Fatemeh Pahlavi
Born30 October 1928
Tehran, Imperial State of Persia
Died27 May 1987(1987-05-27) (aged 58)
London, United Kingdom
Spouse
Vincent Lee Hillyer
(m. 1950; div. 1959)
    (m. 1959; died 1975)
    Issue
    List
    • Kayvan Hillyer
      Rana Hillyer
      Dariush Hillyer
      Kambiz Khatami
      Pari Khatami
      Ramin Khatami
    HousePahlavi dynasty
    FatherReza Shah
    MotherEsmat Dowlatshahi

    Fatemeh Pahlavi (Persian: فاطمه پهلوی; 30 October 1928 27 May 1987) was Reza Shah Pahlavi's tenth child and half-sister of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. She was a member of the Pahlavi dynasty.

    Early life and education

    Fatemeh Pahlavi was born in Tehran on 30 October 1928.[1][2] She was the tenth child of Reza Shah and the fourth of his fourth and last wife, Esmat Dowlatshahi.[3][4] Her mother was from the Qajar dynasty and married Reza Shah in 1923.[5] Fatemeh was the Younger full-sister of Abdul Reza Pahlavi, Ahmad Reza Pahlavi and Mahmoud Reza Pahlavi and the older full-sister of Hamid Reza Pahlavi.[6]

    Pahlavi attended Converse College (now Converse University) in Spartanburg, South Carolina.[7] She attended the College with her lady-in waiting, Kokab Moarefi, in the 1947–1948 school year, but did not return any following years or obtain her degree.[7][8][9] However, Moarefi would stay behind, and graduate from Converse in 1950.[9] She and her brothers lived at the Marble Palace in Tehran with their parents.[4]

    Activities

    In her youth

    During the reign of her half-brother, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Fatemeh Pahlavi owned a bowling club and dealt with business, having shares in the firms involved in construction, vegetable oil production and engineering.[10] She also had a fortune of some $500 million during that time.[11] Her fortune came from the "commissions" extracted from military contractors by her second husband, Mohammad Amir Khatami.[11] Pahlavi also involved in activities concerning higher education in Iran[12] and had shares in an Iranian football team, Persepolis F.C.[13]

    Pahlavi took courses from a British pilot to learn to fly a helicopter,[14] becoming the first Iranian woman with a helicopter license.[15] After she completed the first solo flight she gifted her trainer with a watch, Omega Speedmaster, which had been given to the Shah by the Apollo 11 astronauts in 1969 when they visited Iran as part of a tour to celebrate the first Moon landing.[14] In early 2021 the watch was sold for £18,000 at auction.[14]

    Personal life

    Fatemeh Pahlavi married twice. She married Vincent Lee Hillyer (1924 7 July 1999) in a civil ceremony in Civitavecchia, Italy, on 13 April 1950.[3] Hillyer converted to Islam.[3] On 10 May they wed in a religious ceremony at Iran's embassy in Paris.[3][16] Hillyer was a friend of her brother Abdul Reza Pahlavi.[17] Fatemeh and Hillyer met in Iran during the latter's visit to the country. The marriage was not fully endorsed by Shah Mohammad Reza,[18] probably due to negative reactions in Iran.[19] They had three children, two sons, Kayvan and Dariush, and one daughter, Rana, who died in an accidental fall in infancy in 1954.[20] They divorced in September 1959.[21][22]

    After divorcing Hillyer, she married Mohammad Amir Khatami, the commanding general of Iran's air force, on 22 November 1959.[22][23] The shah and his then fiancée Farah Diba attended the wedding ceremony.[22] They had two sons, Kambiz (born 1961) and Ramin (born 1967), and a daughter, Pari (born 1962).[24]

    Later years and death

    Pahlavi left Iran before the Islamic revolution in 1979.[19] During her last years, she was living in London.[25]

    Pahlavi died at her London home on 27 May 1987 because of cancer.[2][26] She was 58 years old and was survived by her four sons.[25][26]

