Princess Soraya Pahlavi

Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary (Persian: ثریا اسفندیاری بختیاری, romanized: Sorayâ Esfandiâri-Baxtyâri; 22 June 1932 – 25 October 2001) was Queen of Iran as the second wife of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, whom she married in 1951. Their marriage suffered many pressures, particularly when it became clear that she was infertile. She rejected the Shah's suggestion that he might take a second wife in order to produce an heir, as he rejected her suggestion that he might abdicate in favor of his half-brother. In March 1958, their divorce was announced. After a brief career as an actress, and a liaison with Italian film director Franco Indovina, Soraya lived alone in Paris until her death.

Soraya was the elder of two children and the only daughter of Khalil Esfandiary-Bakhtiary (1901–1983),[1] a Bakhtiari nobleman and Iranian ambassador to West Germany in the 1950s, and his Russian-born German wife Eva Karl (1906–1994).[2]

She was born in the English Missionary Hospital in Isfahan on 22 June 1932.[1][3] She had one sibling, a younger brother, Bijan (1937–2001). Her family had long been involved in the Iranian government and diplomatic corps. An uncle of her father, Sardar Assad, was a leader in the Persian Constitutional Revolution of the early 20th century.[4] Soraya was raised in Berlin and Isfahan, and educated in London and Switzerland.[3]

Marriage

In 1948, Soraya was introduced to the recently divorced Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, by Forough Zafar Bakhtiari, a close relative of Soraya's, via a photograph taken by Goodarz Bakhtiary, in London, per Forough Zafar's request. At the time Soraya had completed high school at a Swiss finishing school and was studying the English language in London.[4] They were soon engaged: the Shah gave her a 22.37 carat (4.474 g) diamond engagement ring.[5]

Soraya married the Shah at Marble Palace, Tehran, on 12 February 1951.[6] Originally the couple had planned to wed on 27 December 1950, but the ceremony was postponed due to the bride being ill.[7]

Although the Shah announced that guests should donate money to a special charity for the Iranian poor, among the wedding gifts were a mink coat and a desk set with black diamonds sent by Joseph Stalin; a Steuben glass Bowl of Legends designed by Sidney Waugh and sent by President of the United States, Harry S. Truman and Mrs. Truman; and silver Georgian candlesticks from King George VI and Queen Elizabeth.[8] The 2,000 guests included Aga Khan III.

The ceremony was decorated with 1.5 tonnes of orchids, tulips and carnations, sent by plane from the Netherlands. Entertainment included an equestrian circus from Rome.[9] The bride wore a silver lamé gown studded with pearls and trimmed with marabou stork feathers,[10] designed for the occasion by Christian Dior.[11] Of all the Shah's many women, it is generally believed that Soraya was the "true love" of his life as she was the one he loved the most.[12]

Soraya later wrote about herself and Iran: "I was a dunce. I knew next to nothing of the geography, the legends of my country; nothing of its history, nothing of the Muslim religion".[12] Soraya's upbringing had been entirely German and Catholic, which left her with a mixed identity, and made her the object of much distrust in Iran with Muslim clerics saying the Shah should not marry this "half-European girl" who was not raised a Muslim.[12] Soraya wrote: "The feeling of being both Christian and Muslim, but at the same time of being neither one nor the other has engraved in my flesh two divergent poles between which my existence has unfolded. The one is methodically European, the other savagely Persian".[12]

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soraya_Esfandiary-Bakhtiary

**** DISCLAIMER: Data source is courtesy of astro data bank "Gunther Menzer quotes a German magazine clipping for the data as given by her mom to an astrologer." Gaia

https://www.astro.com/astro-databank/Pahlavi,_Princess_Soraya