EGYPTIAN SHAHBANOU: Princess Fawzia and Son-in-Law Ardeshir Zahedi (2004)

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EGYPTIAN SHAHBANOU: Princess Fawzia and Son-in-Law Ardeshir Zahedi (2004)
by Darius Kadivar
05-Feb-2011
 

Most Recent photo of Iran's Former Queen Fawzia Faud, sister of King Farouk of Egypt who was married to Shah Mohamed Reza Pahlavi with whom she had a daughter Princess Shahnaz. Shown here with Ardeshir Zahedi in Montreux Switzerland in 2004. Ardeshir Zahedi was Iran's ambassador to Washington and son of General Zahedi who toppled the government of Mohamad Mossadegh in 1953. He was married to Princess Shahnaz with whom he had a daughter but the couple divorced after a few years.  Princess Fawzia’s death was mistakenly reported in January 2005. Journalists had confused her with her niece, Princess Fawzia Farouk (1940–2005), one of the three daughters of King Farouk.
 
Tribute to the Life and Beauty of the Egyptian Princess Fawzia:
The song : lama bada yatasana, singer : Lena Chamamya

Princess Shahnaz Pahlavi of Iran:
Princess Shahnaz Pahlavi (born October 27, 1940) is the first child of the last Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and his first wife, Fawzia of Egypt. A former Princess of Iran, she was born in Tehran and lives in Switzerland.
Musical Photo Tribute to Princess Fawzia and Shapour Mohamed Reza Pahlavi's wedding:

Bio:
She was born Her Sultanic Highness Princess Fawzia bint Fuad at Ras el-Tin Palace in Alexandria, the eldest daughter of Sultan Fuad I of Egypt and Sudan (later King Fuad I), and his second wife, Nazli Sabri. One of her great-great-grandfathers was Suleiman Pasha, a French army officer who served underNapoleon, converted to Islam, and oversaw an overhaul of the Egyptian army. In addition to her sisters, Faiza, Faika, and Fathiya, and her brother, Farouk, she had two half-siblings from her father's previous marriage to Princess Shivakiar Khanum Effendi.

Princess Fawzia of Egypt and Sudan married Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (1919–1980), the Crown Prince of Iran, in Cairo, on 16 March 1939; after their honeymoon, the wedding ceremonies were repeated in Tehran. Two years later, the crown prince succeeded his exiled father and was to become the Shah of Iran. Soon after her husband’s ascent to the throne, Queen Fawzia appeared on the cover of the 21 September 1942, issue of Life magazine, photographed by Cecil Beaton, who described her as an “Asian Venus” with “a perfect heart-shaped face and strangely pale but piercing blue eyes.”

The marriage was not a success. After the birth of the couple’s only child, Princess Shahnaz Pahlavi, Queen Fawzia—the title of empress was not yet used in Iran at that time—obtained an Egyptian divorce in 1945, whereupon she moved to Cairo. This divorce was not recognized by Iran, however, and eventually an official divorce was obtained, in Iran, on 17 November 1948, with Queen Fawzia reclaiming her previous distinction of Princess of Egypt and Sudan. A major condition of the divorce was that her daughter be left behind to be raised in Iran. Curiously, Queen Fawzia’s brother, King Farouk, divorced his first wife, Queen Farida, the same week.

In the official announcement of the divorce, it was stated that “the Persian climate had endangered the health of Empress [sic] Fawzia, and that thus it was agreed that the Egyptian King’s sister be divorced.” In another official statement, the Shah said that the dissolution of the marriage “cannot affect by any means the existing friendly relations between Egypt and Iran.”

On 28 March 1949, in Cairo, Princess Fawzia married Colonel Ismail Hussain Shirin Bey, (1919–1994), a distant cousin and one-time Egyptian Minister of War and the Navy. The couple had two children: Nadia (born 1950-2009) and Hussain (born 1955).

Related Blog:
PRINCESS OF THE NILE: Fawzia Fuad Princess of Egypt and Queen of Iran

ROYALTY: From Princess of the Nile to Queen of Persia (1938)

SORAYA & SWINGING 60's: Princess Soraya in Antonioni's "Latin Lover"  
  LA PRINCESSE & LA MARQUISE: Princess Soraya and Angélique Marquise des Anges

Soraya James BOND Girl?

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statira

More ?s from DK

by statira on

Princess Shahnaz has a daughter named, Mahnaz. Where is she?

I read that Shahnaz remarried after divorcing from Ardeshir Zahedi. Does she have more childern? How come she does not show up in any of the family gathering?


Jeesh Daram

Darius

by Jeesh Daram on

Great collection of photos. I have a question about Princess Shahnaz whom I really liked back in school days. You don't need to answer if it is not appropriate, but I am wondering if she is doing well and is she involved with any project, such as art, etc. She has always been such a gracious princess.

I decided to limit it to just the first paragraph :)