Mah Taj Tabatabai-Diba Monavar Saltaneh

Written by Kamran Diba

Mrs Taj Tabatabai-Diba (Taj henceforth) whose title was Monavar Saltaneh was the daughter of Mahmoud Tabatabaï Diba titled Ala al-Molk who was one of the dignitaries at the court of king Mozzafar-al-Din Shah Qajar. He held many high positions, amongst them the governorship of Shiraz, Ambassador to the court of St Petersburg and to the Ottoman Court in Constantinople. As a result of her background and being the daughter of a diplomat, Taj also spoke Turkish and Russian besides Persian (Farsi).

Her first marriage was to her first cousin Mehdi Titled Shoae-Dowleh who was a high-ranking diplomat. Together they had two sons: Sohrab and Bahram. However, this marriage did not last as Shoae-Doleh soon became ill with Tuberculosis. Given that the disease was highly contagious and incurable in those days, Taj's father encouraged her to leave her husband for the sake of her children. Subsequently they divorced.She then married her other cousin Yahya Tibatabaï Diba titled Nazem al-Dowleh who was a high-

ranking politician. In those days inter-marriage within the family was a common occurrence. This was especially so amongst the Diba clan, where family inter-marriage was a mechanism to keep the tremendous family wealth and lands within the confines of the clan. Taj had seven further children through her second marriage. Five sons: Amir-Assadolah, Teymour, Esfandiar, Khosrow, Saadi and Manouchehr and two daughters: Azizeh and Hamideh.

Unusually, despite being a Muslim family and being themselves descendants of the prophet Mohammed, Taj chose to name her children not with traditional Koranic names but with ancient Persian names from the epic stories of the Shah-Nameh. This was very atypical in those days.

Taj's home was run as a very hospitable open house where friends, family and other guests would come to stay. During the communist invasion of Azerbaijan their big house was confiscated by the military and turned into a military school. As a result, Taj moved to Tehran where her husband was appointed as Chief of Staff to the then prime minister. The family resided between their two homes, one in the city and the summer house in Shemran.

In Tehran Taj's household was large and comprised of 23 members of staff many of whom looked after the numerous guests who would be staying. There could be as many as 40 to 50 people staying there at any one time. Indeed, the kitchen would feed some 70 to 80 people a day. As in Tabriz, their home continued to be run as an open house to their many friends and family.

Mrs Taj was very fond of music and she was an accomplished Tar player (an Iranian string instrument). She was often accompanied in her playing by an Iranian lady companion friend and by her own brother (General Mohsen Tabatabaï Diba) at the piano.

Taj died at the age of 56 from a heart attack.