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Fatemeh Pahlavi

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Fatemeh Pahlavi
Pahlavi, 1970s
Born30 October 1928
Tehran, Imperial State of Persia
Died27 May 1987(1987-05-27) (aged 58)
London, United Kingdom
Spouse
Vincent Lee Hillyer
​
​
(m. 1950; div. 1959)​
​
​
(m. 1959; died 1975)​
HousePahlavi dynasty
FatherReza Shah
MotherEsmat Dowlatshahi

Fatemeh Pahlavi (Persian: فاطمه پهلوی; 30 October 1928 – 27 May 1987) was an Iranian princess of the Pahlavi dynasty. She was the tenth child of Reza Shah and the half-sister of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. Born in Tehran, she left Iran prior to the Islamic Revolution in 1979. Pahlavi died of cancer in London in 1987.

Early life and education

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Fatemeh Pahlavi was born in Tehran on 30 October 1928.[1][2] She was the tenth child of Reza Shah and the fourth of his fourth and last wife, Esmat Dowlatshahi.[3][4] Her mother was from the Qajar dynasty and married Reza Shah in 1923.[5] Fatemeh was the younger full-sister of Abdul Reza Pahlavi, Ahmad Reza Pahlavi and Mahmoud Reza Pahlavi and the older full-sister of Hamid Reza Pahlavi.[6]

Pahlavi attended Converse College (now Converse University) in Spartanburg, South Carolina.[7] She attended the College with her lady-in waiting, Kokab Moarefi, in the 1947–1948 school year, but did not return any following years or obtain her degree.[7][8][9] However, Moarefi would stay behind, and graduate from Converse in 1950.[9] She and her brothers lived at the Marble Palace in Tehran with their parents.[4]

Activities

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Pahlavi in the 1950s

During the reign of her half-brother, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Fatemeh Pahlavi owned a bowling club and dealt with business, having shares in the firms involved in construction, vegetable oil production and engineering.[10] She also had a fortune of some $500 million during that time.[11] Her fortune came from the "commissions" extracted from military contractors by her second husband, Mohammad Amir Khatami.[11] Pahlavi also involved in activities concerning higher education in Iran[12] and had shares in an Iranian football team, Persepolis F.C.[13]

Pahlavi took courses from a British pilot to learn to fly a helicopter,[14] becoming the first Iranian woman with a helicopter license.[15] After she completed the first solo flight, she gifted her trainer with a watch, Omega Speedmaster, which had been given to the Shah by the Apollo 11 astronauts in 1969 when they visited Iran as part of a tour to celebrate the first Moon landing.[14] In early 2021 the watch was sold for £18,000 at auction.[14]

Personal life

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Fatemeh Pahlavi married twice. She married Vincent Lee Hillyer (1924 – 7 July 1999) in a civil ceremony in Civitavecchia, Italy, on 13 April 1950.[3] Hillyer converted to Islam.[3] On 10 May, they wed in a religious ceremony at Iran's embassy in Paris.[3][16] Hillyer was a friend of her brother Abdul Reza Pahlavi.[17] Fatemeh and Hillyer met in Iran during the latter's visit to the country. The marriage was not fully endorsed by Shah Mohammad Reza,[18] probably due to negative reactions in Iran.[19] They had three children, two sons, Kayvan and Dariush, and one daughter, Rana, who died in an accidental fall in infancy in 1954.[20] They divorced in September 1959.[21][22]

After divorcing Hillyer, she married Mohammad Amir Khatami, the commanding general of Iran's air force, on 22 November 1959.[22][23] The shah and his then fiancée Farah Diba attended the wedding ceremony.[22] They had two sons, Kambiz (born 1961) and Ramin (born 1967), and a daughter, Pari (born 1962).[24]

Later years and death

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Pahlavi left Iran before the Islamic revolution in 1979.[19] During her last years, she was living in London.[25]

Pahlavi died at her London home on 27 May 1987 of cancer.[2][26] She was 58 years old and was survived by her four sons.[25][26]

