Ashraf Pahlavi
Encyclopedia
Princess Ashraf ul-Mulki Pahlavi (Persian
: اشرف پهلوی) (born 26 October 1919), is the twin sister of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
, the late Shah of Iran
and the Pahlavi Dynasty
. She currently resides in Paris
, France
. Princess Ashraf is the oldest living member of her family. Since the Iranian Revolution
, she has kept an extremely low profile and with the exception of a memoir published in the mid-1990s, has not made any public appearances or interviews since 1981.
.
Though an instrumental force in legitimating gender reforms, her philosophy on gender was not particularly introspective: "I confess that even though since childhood I had paid a price for being a woman, in terms of education and personal freedom, I had not given much thought to specific ways in which women in general were more oppressed than men." By her own account, she was a strong supporter of the rights of women to basic life necessities such as “food, education, and health” and was not a radical reformist. She cited “chronic apathy” from many governments as the underlying issue that prevented women’s rights reforms from being implemented around the world. In 1934, Princess Ashraf and her sister, Princess Shams, were two of the first Iranian women to discard the veil typically worn by the women of their home country.
Despite her involvement in 1975’s International Women’s Year, Pahlavi’s women’s rights stances were called into question after the publication of her 1976 New York Times Op-Ed piece, “And Thus Passeth International Women’s Year.” In a March 1976 article in The Nation, writer Kay Boyle criticized Ashraf for her touting of International Women’s Year as succeeding in widening the global vision of sisterhood, while approximately 4,000 of the Princess’s own “sisters” were political prisoners in Iran with virtually no hope of a military trial.
In her 1980 memoirs, Pahlavi acknowledges the poor condition of women in her home country and expresses concern, as she writes, “…the news of what was happening to Iran’s women was extremely painful…[they] were segregated and relegated to second-class status…many were imprisoned or exiled.”
Additionally, Pahlavi worked as an activist for human rights and equality, working not only for women’s rights. She was an advocate for the international spread of literacy, especially in Iran, where her brother Mohammad Reza Shah was a major proponent of the anti-illiteracy movement. She served as a member of the International Consultative Liaison Committee for Literacy.
In 1967, Pahlavi worked with the United Nations
as the Iranian delegate to the Commission on Human Rights as well as to the Economic and Social Council.
Ashraf was the target of a mysterious and unsuccessful assassination attempt in the summer of 1976 at her summer home on the French Riviera
, during which fourteen bullets were fired into the side of her Rolls Royce
. A passenger in her car was killed, but Pahlavi left the scene unharmed.
In the 1979 Iranian Revolution
, the Pahlavi dynasty came to an end when the monarchy under Ashraf’s brother Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (Mohammad Reza Shah) was overthrown and Ayatollah Khomeini came into power as the leader of the new Islamic Republic of Iran.
to start the operation. The Shah had originally opposed the operation and for a while resisted accepting it. In early 1953, she met with CIA agents who asked her to talk to her brother since she was the only one who was able to change his mind. As historian Stephen Kinzer's book All the Shah's Men recounts, "Ashraf was enjoying life in French casinos and nightclubs when one of Roosevelt's best Iranian agents, Asadollah Rashidian, paid her a call. He found her reluctant, so the next day a delegation of American and British agents came to pose the invitation in stronger terms. The leader of the delegation, a senior British operative named Norman Darbyshire, had the foresight to bring a mink coat and a packet of cash. When Ashraf saw these emoluments, Darbyshire later recalled, "her eyes lit up" and her resistance crumbled." By her own account, Pahlavi was offered a blank check if she agreed to return to Iran from her exile in France, but refused the money and returned on her own accord.
Whether or not the allegations are true, some historians argue that the coup would have occurred with or without Ashraf’s influence over her brother: In an International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies article, writer Mark Gasironowski states that the Shah “was not consulted about the decision to undertake the coup, about its manner of execution, or about the candidate chosen to replace Mossadegh” and that the coup was instead largely executed by the United States and others looking to undermine Mossadegh’s leadership.
In 1979, The New York Times reported that a September 17, 1978 document from Ashraf’s office requested a transfer of $708,000 from her Iranian bank account to her account at the Union Bank of Switzerland
in Geneva
under the code name ‘Sapia’.
