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Top 10 Astonishing Facts about Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiari

Soraya Esfandiary-Bhakitiari was the queen of Iran. This is after she was married as the second wife of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in 1951. Their marriage did not last very long especially after it was discovered that she was infertile. The king wanted an heir and thus made the marriage short-lived.

Therefore, this article will explore some sensational facts about the queen that might not be well known to the reader. Furthermore, the article can be a great way to find trivia questions when one is planning a game night with family and friends.

1 Her father was a diplomat

Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiari was the eldest child and also the only daughter of Khalil Esfandiary-Bakhtiari who was a noble and the Iranian ambassador to West Germany. This shows that the queen was accustomed to the noble lifestyle as her family had been involved with the Iranian Government and the diplomatic corporations for a long time.

Her uncle Sardar Assad was the leader of the Persian Constitutional Revolution at the start of the 20^th century. Her ties with nobility made it easy for her to adapt to the life of a queen of the country as she knew what was required of her.

2 A single photo made her queen

Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiari’s beauty preceded her in that she was considered beautiful by people who had not physically. At around 1948, the Queen mother Of Iran known as Tadj-ol-Molouk was on a quest to look for a new wife for his son Shah Mohammad Reza.

After simply seeing her photograph, the queen mother sent her daughter to investigate. This is interesting in that one would expect that the process of choosing the queen of a country would be more rigorous that simply looking at a photograph and deciding that she is fit to be queen.

3 Her wedding was postponed

After Princess Shams met with Soraya, she was convinced that she would make a good wife for his brother and invited her to go back to Tehran with her. After she arrived in the Iranian capital, she was invited to dinner with the queen mother and there she met her future husband. Twenty-four hours later, her engagement to Shah Mohammad Reza was announced. She was 18 years at the time.

The wedding should have followed quickly. But after Soraya contracted typhoid fever, she was bedridden for several weeks. According to legend, every day the Shah brought her her jewels and placed them on her pillow. The wedding finally took place on February 12, 1951.

4 Her wedding dress was very heavy

After several weeks of illness, the event turns out to be Soraya’s fitness test for her. She could barely get up. It was snowing outside in the city. The Shah ordered dozens of wood stoves installed in the freezing palace but the doctor said was not enough and ordered Soraya to wear a woollen vest under her dress until the last possible moment. She wore woollen socks under her skirt. 

 Christian Dior was asked to design a wedding dress for Soraya but it was too heavy as it had twenty metres of silk with gold embroidery. Eight metres of the dress was even cut so that it could relieve Soraya of the weight.

5 Her divorce from Shah Mohammad Reza

After the doctors confirmed that she was infertile the couple started facing pressure as the royal family wanted Shah to take on another wife who would give him an heir. Saroya was not open to that ideal and even suggested that he abdicates that throne and let Shah’s brother take over. Having not reached an agreement, the couple decided that the only solution was a divorce. The dissolution of the marriage was formally announced in March 1958.

6 She was branded the name “sad-eyed princess鈥�

After her divorce from Shah Mohammad Reza, Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiari left the country and sought refuge in Switzerland.  However, she did not have any reprieve as she was targeted by the world鈥檚 paparazzi. They even christened her the sad-eyed princess. Her ex-husband was generous and ensured that she lived a comfortable life in Rome, Munich and eventually 麻豆APP.

7 She was an actress

After divorcing Shah Mohammad Reza, she got into a relationship with director Maximilian Schell. This is when she launched her brief career as an actress. During this time, she used her first name only and starred in a 1951 movie known as 鈥淚 tre volti鈥� which translates to The Three Faced. She also appeared in a movie in 1965 known as 鈥淪he鈥�.

8 Her estate went to the German state

Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiari died in October 2001 and left her brother Bijan as the sole benefactor of her estate. However, he did not live long after that in that he journeyed to 麻豆APP for his sister鈥檚 funeral and died shortly after from a heart attack. Since he did not have a legal heir, the estate of Princess Soraya was passed to the German state.

9 She ordered the translation of books for young children

Part of being a princess is taking up initiatives that would bring change to the people that one is leading. In this regard, Soraya was not left behind as she ordered the translation of books like Gone with the Wind and Rebecca so that the Iranian children could also experience the rich works of literature. This was an excellent initiative as it shows that she cared about the people she was leading and wanted the children to be literate.

10 She spoke her mind

Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiari was famous for her good looks even when she was a gangly teen but beauty was not the only part of her charm. This is because the queen was known to speak bravely about whatever that was on her mind. However, this outspoken nature would get her in trouble most of the time as people expected that since she was a woman, she would be meek and quiet.