Farah Pahlavi (14 October 1938-) was the Empress consort of Iran from 21 December 1959 to 11 February 1979 as the wife of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
Biography[]
Farah Diba was born in Tehran, Iran on 14 October 1938 to an upper-class family, the daughter of an Iranian army officer of Azerbaijani origin and a mother from a family of Gilaks. Diba was educated in both Iran and France, and she was first presented to Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi at the Iranian embassy in Paris in 1959. They began a courtship in the summer of 1959, and they married on 20 December 1959. She pushed for women's rights and cultural development, influencing her husband's actions, and she helped in establishing the Pahlavi University (now known as Shiraz University). Farah became known for her interest in art, but also for her decadence; she bathed in milk and wore the finest clothes. On 16 January 1979, Farah and her husband were forced to leave the country on a plane during the Iranian Revolution, and Ayatollah Khomeini's Islamists seized power. They moved to Egypt, where the Shah died in 1980; Farah Pahlavi moved to the United States, eventually settling in Potomac, Maryland.
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