-breaking work on behalf of Iran's lepers who had previously been subjected to discrimination. The Empress visited leper colonies in the late sixties and persuaded her husband to donate a parcel of land so that the lepers could be housed in a model community, receive an education and earn a working wage. She invited medical specialists from around the world to come to Iran to work with the lepers and advocated community-based methods to help them. Empress Farah's efforts to change popular perceptions about leprosy were recognized internationally as a force for progressive change. On January 16, 1979, Empress Farah and the Shah left Iran for exile. Today she divides her time between France and the United States where her children and grandchildren live. She continues to work and speak out on behalf of her signature causes and is an enthusiastic supporter of Iranian artists and writers. She closely follows events back in Iran and is in daily contact with compatriots who write and express their support and friendship. Empress Farah has received numerous honorary doctorates and diplomas from many international institutions. She is also the recipient of numerous awards for her humanitarian efforts. *Style & Titles: The Consort of the Sovereign: Shahbanou, i.e. Empress, with the style of Her Imperial Majesty. "Shahbanou" The title of Shahbanou was devised especially for Empress Farah at the Coronation of 1967. Tenure: 26 October 1967 -11 February 1979, Coronation: 26 October 1967 (aged 29).)
- Offermann, H.Farah Diba ... 1962.
- Wikipedia WWW site, July 25, 2008(Farah Pahlavi, Empress of Iran; b. Farah Diba, Oct. 14, 1938, Tehran; m. Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Shah of Iran, Dec. 21, 1959; the only Shahbanu (Empress) of modern Iran)
Wikipedia description:
Farah Pahlavi (Persian: فرح پهلوی; née Diba [دیبا]; born 14 October 1938) is a member of the Pahlavi dynasty. She is the last queen and empress (شهبانو, Shahbânu) of Iran, and is the third wife and widow of the last shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. She was born into a prosperous Iranian family whose fortunes were diminished after her father's early death. While studying architecture in Paris, she was introduced to the Shah at the Iranian embassy, and they were married in December 1959. The Shah's first two marriages had not produced a son—necessary for royal succession—resulting in great rejoicing at the birth of Crown Prince Reza in October of the following year. As a philanthropist, she advanced the welfare of Iranian civil society through the establishment of charities and founded Iran's Shiraz University, Iran's first American-style university, increasing the number of women students. She also facilitated the recall of Iranian antiquities from museums abroad. By 1978, growing anti-imperial unrest fueled by growing inequality between rich and poor throughout Iran was showing clear signs of impending revolution, prompting Farah and the Shah to leave the country in January 1979 under the threat of a death sentence. For that reason, most countries were reluctant to harbour them, with Anwar Sadat's Egypt being an exception. Facing execution should he return, and in ill health, Mohammad Reza died in exile in July 1980. Farah led the Pahlavi dynasty as regent until October 1980, when her son, Reza Pahlavi, declared himself Shah of Iran, ending Farah's regency. Since 1979, she has lived in exile, primarily in the United States and France. She has been a vocal supporter of the Iranian protestors and critic of the Iranian Islamic regime in the wake of the killing of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while in the custody of Iranian hijab police in 2022, the subsequent execution of Iranian protester Mohsen Shekari later that year, and the 2025–2026 Iranian protests.
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