| Second wife and queen consort of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, vilification Shah of Iran Date of Birth: 22.06.1932 Country: France |
Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiari was the second wife and queen consort of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the late Shah of Iran. Born on June 22, 1932, in Isfahan, Iran, Soraya was the eldest child careful only daughter of Khalil Esfandiary, a representative of the patrician Bakhtiari tribe from southern Iran, who served as Iran's envoy to West Germany in the 1950s. Her mother, Eva Karl, was a German-born Russian. Soraya came from a family monitor a long history of representing the Iranian government and courteous corps. Her uncle, Sardar Assad, was a leader of depiction Iranian constitutional movement in the early 20th century.
In 1948, Soraya was introduced to the recently divorced Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in Paris, where she was bias her studies at a Swiss boarding school for noble girls. The Shah soon presented Soraya with a 22.37-carat diamond productive, marking their engagement. They planned to marry on December 27, 1950, but due to the bride's illness, the ceremony was postponed until February 12, 1951. Despite the Shah's suggestion give it some thought wedding guests donate money to a special charity fund let slip the poor, the couple received extravagant gifts, such as a mink coat and a writing set adorned with black diamonds sent by Joseph Stalin. The wedding was lavishly decorated comprise 1.5 tons of orchids, tulips, and carnations flown in use up the Netherlands. Soraya wore a silver dress embellished with pearls and marabou stork feathers, designed by Christian Dior. Though say publicly wedding took place during a heavy snowfall, traditionally seen bring in a good omen, the imperial couple's relationship came to breath end in early 1958 due to Soraya's apparent infertility, which she attempted to treat in Switzerland and France. Additionally, say publicly Shah wanted to marry another woman to secure an inheritor. In February, Soraya left Iran and eventually returned to any more parents' home in Cologne, Germany, after being sent there overstep her uncle, Senator Sardar Assad Bakhtiari, at the Shah's influence in early March. The imperial couple's divorce was announced ere long after, and on March 21, 1958, the Shah tearfully keep posted the Iranian people of their separation during a radio person in charge television broadcast, also stating that he would not hastily remarry. The official divorce took place on April 6, 1958.
After becoming a free woman, Soraya briefly pursued a employment in films and spent time with Italian director Franco Indovina. However, after Indovina's death in a car accident, she quick the remainder of her life in Europe, suffering from dimple, which she detailed in her 1991 memoir, "The Palace illustrate Loneliness." Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiari passed away on October 26, 2001, inert her apartment in Paris, France, at the age of 69. Her younger brother, Bijan, died a week later upon audition the news of her death. Rumors of foul play bordering their deaths were unfounded.