Fatemeh Pahlavi

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.

Fatemeh Pahlavi
Born30 October 1928
Tehran, Pahlavi Iran
Died27 May 1987(1987-05-27) (aged 58)
London, United Kingdom
Spouse
Vincent Lee Hillyer
​
​
(m. 1948; div. 1959)​
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1960; died 1975)​
    Issue
    List
    • Kayvan Hillyer
      Rana Hillyer
      Dariush Hillyer
      Kambiz Khatami
      Ramin Khatami
      Pari Khatami
    HousePahlavi dynasty
    FatherReza Shah
    MotherEsmat Dowlatshahi

    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 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 full-sister of Abdul Reza Pahlavi, Ahmad Reza Pahlavi, Mahmoud Reza Pahlavi and 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 1979 revolution.[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. "Princess Fatimeh Pahlavi". Associated Press. London. 2 June 1987. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
    3. "Shah of Iran's half-sister dies". Rome News Tribune. 2 June 1987. Retrieved 4 November 2012.
    4. 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. "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. 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. 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. "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. 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. "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. "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. "Births, Marriages, Deaths". The Times. No. 62783. London. 1 June 1987. p. 15. Retrieved 25 April 2023.
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