Honours

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National

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Foreign

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References

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  1. ^ "Iranian princess dies at age 58". The Lewiston Journal. 2 June 1987. Retrieved 4 November 2012.
  2. ^ a b "Princess Fatimeh Pahlavi". Associated Press. London. 2 June 1987. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
  3. ^ a b c d "Shah of Iran's half-sister dies". Rome News Tribune. 2 June 1987. Retrieved 4 November 2012.
  4. ^ a b Diana Childress (2011). Equal Rights Is Our Minimum Demand: The Women's Rights Movement in Iran 2005. Minneapolis, MN: Twenty-First Century Books. p. 40. ISBN 978-0-7613-7273-8.
  5. ^ Gholam Reza Afkhami (2008). The Life and Times of the Shah. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. p. 605. ISBN 978-0-520-94216-5.
  6. ^ "Reza Shah Pahlavi". Iran Chamber Society. Retrieved 16 July 2013.
  7. ^ a b "Milestones, Apr. 24, 1950". Time. 24 April 1950. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
  8. ^ "Y's and Other Y's, 1948. Converse Yearbook 1948". Spartanburg County Public Libraries. pp. 78–79. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
  9. ^ a b Nancy Atkins (12 April 1979). "Shah of Iran's Sister Attended Converse in 1947-1948". Spartanburg Herald. p. 1.
  10. ^ "105 Iranian firms said controlled by royal family". The Leader Post. Tehran. Associated Press. 22 January 1979. Retrieved 4 November 2012.
  11. ^ a b David Harris (2005). "Buying Loyalty in Iran" (PDF). The Long Term View. 6 (3): 88–96. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 October 2013. Retrieved 14 November 2012.
  12. ^ Edgar Burke Inlow (1979). Shahanshah: The Study of Monarchy of Iran. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass. p. 91. ISBN 978-81-208-2292-4.
  13. ^ Houchang Chehabi (Autumn 2002). "A Political History of Football in Iran". Iranian Studies. 35 (4): 387. doi:10.1080/14660970600615328. S2CID 144616657.
  14. ^ a b c "Watch presented to Shah by Apollo 11 crew sold by Dorset man". BBC. 19 February 2020. Retrieved 2 August 2021.
  15. ^ "Women in the IIAF". iiaf.net. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
  16. ^ "Iran. Part II (1950–1955)" (PDF). Iranian Hotline. Retrieved 16 July 2013.
  17. ^ Ali Akbar Dareini (1999). The Rise and Fall of the Pahlavi Dynasty: Memoirs of Former General Hussein Fardust. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publications. p. 123. ISBN 978-81-208-1642-8.
  18. ^ "Half sister of the late Shah". Orlando Sentinel. 3 June 1987. Archived from the original on 29 August 2010. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
  19. ^ a b Gholamali Haddad Adel; Mohammad Jafar Elmi; Hassan Taromi-Rad, eds. (2012). Pahlavi Dynasty: An Entry from Encyclopaedia of the World of Islam. London: EWI Press Ltd. p. 144. ISBN 978-1-908433-01-5.
  20. ^ "Shah of Iran's half-sister dies". Rome News-Tribune. 2 June 1987. Retrieved 25 July 2013.
  21. ^ "US aided in ouster of Shah". St. Joseph News Press. Associated Press. 9 August 1980. Retrieved 4 November 2012.
  22. ^ a b c "Shah engaged". Toledo Blade. 23 November 1960. Retrieved 16 July 2013.
  23. ^ Abbas Milani (2008). Eminent Persians: The Men and Women who Made Modern Iran, 1941-1979. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press. p. 457. ISBN 978-0-8156-0907-0.
  24. ^ Ebrahim Hadidi. "Field Martial Mohammad Khatami". Institute for Iranian History. Retrieved 4 November 2012.
  25. ^ a b "Fatemeh Pahlevi Dies at 58, A Half Sister to Shah of Iran". The New York Times. Associated Press. 3 June 1987. Retrieved 4 November 2012.
  26. ^ a b "Births, Marriages, Deaths". The Times. No. 62783. London. 1 June 1987. p. 15. Retrieved 25 April 2023.
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