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Farah Pahlavi

Farah Pahlavi
Shahbanu of Iran.jpg
The Empress in 1973
Empress consort of Iran
Tenure 20 March 1961 – 11 February 1979
Coronation 26 October 1967
Queen consort of Iran
Tenure 21 December 1959 – 20 March 1961
Born Farah Diba
(1938-10-14) 14 October 1938 (age 78)
Tehran,Iran
Spouse Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
Issue Crown Prince Reza
Princess Farahnaz
Prince Ali-Reza
Princess Leila
Full name
English: Farah
Persian: فرح‎‎
House House of Pahlavi
Father Sohrab Diba
Mother Farideh Ghotbi
Signature
Full name
English: Farah
Persian: فرح‎‎
Styles of
Empress Farah of Iran
Imperial Arms of the Shahbanou of Iran.svg
Reference style Her Imperial Majesty
Spoken style Your Imperial Majesty
Alternative style Ma'am

Farah Pahlavi (née Diba, Persian: فرح دیبا‎‎; 14 October 1938) is the widow of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and the former Shahbanu (Empress) of Iran.

Farah Diba was born on 14 October 1938 in the Iranian capital Tehran, to an upper-class family. Born as Farah Diba, she was the only child of Captain Sohrab Diba (1899–1948) and his wife, Farideh Ghotbi (1920–2000). Pahlavi's father's family is of Iranian Azerbaijani origin. In her memoir, the former Shahbanu writes that her father's family were natives of Iranian Azerbaijan while her mother's family were from Lahijan on the Iranian coast of the Caspian Sea.

Through her father, Farah came from a relatively affluent background. In the late 19th century her grandfather had been an accomplished diplomat, serving as the Iranian Ambassador to the Romanov Court in St. Petersburg, Russia. Her own father was an officer in the Imperial Iranian Armed Forces and a graduate of the prestigious French Military Academy at St. Cyr.

Farah enjoyed an extremely close bond with her father and his unexpected death in 1948 deeply affected her. This situation furthermore left the young family in a difficult financial state. In these reduced circumstances, they were forced to move from their large family villa in northern Tehran into a shared apartment with one of Farideh Ghotbi's brothers.

The young Farah Diba began her education at Tehran's Italian School, then moved to the French Jeanne d'Arc School until to age of sixteen and later to the Lycée Razi. She was an accomplished athlete in her youth and became captain of her school's basketball team. Upon finishing her studies at the Lycée Razi, she pursued an interest in architecture at the École Spéciale d'Architecture in Paris, where she was a student of Albert Besson.


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