Princess Ashraf Pahlavi

Princess (Shahdokht) Ashraf ul-Mulk (Persian: اشرف پهلوی "Ashraf Pahlavī") (born October 26, 1919), is the twin sister of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran and the Pahlavi Dynasty. She currently resides Paris, France.

Politics

Princess Ashraf was a strong supporter of women's rights in Iran and the world during her brother's reign. In 1975, she was heavily involved with the International Women's Year, addressing the United Nations.

Involvement in 1953 coup against Mossadegh

In 1953, Ashraf Pahlavi played an important role in Operation Ajax as she was the one who changed Mohammad Reza Shah's mind in giving the consent to CIA and SIS to start the operation. The Shah had originally opposed the operation and for a while resisted accepting it. In early 1953, she met with CIA agents who asked her to talk to her brother since she was the only one who was able to change his mind. Some Iranians view her as a traitor to Iran due to her involvement in the 1953 coup. Others regard her as a patriot for the same reason.

Character and finance

Princess Ashraf by her own account was “attacked for financial misconduct” because she was engaged “in the administration of various organizations”. [Faces in Mirror: Memoirs from Exile, Ashraf Pahlavi, Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, N.J. page 217] By her own account she was of limited financial means when Mossadegh sent her into exile in Paris [ibid, page 125] . However, in later years she was said to have accumulated a large fortune. She attributed her wealth to increases in the value of lands that she had inherited from her father Reza Shah. Nevertheless, it has been purported that part of the story behind the build up of her fortune may have been that during the Iranian industrial boom, which was driven by a surge in oil prices, Ashraf and her son Shahram took 10 percent or more of a new company's stock gratis in return for insuring the delivery of a license to operate, to import, to export, or to deal with the government. Government licenses were said to be given only to a few well-connected companies in each field. As a result, the need to get and keep a license for companies became a cost that had to be met. [Nikki, R keddie& Yann Richard, Roots of Revolution: An Interpretive History, New Haven and London/ Yale University Press, 1981,page 172. See also:Fereydoun Hoveyda, The Fall of the Shah,Wyndham Books, New York,1979. page 144]

Psychologically, Ashraf had low self esteem when she was younger. She did not like “what she saw in the mirror”. She “wished for someone else’s face,…, fairer skin, and more height”. She always imagined that “there were so few people in this world shorter than I”. [Faces in Mirror, ibid, page 153] Perhaps this motivated her to be bold. In her memoirs she wrote:

"Two decades ago French journalists named me “La Panthère Noire’ (The Black Panther), I must admit that I rather like this name, and that in some respect it suits me. Like the panther, my nature is turbulent, rebellious, self-confident. Often, it is only through strenuous effort that I maintain my reserve and my composure in public. But in truth , I sometimes wish I were armed with the panther’s claws so that I might attack the enemies of my country" [ibid. page xv]

Notable positions held

:Honorary President of Red Lion and Sun Organization, 1944:United Nations High Commission for Human Rights, 1970:Member of the Consultative Committee of International Women's Year Conference, 1975:President of the Women's Organization Of Iran, 1967-1979:Chairwoman of the Imperial Foundation for Social Services:Honorary Fellow of the Wadham College of Oxford

Awards and honors

:The Order of the Red Flag of Labour of USSR, July 1946:The Pleiades 2nd Class, 1957:The order of Aryamehr 2nd Class, September 26th, 1967:Honorable Doctorate from Brandeis University, 1970. [زنان پهلوی. احمد پیرانی. نشر به آفرین. ۱۳۸۳. پ۱۷۳]

Marriages

To: Ali Qavam

Children
* Shahram Pahlavi-Nia

To: Ahmad Shafiq

Children
* Prince Shahriar Shafiq - He was assassinated in Paris, France on December 7, 1979.
* Azadeh Shafiq

To: Mehdi Bushehri

Books

Ashraf Pahlavi has written two books:
* Faces in a Mirror: Memoirs from Exile, Published 1980
* Time for Truth, Published 1995

External links

* [http://www.saipa.us/ Ashraf Pahlavi's personal website]

References