Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary

Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary (; 22 June 1932 – 25 October 2001) was the second wife of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and Queen of Iran from 1951 to 1958. Their marriage suffered many pressures, particularly when it became clear that she was infertile. 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 with her brother in Paris until her death.

Early life and education

thumb|left|Soraya in childhood with her mother,

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

She was born in the English Missionary Hospital in Isfahan on 22 June 1932. 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. Soraya was raised in Berlin and Isfahan, and educated in London and Switzerland.

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

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. 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. The bride wore a silver lamé gown studded with pearls and trimmed with marabou stork feathers, designed for the occasion by Christian Dior. 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. 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.

During the confrontation with Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh of the left-wing National Front, Mohammad Reza was often depressed, being in her words "somber and distressed" to the extent he even stopped playing poker with his friends, which had been one of his main passions. On 19 August 1953, Soraya remembered how a glum Mohammad Reza was talking about moving to the United States when he received a telegram announcing that Mosaddegh had been overthrown, leading him to shout with joy.

After the 1953 coup overthrew Mosaddegh, the Shah's spirits picked up. In 1954-55, the Imperial couple paid a lengthy visit to the United States, leaving on 5 December 1954. During her time in Los Angeles, Soraya met her favorite stars who were Grace Kelly, Lauren Bacall, Bob Hope, Esther Williams, and Humphrey Bogart. In London, Mohammad Reza and Soraya had dinner at Buckingham Palace with Queen Elizabeth II; Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh; the Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill and the Foreign Secretary Sir Anthony Eden. The Shah told Soraya that "a Zahedi could not continue the dynasty of the Pahlavis", and that she had to give him a son so the House of Pahlavi could continue. She had sought treatment in Switzerland and France, and in St. Louis with William Masters.

The Shah's domineering mother hated Soraya and was pressuring him to divorce her, telling him it was his duty to father a son to continue the House of Pahlavi. Soraya rejected the offer that she remain queen while the Shah would take a second wife, writing in her memoirs that Mohammad Reza was "fundamentally an Oriental", drawing an unfavorable contrast with the Duke of Windsor "who sacrificed his throne for love", writing that only "Orientals" sacrificed love for their thrones. On 10 March, a council of advisers met with the Shah to discuss the situation of the troubled marriage and the lack of an heir. Four days later, it was announced that the imperial couple would divorce.

In a press statement issued by the Iranian government, it was announced that Soraya had agreed to the divorce while Soraya later claimed she had last heard from her husband on 5 March and she had not been informed beforehand. She later told reporters that her husband had no choice but to divorce her. The British Ambassador to Iran reported "Soraya was the Shah's only true love" and he was "a man at an emotional cross-roads", who was happy to be able to marry again while unable to "bring himself to face it" that he had just divorced Soraya.

Career as actress

thumb|left|Soraya in 1962

After her divorce, Soraya was in a relationship with the Swiss actor Maximilian Schell and one with the German and Swiss industrial heir Gunter Sachs and also lived briefly in Munich. Later Soraya moved to France. She launched a brief career as a film actress, for which she used only her first name. Initially, it was announced that she would portray Catherine the Great in a movie about the Russian empress by Dino De Laurentiis, but that project fell through. Instead, she starred in the 1965 movie I tre volti (The Three Faces) and became the companion of its Italian director, Franco Indovina (1932–1972). She appeared as a character named Soraya in the 1965 movie She.

After Indovina's death in a plane crash and the suicide of two other close friends, Swiss banker Edmond Artar and Vicomte Audoin de Barbot, she spent the remainder of her life in Europe, succumbing to depression, which she outlined in her 1991 memoir, Le Palais des solitudes (The Palace of Loneliness).

Later years in Paris

In 1979, Soraya wrote to Mohammad Reza as he was dying of cancer in Panama, saying she still loved him and wanted to see him one last time. In 1980, it was agreed that Soraya would visit Mohammad Reza in Cairo, but he died before she could make the trip, which led Milani to comment that Mohammad Reza and Soraya were true "star-crossed lovers". Upon learning of her death, her younger brother, Bijan, sadly commented, "After her, I don't have anyone to talk to." Bijan died one week later.

Since her death, several women have come forward claiming to be her illegitimate daughter, reportedly born in 1962. According to the Persian-language weekly Nimrooz none of the claims have been confirmed. The newspaper also published an article in 2001 which suggested, without proof, that Princess Soraya and her brother had been murdered.

Her belongings were sold at auction in Paris in 2002, for more than $8.3 million. A legal dispute over her estate, valued at 4.5 million euros, continued until 2016. The Higher Regional Court of Cologne ultimately awarded the movable portion of the estate—including jewelry and the furnishings of Soraya’s Paris apartment—to three French nonprofit organizations that Soraya had named as heirs in her will in the event that her brother, Bijan Esfandiary Bakhtiary, died without legitimate children. The remainder of the estate went to the sole heir of Soraya’s brother, who had died just a few days after Soraya. A few hours before his death, he had named his chauffeur and private secretary, Hassan F., as his heir in a brief note. This was recognized by the Higher Regional Court of Cologne in 2016.

Memoirs

Princess Soraya wrote two memoirs. The first, published in 1964 and published in the United States by Doubleday, was Princess Soraya: Autobiography of Her Imperial Highness. A decade before her death, she and a collaborator, Louis Valentin, wrote another memoir in French, Le Palais des solitudes (Paris: France Loisirs/Michel Laffon, 1991), which was translated into English as Palace of Solitude (London: Quartet Books Ltd, 1992); .

Legacy

thumb|Bust of Soraya, by [[Renato Signorini]]

Sculptor Renato Signorini created a bust of Soraya in the 1950s.

A French rose grower bred a sunflower in the former queen's honor, which he called "Empress Soraya".

In popular culture

Soraya's divorce from the Shah inspired Belgian writer Françoise Mallet-Joris to write a poem which was adapted into a hit pop song, "Je veux pleurer comme Soraya" ("I Want to Cry Like Soraya"), sung by Marie-Paule Belle, released in 1995. French actress Mathilda May appeared as the Shah's sister, Princess Shams Pahlavi.

The novel Raya, by Mahsa Rahmani Noble, is a work of historical fiction based on the life of Princess Soraya, published by Archway on 31 July 2018.

In 2021 it was announced that a film adaptation was set to begin. Production is by global entertainment company Sister, co-founded by U.K. TV veteran Jane Featherstone together with Elisabeth Murdoch and Stacey Snider, and Iranian-Australian filmmaker Noora Niasari is directing the film. Sister is funding the production, with Kate Fenske producing for Sister. US producers Krasnoff/Foster Entertainment have come on board as co-producers, with Gary Foster and Russ Krasnoff producing for that company. Principal photography was scheduled to take place in 2022.

Filmography

{| class="wikitable sortable"

|+Film and television

! Year

! Title

! Role

! class="unsortable" | Notes

|1953

| Zwischen Glück und Krone

| Herself

| Archive footage

| 1965

| I tre volti

| Herself/Linda /Mrs. Melville

| 1965

| She

| Soraya

|| 1998

| Legenden