    Honours

    National

    Foreign

    References

    1. "Iranian princess dies at age 58". The Lewiston Journal. 2 June 1987. Retrieved 4 November 2012.
    2. 1 2 "Princess Fatimeh Pahlavi". Associated Press. London. 2 June 1987. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
    3. 1 2 3 4 "Shah of Iran's half-sister dies". Rome News Tribune. 2 June 1987. Retrieved 4 November 2012.
    4. 1 2 Diana Childress (2011). Equal Rights Is Our Minimum Demand: The Women's Rights Movement in Iran 2005. Minneapolis, MN: Twenty-First Century Books. p. 40. ISBN 978-0-7613-7273-8.
    5. Gholam Reza Afkhami (2008). The Life and Times of the Shah. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. p. 605. ISBN 978-0-520-94216-5.
    6. "Reza Shah Pahlavi". Iran Chamber Society. Retrieved 16 July 2013.
    7. 1 2 "Milestones, Apr. 24, 1950". Time. 24 April 1950. ISSN 0040-781X. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
    8. "Y's and Other Y's, 1948. Converse Yearbook 1948". Spartanburg County Public Libraries. pp. 78–79. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
    9. 1 2 Nancy Atkins (12 April 1979). "Shah of Iran's Sister Attended Converse in 1947-1948". Spartanburg Herald. p. 1.
    10. "105 Iranian firms said controlled by royal family". The Leader Post. Tehran. Associated Press. 22 January 1979. Retrieved 4 November 2012.
    11. 1 2 David Harris (2005). "Buying Loyalty in Iran" (PDF). The Long Term View. 6 (3): 88–96. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 October 2013. Retrieved 14 November 2012.
    12. Edgar Burke Inlow (1979). Shahanshah: The Study of Monarchy of Iran. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass. p. 91. ISBN 978-81-208-2292-4.
    13. Houchang Chehabi (Autumn 2002). "A Political History of Football in Iran". Iranian Studies. 35 (4): 387. doi:10.1080/14660970600615328. S2CID 144616657.
    14. 1 2 3 "Watch presented to Shah by Apollo 11 crew sold by Dorset man". BBC. 19 February 2020. Retrieved 2 August 2021.
    15. "Women in the IIAF". iiaf.net. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
    16. "Iran. Part II (1950–1955)" (PDF). Iranian Hotline. Retrieved 16 July 2013.
    17. Ali Akbar Dareini (1999). The Rise and Fall of the Pahlavi Dynasty: Memoirs of Former General Hussein Fardust. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publications. p. 123. ISBN 978-81-208-1642-8.
    18. "Half sister of the late Shah". Orlando Sentinel. 3 June 1987. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
    19. 1 2 Gholamali Haddad Adel; Mohammad Jafar Elmi; Hassan Taromi-Rad, eds. (2012). Pahlavi Dynasty: An Entry from Encyclopaedia of the World of Islam. London: EWI Press Ltd. p. 144. ISBN 978-1-908433-01-5.
    20. "Shah of Iran's half-sister dies". Rome News-Tribune. 2 June 1987. Retrieved 25 July 2013.
    21. "US aided in ouster of Shah". St. Joseph News Press. Associated Press. 9 August 1980. Retrieved 4 November 2012.
    22. 1 2 3 "Shah engaged". Toledo Blade. 23 November 1960. Retrieved 16 July 2013.
    23. Abbas Milani (2008). Eminent Persians: The Men and Women who Made Modern Iran, 1941-1979. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press. p. 457. ISBN 978-0-8156-0907-0.
    24. Ebrahim Hadidi. "Field Martial Mohammad Khatami". Institute for Iranian History. Retrieved 4 November 2012.
    25. 1 2 "Fatemeh Pahlevi Dies at 58, A Half Sister to Shah of Iran". The New York Times. Associated Press. 3 June 1987. Retrieved 4 November 2012.
    26. 1 2 "Births, Marriages, Deaths". The Times. No. 62783. London. 1 June 1987. p. 15. Retrieved 25 April 2023.
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