In 1980, Ashraf published an article in the New York Times, in which she came out in defense of her and her family’s financial situation. In the article, she writes that her wealth was not accumulated through “ill-gotten gains” and attributes her fortune to her inherited land, which “drastically increased in value with the development of Iran and the new prosperity that was there for all”. She notes that many other Iranians profited from the sale of their own real estate, but were not accused of financial misconduct because of their close ties to the clergy and Khomeini. She also defends her brother, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, stating that, contrary to the claims made by some Khomeini supporters, the former Shah did not profit from the Pahlavi Foundation. The Princess wrote that she planned to “fight these slanders with all my means and through whatever judicial means are available to me”.
Psychologically, Ashraf had low self esteem when she was younger. She did not like “what she saw in the mirror”. She “wished for someone else’s face,…, fairer skin, and more height”. She always imagined that “there were so few people in this world shorter than I”. Perhaps this motivated her to be bold. In her memoirs she wrote:
Her brother, the late Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (Mohammad Reza Shah) was her closest friend. In her memoirs, she remembers looking upon him with a sense of wonder as a child, writing, “long before we reached adulthood, his voice became the dominant one in my life”
Her second marriage (m. 1944, Cairo (nikah) - div. 1959, Tehran (zifaf)) was with (Sahib ul-Izza) Ahmed Chafik Bey (b. 21 September 1911; m. second, Deloris Pianezzola, and died from cancer in 1976, in Tehran). He was the Director-General of Civil Aviation and fourth son of H.E. (Hazrat Sahib ul-Sa'ada) Ahmad Shafiq Pasha, the Minister of the Khedivial Court of Egypt. They had one son and one daughter:
Finally, she married thirdly at 5 June 1960 (at at the Iranian Embassy in Paris
, France
) with Dr. Mehdi Bushehri (b. 1916), who is the Director of the Maison d'Iran at Paris. They do not have children together.
In a 1980 interview with New York Times journalist Judy Klemesrud, Pahlavi stated, “I have never been a good mother. Because of my way of life, I was not with my children very much”. Additionally, while Pahlavi was living in exile in New York, her husband Mehdi Bushehri remained in Paris and the two rarely saw each other.
Additionally, she has written one book in French:
Her three books were published following her 1980 New York Times article “I Will Fight These Slanders”. In accordance with her promise to fight the “slanders” about her and her family, her books are largely concerned with clearing up what she views as misconceptions about the Pahlavi dynasty. She again addresses the questions about her personal financial situation, writing in her most widely read book, her memoir Faces in a Mirror, “I had inherited about $300,000 when my father died (and about 1 million square meters of land near the Caspian Sea, as well as properties in Gorgan and Kermanshah, which would later become extremely valuable)"
In the introduction to Faces in a Mirror, Pahlavi writes that she wants “…very much to explain to Western readers what they have failed to understand about the nature of Iran’s culture and heritage…about the nature of the so-called Islamic revolution…” Generally, her books are viewed as too autobiographical and steeped in emotion to be used as serious historical references. The Library Journal called Pahlavi’s Faces in a Mirror, “little more than a personalized homily on the Pahlavis’ virtues and the perfidy of nearly everyone else in the world”.
On her personal website, one can find biographical information about the Princess and her family, as well as information concerning her humanitarian efforts.
The Foundation for Iranian Studies is a non-profit institution dedicated to educating the public about Iran. Princess Ashraf serves on the Board of Trustees.
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
: اشرف پهلوی) (born 26 October 1919), is the twin sister of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
Mohammad Rezā Shāh Pahlavi, Shah of Iran, Shah of Persia , ruled Iran from 16 September 1941 until his overthrow by the Iranian Revolution on 11 February 1979...
, the late Shah of Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
and the Pahlavi Dynasty
Pahlavi dynasty
The Pahlavi dynasty consisted of two Iranian/Persian monarchs, father and son Reza Shah Pahlavi and Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi The Pahlavi dynasty consisted of two Iranian/Persian monarchs, father and son Reza Shah Pahlavi (reg. 1925–1941) and Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi The Pahlavi dynasty ...
. She currently resides in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. Princess Ashraf is the oldest living member of her family. Since the Iranian Revolution
Iranian Revolution
The Iranian Revolution refers to events involving the overthrow of Iran's monarchy under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and its replacement with an Islamic republic under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the...
, she has kept an extremely low profile and with the exception of a memoir published in the mid-1990s, has not made any public appearances or interviews since 1981.
Politics
Ashraf was a strong supporter of women's rights in Iran and the world during her brother's reign. In 1975, she was heavily involved with the International Women's Year, addressing the United NationsUnited Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
.
