The Pahlavi dynasty () is an Iranian royal dynasty that was the last to rule Iran before the country's monarchy was overthrown in the Iranian Revolution in 1979. It was founded in 1925 by Reza Shah Pahlavi, born Reza Khan, a non-aristocratic Iranian soldier of Mazanderani origin, who took on the name of the Pahlavi scripts of the Middle Persian language from the Sasanian Empire of pre-Islamic Iran. The dynasty largely espoused this form of Iranian nationalism rooted in the pre-Islamic era (notably based on the Achaemenid Empire) during its time in power, especially under its last Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
The dynasty replaced the Qajar dynasty in 1925 after the 1921 coup d'état, beginning on 14 January 1921 when 42-year-old soldier Reza Khan was promoted by British General Edmund Ironside to lead the British-run Persian Cossack Brigade. About a month later, under British direction, Reza Khan's 3,000–4,000 strong detachment of the Cossack Brigade reached Tehran. The rest of the country was taken by 1923, and by October 1925 the Majlis agreed to depose and formally exile Ahmad Shah Qajar. The Majlis declared Reza Pahlavi as the Shah of Iran on 12 December 1925, pursuant to the Persian Constitution of 1906. Initially, Pahlavi had planned to declare the country a republic, as his contemporary Mustafa Kemal Atatürk had done in Turkey, but he abandoned the idea in the face of British and clerical opposition.
The dynasty ruled Iran as an autocratic monarchy, with a pluralistic period from 1941 to 1953, when Mohammed Mossadegh was overthrown, returning to authoritarianism, with a brief one party state period until the dynasty was removed from power in 1979.
Family background
In 1878, Reza Khan was born at the village of Alasht in Savadkuh County, Mazandaran Province. His parents were Abbas Ali Khan and Noushafarin Ayromlou. His mother was a Muslim immigrant from Georgia (then part of the Russian Empire) whose family had emigrated to mainland Qajar Iran after Iran was forced to cede all of its territories in the Caucasus following the Russo-Persian Wars several decades prior to Reza's birth. His father was a Mazandarani, commissioned in the 7th Savadkuh Regiment, and served in the Anglo-Persian War in 1856.
Pahlavi monarchs, regents, and heads of the house
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
!Number!! Picture
!Name!!Title!! Family relations !! Lifespan !! Reigned from/<wbr/>Assumed title !! Reigned until/<wbr/>Relinquished title !! Reign<br/>duration
|-
! | I
| 80px|Reza Shah
| <br>Reza Pahlavi
| Shah
|—
| 1878–1944<br>(aged )
| 15 December 1925
| 16 September 1941<br><small>(abdicated)</small>
| 15 years
|-
! rowspan="2" | II
| rowspan="2" | 80px|Mohammad Reza Shah
| rowspan="2" | <br>Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
| rowspan="2" | Shah (1941–1967)<br>Shahanshah (1967–1979)
| rowspan="2" | Son of Reza Pahlavi
| rowspan="2" | 1919–1980<br>(aged )
| rowspan="2" | 16 September 1941
| 11 February 1979<br><small>(deposed)</small>
| rowspan="2" | 37 years
|-
| style="background-color: #EBEBEB;" | 27 July 1980<br><small>(died)</small>
|-
! | —
| style="background-color: #EBEBEB;" | 80px
| style="background-color: #EBEBEB;" | <br>Farah Pahlavi<br>()
| style="background-color: #EBEBEB;" | Regent
| style="background-color: #EBEBEB;" | Third wife and widow of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
| style="background-color: #EBEBEB;" | 1938–current<br>(age )
| style="background-color: #EBEBEB;" | 27 July 1980<br>
| style="background-color: #EBEBEB;" | 31 October 1980<br><small>(regency expired)</small>
| —
|-
! | III
| style="background-color: #EBEBEB;" | 80px|Reza Pahlavi, Crown Prince of Iran
| style="background-color: #EBEBEB;" | <br>Reza Pahlavi
| style="background-color: #EBEBEB;" | Head of the House of Pahlavi
| style="background-color: #EBEBEB;" | Son of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and Farah Pahlavi
| style="background-color: #EBEBEB;" | 1960–current<br>(age )
| style="background-color: #EBEBEB;" | 31 October 1980<br>
