The neglected daughter of the Shah, the life story of Iranian Princess Shahnaz Pahlavi.

The late last Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, had three marriages in his lifetime. Apart from his second queen, Soraya, who did not bear him any children, his first and third wives gave birth to a total of five children. Today, we will talk about the story of the first child of the Shah, Shahnaz Pahlavi. Shahnaz Pahlavi was born on October 27, 1940, in Tehran, Iran. She was the only child of Mohammad Reza Shah and his first wife, Fawzia, who was an Egyptian princess. Her birth was accompanied by great regret and unease within the Pahlavi family. Years ago, Mohammad Reza Shah’s father, Reza Shah, had heard a prophecy that if the first child born to the royal family was a girl, the king would be killed or exiled. (Obviously, this absurd prophecy eventually came true). Furthermore, before Shahnaz’s birth, everyone in the court anticipated that Shah’s wife would give birth to a male heir, and celebrations had been planned accordingly. However, all the planned festivities were canceled when people learned that the queen had given birth to a baby girl. As a result, one can imagine the magnitude of disappointment within the Pahlavi family regarding Shahnaz’s birth. Nonetheless, Shahnaz’s father still felt some consolation in the birth of his daughter, as evident from the name he chose for her. “Shahnaz“ means “the king’s pride.“