Though an instrumental force in legitimating gender reforms, her philosophy on gender was not particularly introspective: "I confess that even though since childhood I had paid a price for being a woman, in terms of education and personal freedom, I had not given much thought to specific ways in which women in general were more oppressed than men." By her own account, she was a strong supporter of the rights of women to basic life necessities such as “food, education, and health” and was not a radical reformist. She cited “chronic apathy” from many governments as the underlying issue that prevented women’s rights reforms from being implemented around the world. In 1934, Princess Ashraf and her sister, Princess Shams, were two of the first Iranian women to discard the veil typically worn by the women of their home country.
Despite her involvement in 1975’s International Women’s Year, Pahlavi’s women’s rights stances were called into question after the publication of her 1976 New York Times Op-Ed piece, “And Thus Passeth International Women’s Year.” In a March 1976 article in The Nation, writer Kay Boyle criticized Ashraf for her touting of International Women’s Year as succeeding in widening the global vision of sisterhood, while approximately 4,000 of the Princess’s own “sisters” were political prisoners in Iran with virtually no hope of a military trial.
In her 1980 memoirs, Pahlavi acknowledges the poor condition of women in her home country and expresses concern, as she writes, “…the news of what was happening to Iran’s women was extremely painful…[they] were segregated and relegated to second-class status…many were imprisoned or exiled.”
Additionally, Pahlavi worked as an activist for human rights and equality, working not only for women’s rights. She was an advocate for the international spread of literacy, especially in Iran, where her brother Mohammad Reza Shah was a major proponent of the anti-illiteracy movement. She served as a member of the International Consultative Liaison Committee for Literacy.
In 1967, Pahlavi worked with the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
as the Iranian delegate to the Commission on Human Rights as well as to the Economic and Social Council.
Ashraf was the target of a mysterious and unsuccessful assassination attempt in the summer of 1976 at her summer home on the French Riviera
French Riviera
The Côte d'Azur, pronounced , often known in English as the French Riviera , is the Mediterranean coastline of the southeast corner of France, also including the sovereign state of Monaco...
, during which fourteen bullets were fired into the side of her Rolls Royce
Rolls-Royce (car)
This a list of Rolls-Royce motor cars and includes vehicles produced by:*Rolls-Royce Limited *Rolls-Royce Motors , which was owned by Vickers between 1980 and 1998, and after that by Volkswagen...
. A passenger in her car was killed, but Pahlavi left the scene unharmed.
In the 1979 Iranian Revolution
Iranian Revolution
The Iranian Revolution refers to events involving the overthrow of Iran's monarchy under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and its replacement with an Islamic republic under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the...
, the Pahlavi dynasty came to an end when the monarchy under Ashraf’s brother Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (Mohammad Reza Shah) was overthrown and Ayatollah Khomeini came into power as the leader of the new Islamic Republic of Iran.
Involvement in 1953 coup against Mossadegh
In 1953, Ashraf played an important role in Operation Ajax as she was the one who changed Mohammad Reza Shah's mind in giving the consent to CIA and SISSecret Intelligence Service
The Secret Intelligence Service is responsible for supplying the British Government with foreign intelligence. Alongside the internal Security Service , the Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence Intelligence , it operates under the formal direction of the Joint Intelligence...
to start the operation. The Shah had originally opposed the operation and for a while resisted accepting it. In early 1953, she met with CIA agents who asked her to talk to her brother since she was the only one who was able to change his mind. As historian Stephen Kinzer's book All the Shah's Men recounts, "Ashraf was enjoying life in French casinos and nightclubs when one of Roosevelt's best Iranian agents, Asadollah Rashidian, paid her a call. He found her reluctant, so the next day a delegation of American and British agents came to pose the invitation in stronger terms. The leader of the delegation, a senior British operative named Norman Darbyshire, had the foresight to bring a mink coat and a packet of cash. When Ashraf saw these emoluments, Darbyshire later recalled, "her eyes lit up" and her resistance crumbled." By her own account, Pahlavi was offered a blank check if she agreed to return to Iran from her exile in France, but refused the money and returned on her own accord.
Whether or not the allegations are true, some historians argue that the coup would have occurred with or without Ashraf’s influence over her brother: In an International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies article, writer Mark Gasironowski states that the Shah “was not consulted about the decision to undertake the coup, about its manner of execution, or about the candidate chosen to replace Mossadegh” and that the coup was instead largely executed by the United States and others looking to undermine Mossadegh’s leadership.
