State portrait, 1973
Today, October 14, marks the 84th birthday of Her Imperial Majesty Empress Farah Pahlavi, the last queen of Iran. Born in Tehran in 1938 as Farah Diba, she would go on to become the queen after marrying Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran, on December 21, 1959. “My wedding dress was designed by Yves Saint Laurent, who was working for Dior at the time. His seamstresses sewed blue thread in the dress to help me have a boy,” Queen Pahlavi recalled in a previous interview with Vogue Arabia.
At a grand coronation on October 26, 1967, she became the first empress to be crowned in a history of 2 500 years, with the Shah himself placing the crown as a symbol of the emancipation of Iranian women. Parisian jeweler Van Cleef & Arpels was chosen to create the coronation regalia set, with the crown featuring a 150ct emerald and 1,541 stones from the imperial treasury. A replica of the crown rests on a shelf at the Queen’s Paris residence to this day.
Having studied abroad in Switzerland, France, and notably architecture in Paris, the monarch is known for her work in preserving Iran’s culture and uplifting emerging artists during her 20-year tenure as Empress. She founded Pahlavi University, the first American-style school in Iran designed to improve women’s educational opportunities, and was patron to 12 artistic institutions while presiding over 26 educational, health, sports, and cultural organizations. On her birthday in 1977, she inaugurated the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art (TMoCA), and also went on to create the Negarestan Museum; a museum of Persian carpets; museums and galleries filled with Iranian ceramics, clay, bronze, and miniatures; four cultural centers; three national arts festivals; three research exploration and science institutes; the City Theatre of Tehran; the Abguineh Museum featuring glassware and ceramics; and the Museum of Reza Abbasi for pre- and post-Islamic objects.
On the occasion of her birthday, we celebrate the life of Her Imperial Majesty Empress Farah Pahlavi with some of the most iconic images from her reign and beyond.
During their wedding ceremony in Tehran on December 21, 1959.
Wedding of Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi and Farah Diba on December 20, 1959
Portrait, 1960
First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy stands with Empress Farah of Iran inside the Iranian embassy in Washington.
The Shah of Iran with his wife, Empress Farah Diba, and Crown Prince Reza.
Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, Shah of Iran, with the Empress and their son, Crown Prince Reza, 1967. Rex
The shah of Iran and Empress Farah wave from their carriage as they ride through the streets of Tehran after their coronation ceremony.
With son Reza in France 1968
Pahlavi visiting an orphanage in Iran, 1968
The Empress with three of her children: Crown Prince Reza, Prince Ali-Reza, and Princess Farahnaz in the 1970s.
At the Elysée Palace by President Giscard d’Estaing, 1974
With the president of Senegal on her first official trip to Africa, 1976. Photo: Getty
With the then First Lady of the United States, Betty Ford, in 1975
Empress Farah Pahlavi with her four children Crown Prince Reza, Princess Farahnaz, Prince Ali-Reza, and Princess Leila, 1976
Pahlavi photographed while on a visit to Kermanshah, Iran
Shah of Iran with Empress Farah Pahlavi and their children on exile in Bahamas in 1979.
In Marrakesh, Morocco, a few days after fleeing Iran in January 1979
Princess Lalla Salma Of Morocco, Anne-Aymone Giscard D’Estaing, Queen Mathilde Of Belgium, And Empress Farah Pahlavi at Versailles, 2003
The Empress with her granddaughter Noor