| style="background-color: #EBEBEB;" | Incumbent
| —
|-
| colspan=2 | 80px || colspan=3 | Pahlavi dynasty
|| 1878–current<br>(aged )
|| 15 December 1925
|| 11 February 1979
|| 53 years
|}
Reign of Pahlavi monarchs and tenure of later pretenders; and their lifespan
Source:
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Consorts
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
!Number
! Picture
! Name
! Father
! Lifespan
! Marriage
! Became consort
! Ceased to be consort
! Spouse
|-
!I
| 80px
| Tadj ol-Molouk
| Teymūr Khan Ayromlou
| 1896–1982
| 1916
| rowspan=2|15 December 1925
| rowspan=2|16 September 1941<br/>(husband abdicated)
| rowspan="2" |Reza Pahlavi
|-
!II
| 80px
| Esmat Dowlatshahi
| Gholam Ali Mirza Dowlatshahi
| 1905–1995
| 1923
|-
!III
|80px
|Princess Fawzia of Egypt
|Fuad I of Egypt
|1921–2013
|1939
|16 September 1941
|17 November 1948<br/>(divorced)
| rowspan="4" |Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
|-
!IV
|80px
|Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary
|Khalil Esfandiary-Bakhtiary
|1932–2001
| colspan="2" |12 February 1951
|15 March 1958<br/>(divorced)
|-
! rowspan="2" |V
| rowspan="2" |80px
| rowspan="2" |Farah Diba
| rowspan="2" |Sohrab Diba
| rowspan="2" |1938–current
| colspan="2" |21 December 1959<br><small>(as queen consort)</small>
| 11 February 1979<br><small>(husband was deposed)</small>
|-
| colspan="2" |26 October 1967<br><small>(as empress consort)</small>
| style="background-color: #EBEBEB;" |27 July 1980<br><small>(widowed)</small>
|-
| colspan="9" style="background-color: #EBEBEB;" |Office vacant from 27 July 1980 to 12 June 1986
|-
!VI
| style="background-color: #EBEBEB;" |80px
| style="background-color: #EBEBEB;" |Yasmine Etemad-Amini
| style="background-color: #EBEBEB;" |Abdullah Etemad-Amini
| style="background-color: #EBEBEB;" |1968–current
| colspan="2" style="background-color: #EBEBEB;" |12 June 1986
| style="background-color: #EBEBEB;" |Incumbent
| style="background-color: #EBEBEB;" |Reza Pahlavi
|}
alt=|thumb|Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, 1960s
Heirs
thumb|[[Ali Reza Pahlavi (born 1922)|Prince Ali-Reza Pahlavi, the heir presumptive until his death in 1954]]
The <!--Given this constitution was passed when the Qajars were still in power, I imagine this is the result of an ammendment, which one and when was it passed?--> 1906 constitution of Iran specifically provided that only a male who was not descended from the Qajar dynasty could become the heir apparent. This made all half-brothers of Mohammad Reza ineligible to become heirs to the throne.
Line of succession in February 1979
- 15px Reza Shah Pahlavi (1878–1944)
- 15px Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi (1919–1980)
- (1) Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi (b. 1960)
- (2) Prince Ali-Reza Pahlavi (1966-2011)
- Prince Ali-Reza Pahlavi (1922–1954)
- (3) Prince Patrick Ali Pahlavi (b. 1947)
- (4) Prince Davoud Pahlavi (b. 1972)
- (5) Prince Houd Pahlavi (b. 1973)
- (6) Prince Mohammad Pahlavi (b. 1976)
Current line of succession
- 15px Reza Shah Pahlavi (1878–1944)
- 15px Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi (1919–1980)
- Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi (b. 1960)
- Prince Ali-Reza Pahlavi (1966–2011)
- Prince Ali-Reza Pahlavi (1922–1954)
- (1) Prince Patrick Ali Pahlavi (b. 1947)
- (2) Prince Davoud Pahlavi (b. 1972)
- (3) Prince Houd Pahlavi (b. 1973)
- (4) Prince Rafaël Pahlavi (b. 2006)
- (5) Prince Mohammad Pahlavi (b. 1976)
List of crown princes
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
!colspan=2| Name !! Portrait !! Relationship to monarch !! Became heir !! Ceased to be heir; reason
|-
|colspan="6" |Office vacant from 15 December 1925 to 24 April 1926
|-
! | 1
| Mohammad Reza Pahlavi || 80px|Mohammad Reza Shah || Eldest son || 25 April 1926 || 16 September 1941<br>(Became Shah)
|-
|colspan="6" |Office vacant from 16 September 1941 to 26 October 1967
|-
! | 2
| Reza Pahlavi || 80px|Reza Pahlavi, Crown Prince of Iran || Eldest son || 1 November 1960 (proclaimed)