Character and finance
Ashraf by her own account was “attacked for financial misconduct” because she was engaged “in the administration of various organizations”. By her own account she was of limited financial means when Mossadegh sent her into exile in Paris. However, in later years she was said to have accumulated a large fortune. She attributed her wealth to increases in the value of lands that she had inherited from her father Reza Shah. Nevertheless, it has been purported that part of the story behind the build up of her fortune may have been that during the Iranian industrial boom, which was driven by a surge in oil prices, Ashraf and her son Shahram took 10 percent or more of a new company's stock gratis in return for insuring the delivery of a license to operate, to import, to export, or to deal with the government. Government licenses were said to be given only to a few well-connected companies in each field. As a result, the need to get and keep a license for companies became a cost that had to be met.In 1979, The New York Times reported that a September 17, 1978 document from Ashraf’s office requested a transfer of $708,000 from her Iranian bank account to her account at the Union Bank of Switzerland
Union Bank of Switzerland
Union Bank of Switzerland was a large integrated financial services company located in Switzerland. The bank, which at the time was the second largest bank in Switzerland, merged with Swiss Bank Corporation in 1998, to become UBS to form what was then the largest bank in Europe and the second...
in Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
under the code name ‘Sapia’.
In 1980, Ashraf published an article in the New York Times, in which she came out in defense of her and her family’s financial situation. In the article, she writes that her wealth was not accumulated through “ill-gotten gains” and attributes her fortune to her inherited land, which “drastically increased in value with the development of Iran and the new prosperity that was there for all”. She notes that many other Iranians profited from the sale of their own real estate, but were not accused of financial misconduct because of their close ties to the clergy and Khomeini. She also defends her brother, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, stating that, contrary to the claims made by some Khomeini supporters, the former Shah did not profit from the Pahlavi Foundation. The Princess wrote that she planned to “fight these slanders with all my means and through whatever judicial means are available to me”.
Psychologically, Ashraf had low self esteem when she was younger. She did not like “what she saw in the mirror”. She “wished for someone else’s face,…, fairer skin, and more height”. She always imagined that “there were so few people in this world shorter than I”. Perhaps this motivated her to be bold. In her memoirs she wrote:
Two decades ago French journalists named me “La Panthère Noire’ (The Black Panther), I must admit that I rather like this name, and that in some respect it suits me. Like the panther, my nature is turbulent, rebellious, self-confident. Often, it is only through strenuous effort that I maintain my reserve and my composure in public. But in truth , I sometimes wish I were armed with the panther’s claws so that I might attack the enemies of my country
Her brother, the late Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (Mohammad Reza Shah) was her closest friend. In her memoirs, she remembers looking upon him with a sense of wonder as a child, writing, “long before we reached adulthood, his voice became the dominant one in my life”
Notable positions held
- Honorary President of Red Lion and Sun Organization, 1944
- Chairwoman of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, 1965
- Iranian delegate to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, 1967
- Iranian delegate to the United Nations Economic and Social Council, 1967
- Chairwoman of the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights, 1970
- Member of the Consultative Committee of International Women's Year Conference, 1975
- President of the Women's Organization Of Iran, 1967–1979
- Chairwoman of the Imperial Foundation for Social Services
- Honorary Fellow of the Wadham College of Oxford
- Member of the International Consultative Liaison Committee for Literacy
Marriages and children
Her first marriage (m. March 1937 - div. 1942) was with Mirza 'Ali Muhammed Khan Ghavam, Nasir ud-Daula (b. 1911). Ghavam was the Assistant Military Attaché at Washington DC in 1941 and the eldest son of H.H. Mirza Ibrahim Khan Ghavam, Qavam ul-Mulk. She has one son from her first husband:- H.H. Prince (Vala Gohar) Shahram Pahlavi-Nia (b. 18 April 1940, TehranTehranTehran , sometimes spelled Teheran, is the capital of Iran and Tehran Province. With an estimated population of 8,429,807; it is also Iran's largest urban area and city, one of the largest cities in Western Asia, and is the world's 19th largest city.In the 20th century, Tehran was subject to...
)
Her second marriage (m. 1944, Cairo (nikah) - div. 1959, Tehran (zifaf)) was with (Sahib ul-Izza) Ahmed Chafik Bey (b. 21 September 1911; m. second, Deloris Pianezzola, and died from cancer in 1976, in Tehran). He was the Director-General of Civil Aviation and fourth son of H.E. (Hazrat Sahib ul-Sa'ada) Ahmad Shafiq Pasha, the Minister of the Khedivial Court of Egypt. They had one son and one daughter:
- Captain H.H. Prince (Vala Gohar) Shahriar Mustapha ChafikShahriar ShafiqCaptain Prince Shahryar Shafiq was the son of Princess Ashraf Pahlavi, twin sister of the Shah of Iran, and Ahmad Shafiq.-Family:In 1967, he married Maryam Eghbal, the Christian daughter of Manouchehr Eghbal, who was earlier married to one of his uncles, a half-brother of the Shah. Together they...
