Shahnaz Pahlavi

{{Infobox royalty

| image = Princess Shahnaz of Iran.png

| caption = Shahnaz in 1967

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1940|10|27|df=y}}

| birth_place = Tehran, Imperial State of Iran

| death_date =

| death_place =

| burial_place =

| father = Mohammad Reza Pahlavi

| mother = Fawzia of Egypt

| spouse = {{ubl|{{marriage|Ardeshir Zahedi|1957|1964|reason=divorced}} |{{marriage|Khosrow Jahanbani|1971|2014|reason=died}}}}

| issue = {{ubl|Zahra Mahnaz Zahedi | Keykhosrow Jahanbani | Fawzia Jahanbani}}

| house = Pahlavi

}}

Shahnaz Pahlavi ({{langx|fa|شهناز پهلوی}}, born 27 October 1940) is the first child of the former Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and his first wife, Fawzia of Egypt.

Early life and education

Shahnaz Pahlavi was born in Tehran on 27 October 1940, a year before the accession of her father to the throne.{{cite news|title=تابعیت مصری برای شهناز پهلوی، نخستین فرزند شاه سابق ایران|url=https://www.bbc.com/persian/iran/2013/12/131210_u08_egypt_shahnaz|access-date=7 August 2021|work=BBC|date=11 December 2013

|language=fa}} She is the only child of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and his first wife Queen Fawzia.{{cite news|author=Diedre Charmody

|title=Nixon forth to see Shah|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=rXJVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=uTwNAAAAIBAJ&pg=1337,4899486&dq=shahnaz+pahlavi&hl=en

|access-date=10 November 2012|newspaper=The Leader Post|date=27 July 1973|location=New York}}{{cite news|title=A quick look at the Shah's life|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=L5cyAAAAIBAJ&sjid=gucFAAAAIBAJ&pg=4011,5239480&dq=shahnaz+pahlavi&hl=en|access-date=10 November 2012|newspaper=Lawrence Journal|date=28 July 1980|agency=Associated Press}} Shahnaz is the paternal half-sister of Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, Princess Farahnaz Pahlavi, Prince Ali Reza Pahlavi II and Princess Leila Pahlavi – the four children of the Shah by his third wife, Farah Pahlavi.{{cite news|title=Shah's daughter 'could not stand' exile|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/1384839.stm|access-date=10 November 2012|work=BBC|date=12 June 2001}} Her maternal grandparents were King Fuad I and Queen Nazli of Egypt; and her paternal grandparents were Reza Shah and Queen Tadj ol-Molouk of Iran. She is also the niece of King Farouk I of Egypt and thus a cousin of the last Egyptian king, Fuad II.{{Cite web|url=http://www.payvand.com/news/16/jan/1116.html|website=payvand.com

|title=Ashraf Pahlavi: Portrait of a Persian Princess|access-date=13 November 2017}}

Shahnaz Pahlavi was educated in a Belgian boarding school, the Lycée Léonie de Waha, in Liège and then in Switzerland.{{cite news|title=Only child of Shah of Iran will marry in simple rites|access-date=10 November 2012|newspaper=Ocala Star Banner|location=Tehran

|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=2QokAAAAIBAJ&sjid=2AQEAAAAIBAJ&pg=1824,1472649&dq=ardeshir+zahedi&hl=en|date=10 October 1957|agency=Associated Press}}

Personal life

Her father had plans for Shahnaz's marriage with King Faisal of Iraq which did not materialise due to her unwillingness.{{cite book|author=Banafsheh Keynoush|title=Saudi Arabia and Iran. Friends or Foes?|year=2016|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|location=New York|isbn=978-1-137-58939-2|page=68|doi=10.1007/978-1-137-58939-2|s2cid=156413085|url=https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-58939-2}} Her first marriage, at age sixteen, was to Ardeshir Zahedi on 11 October 1957, at Golestan Palace, Tehran. He was one-time Iranian foreign minister and twice Iranian ambassador to the United States (1957–64 and 1972–79).{{cite news|title=Iran Shah's daughter to wed engineer in simple ceremony|newspaper=Lewiston Evening Journal|date=10 October 1957|location=Tehran

|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ZcdGAAAAIBAJ&sjid=8vMMAAAAIBAJ&pg=1761,3998465&dq=marble+palace+tehran&hl=en|access-date=23 July 2013|agency=Associated Press}} She and Zahedi first met in Germany in 1955. The couple have one daughter, Princess (styled "Vala Gohari") Mahnaz Zahedi (born 2 December 1958).{{cite magazine|title=Milestones, Dec. 15, 1958|access-date=16 July 2013

|magazine=Time|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,810777,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110131151352/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,810777,00.html|date=15 December 1958|archive-date=31 January 2011}} They divorced in 1964.

Shahnaz later married Khosrow Jahanbani in February 1971 at the Iranian Embassy, Paris.{{cite web|title=Centers of Power in Iran

|url=http://2001-2009.state.gov/documents/organization/70712.pdf|work=CIA|access-date=5 August 2013|date=May 1972}} Their marriage lasted until Jahanbani's death on 13 April 2014. They have a son, Keykhosrow (born 20 November 1971), and a daughter, Fawzia (born 1973).

During her father's reign, Shahnaz had investments in agricultural enterprises and assembly plants of Honda bicycles and motorcycles in Iran.{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=7X5VAAAAIBAJ&sjid=5z4NAAAAIBAJ&pg=1063,1948802&dq=abdul+reza+pahlavi&hl=en|access-date=4 November 2012|newspaper=The Leader Post|date=22 January 1979|agency=Associated Press|location=Tehran|title=105 Iranian films said controlled by royal family}}

Later years

Since the Iranian Revolution, Shahnaz Pahlavi has lived in Switzerland. She has Swiss citizenship. In December 2013 Shahnaz Pahlavi was granted Egyptian citizenship by the Egyptian government.

Honours

Imperial Iran: Grand Cross of the Order of Aryamehr[http://www.pinterest.com/pin/107030928617796612/ Pinterest]
Imperial Iran: Grand Cross of the Order of the Pleiades, 1st class
Imperial Iran: 25th Anniversary medal
Imperial Iran: 2,500 year celebration of the Persian Empire

Gallery

Image:Cecil Beaton Photographs- Political and Military Personalities; Chahnaz, Princess of Iran, Fawzieh, Queen of Iran, Mohammed Reza Pahlevi CBM2404.jpg|Princess Shahnaz with her parents in Tehran during the Second World War. Photo by Cecil Beaton

Image:Mohammad Pahlavi Coronation.jpg|Coronation of the Shah of Iran in 1967 – Princess Shahnaz (second from left)