Queen Soraya of Iran; née Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiari

She was the second wife and Queen Consort of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the late Shah of Iran.

Though her husband's title, Shahanshah (King of Kings), is the equivalent of Emperor, it was not until 1967 that a complementary feminine title, Shahbanu or Shahbanou, was created to designate the wife of a Shah. Until then, wives of Shahs, including Soraya, bore the title Malake, though in the popular press they frequently and incorrectly were called Empress.

Born in Isfahan, Iran, Soraya Esfandiary was the eldest child and only daughter of Khalil Esfandiary—a noble of the Bakhtiari tribe of southern Iran who was the Iranian ambassador to West Germany in the 1950s—and his Russian-born German wife, Eva Karl. She had one sibling, a younger brother, Bijan.

Her family had long been involved in the Iranian government and diplomatic corps. An uncle, Sardar Assad, was a leader in the Iranian constitutional movement of the early 20th century.

Titles

   * Miss Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiari (1932–1951)

* Her Majesty (HM) The Queen of Iran (1951–1956)
* Her Imperial Highness (HIH) Princess Soraya of Iran (1956–2001)
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, which was translated into English as Palace of Solitude (London: Quartet Books Ltd, 1992); ISBN 0-7043-7020-4.

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soraya_Esfandiary

Temast (fotoga) - https://www.ohtuleht.ee/naine/1087300/kuninglik-ja-traagiline-parnu...

She was the second wife and Queen Consort of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the late Shah of Iran.

Though her husband's title, Shahanshah (King of Kings), is the equivalent of Emperor, it was not until 1967 that a complementary feminine title, Shahbanu or Shahbanou, was created to designate the wife of a Shah. Until then, wives of Shahs, including Soraya, bore the title Malake, though in the popular press they frequently and incorrectly were called Empress.

Born in Isfahan, Iran, Soraya Esfandiary was the eldest child and only daughter of Khalil Esfandiary—a noble of the Bakhtiari tribe of southern Iran who was the Iranian ambassador to West Germany in the 1950s—and his Russian-born German wife, Eva Karl. She had one sibling, a younger brother, Bijan.

Her family had long been involved in the Iranian government and diplomatic corps. An uncle, Sardar Assad, was a leader in the Iranian constitutional movement of the early 20th century.

Titles

   * Miss Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiari (1932–1951)

* Her Majesty (HM) The Queen of Iran (1951–1956)
* Her Imperial Highness (HIH) Princess Soraya of Iran (1956–2001)
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, which was translated into English as Palace of Solitude (London: Quartet Books Ltd, 1992); ISBN 0-7043-7020-4.

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soraya_Esfandiary

Temast (fotoga) - https://www.ohtuleht.ee/naine/1087300/kuninglik-ja-traagiline-parnu...