(b. 15 March 1945, MaadiMaadiMaadi is a wealthy suburb south of Cairo, Egypt. The town is home to the Supreme Constitutional Court of Egypt, Cairo American College , Lycée Français du Caire , Misr American College , Maadi British International School , the Cairo Rugby Club, and the national Egyptian Geological Museum.-...
, CairoCairoCairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
- k. 7 December 1979, ParisParisParis is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, FranceFranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
). He was assassinated in Paris. - H.H. Princess (Vala Gohari) Azadeh Pahlavi-Chafik (b. 1951 - d. 2011)
Finally, she married thirdly at 5 June 1960 (at at the Iranian Embassy in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
) with Dr. Mehdi Bushehri (b. 1916), who is the Director of the Maison d'Iran at Paris. They do not have children together.
In a 1980 interview with New York Times journalist Judy Klemesrud, Pahlavi stated, “I have never been a good mother. Because of my way of life, I was not with my children very much”. Additionally, while Pahlavi was living in exile in New York, her husband Mehdi Bushehri remained in Paris and the two rarely saw each other.
Books
Ashraf Pahlavi has written two books in English:- Faces in a Mirror: Memoirs from Exile, Published 1980
- Time for Truth, Published 1995
Additionally, she has written one book in French:
- Jamais Resignee, Published 1981
Her three books were published following her 1980 New York Times article “I Will Fight These Slanders”. In accordance with her promise to fight the “slanders” about her and her family, her books are largely concerned with clearing up what she views as misconceptions about the Pahlavi dynasty. She again addresses the questions about her personal financial situation, writing in her most widely read book, her memoir Faces in a Mirror, “I had inherited about $300,000 when my father died (and about 1 million square meters of land near the Caspian Sea, as well as properties in Gorgan and Kermanshah, which would later become extremely valuable)"
In the introduction to Faces in a Mirror, Pahlavi writes that she wants “…very much to explain to Western readers what they have failed to understand about the nature of Iran’s culture and heritage…about the nature of the so-called Islamic revolution…” Generally, her books are viewed as too autobiographical and steeped in emotion to be used as serious historical references. The Library Journal called Pahlavi’s Faces in a Mirror, “little more than a personalized homily on the Pahlavis’ virtues and the perfidy of nearly everyone else in the world”.
Titles, styles and honours
Titles and styles
- Her Highness Princess (Vala Gohari) Ashraf Pahlavi (1919–1925)
- Her Imperial Highness Princess (Shahdokh) Ashraf of Iran (1925–1979)
- Her Imperial Highness Princess Ashraf of Iran (pretenderPretenderA pretender is one who claims entitlement to an unavailable position of honour or rank. Most often it refers to a former monarch, or descendant thereof, whose throne is occupied or claimed by a rival, or has been abolished....
, 1979–present) - Mrs. Ashraf Pahlavi (commoner name, 1979–present)
Honours and awards
- Order of the Red Banner of LabourOrder of the Red Banner of LabourThe Order of the Red Banner of Labour was an order of the Soviet Union for accomplishments in labour and civil service. It is the labour counterpart of the military Order of the Red Banner. A few institutions and factories, being the pride of Soviet Union, also received the order.-History:The Red...
(July 1946, USSR) - Order of Pleiades (Neshaan-e haft peikar), 2nd Class (1957, Iran)
- Order of Aryamehr (Neshān-e Āryāmehr), 2nd Class, (26 September 1967, Iran)
- Honorary doctorate from the Brandeis UniversityBrandeis UniversityBrandeis University is an American private research university with a liberal arts focus. It is located in the southwestern corner of Waltham, Massachusetts, nine miles west of Boston. The University has an enrollment of approximately 3,200 undergraduate and 2,100 graduate students. In 2011, it...
(1969, Waltham, MassachusettsWaltham, MassachusettsWaltham is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, was an early center for the labor movement, and major contributor to the American Industrial Revolution. The original home of the Boston Manufacturing Company, the city was a prototype for 19th century industrial city planning,...
, USA)
External links
On her personal website, one can find biographical information about the Princess and her family, as well as information concerning her humanitarian efforts.
- Foundation for Iranian Studies:
The Foundation for Iranian Studies is a non-profit institution dedicated to educating the public about Iran. Princess Ashraf serves on the Board of Trustees.