Pahlavi dynasty

This article is about the Iranian royal dynasty. For the country under its rule, see Pahlavi Iran.

The Pahlavi dynasty (Persian: دودمان پهلوی) was the last Iranian royal dynasty that ruled for roughly 53 years between 1925 and 1979. The dynasty was founded by Reza Shah Pahlavi, a non-aristocratic Mazanderani soldier^[1] in modern times, who took on the name of the Pahlavi language spoken in the pre-Islamic Sasanian Empire to strengthen his nationalist credentials.^[2][3][4][5]

Pahlavi
Royal house
Arms of dominion of the Shahs, and therefore coat of arms, of Pahlavi Iran from 1932. The emblem of the dynasty is the mountain and sun in the blue circle in the middle.
Country	Imperial State of Iran
Place of origin	Mazandaran
Founded	15 December 1925 (1925-12-15)
Founder	Reza Shah
Current head	Reza Pahlavi
Final ruler	Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
Connected families	Amirsoleimani Family
Motto	مرا داد فرمود و خود داور است Marā dād farmud o Khod dāvar ast (He (Allah or God) named me justice and he himself is the judge)
Deposition	11 February 1979 (1979-02-11) (Iranian revolution)

The dynasty replaced the Qajar dynasty in 1925 after the 1921 coup d'état, beginning on 14 January 1921 when 42-year-old soldier Reza Khan was promoted by British General Edmund Ironside to lead the British-run Persian Cossack Brigade.^[6] About a month later, under British direction, Reza Khan's 3,000–4,000 strong detachment of the Cossack Brigade reached Tehran in what became known as the 1921 Persian coup d'état.^[7][8] The rest of the country was taken by 1923, and by October 1925 the Majlis agreed to depose and formally exile Ahmad Shah Qajar. The Majlis declared Reza Pahlavi as the new Shah of Iran on 12 December 1925, pursuant to the Persian Constitution of 1906.^[9] Initially, Pahlavi had planned to declare the country a republic, as his contemporary Atatürk had done in Turkey, but abandoned the idea in the face of British and clerical opposition.^[10]

The dynasty ruled Iran for 28 years as a form of constitutional monarchy from 1925 until 1953, and following the overthrow of the elected prime minister, for a further 26 years as a more autocratic monarchy until the dynasty was itself overthrown in 1979.

Family background

See also: Pahlavi family tree

In 1878, Reza Khan was born at the village of Alasht in Savadkuh County, Mazandaran Province. His parents were Abbas Ali Khan and Noushafarin Ayromlou.^[11][7] His mother was a Muslim immigrant from Georgia (then part of the Russian Empire),^[12][13] whose family had emigrated to mainland Qajar Iran after Iran was forced to cede all of its territories in the Caucasus following the Russo-Persian Wars several decades prior to Reza Shah's birth.^[14] His father was a Mazandarani, commissioned in the 7th Savadkuh Regiment, and served in the Anglo-Persian War in 1856.

Heads of House of Pahlavi

Name		Portrait	Family relations	Lifespan	Entered office	Left office
Shahs of Iran
1	Reza Shah Pahlavi		Son of Abbas Ali	1878–1944	15 December 1925	16 September 1941 (Abdication)
2	Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi		Son of Reza Shah	1919–1980	16 September 1941	27 July 1980 (Death)
3	Reza Pahlavi		Son of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi	1960–current	27 July 1980	Incumbent

Consorts

Picture	Name	Father	Birth	Marriage	Became Consort	Ceased to be Consort	Death	Spouse
	Turan Amirsoleimani	Prince Isa Khan Majd es-Saltaneh Amirsoleimani	1905	1922	15 December 1925	1923	1994	Reza Shah
	Tadj ol-Molouk	Teymūr Khan Ayromlou	1896	1916	15 December 1925	16 September 1941 husband's abdication	1982	Reza Shah
	Esmat Dowlatshahi	Gholam Ali Mirza Dowlatshahi	1905	1923	1995
	Princess Fawzia of Egypt	Fuad I of Egypt	1921	1939	16 September 1941	17 November 1948 divorced	2013	Mohammad Reza Shah
	Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary	Khalil Esfandiary-Bakhtiary	1932	12 February 1951		15 March 1958 divorced	2001
	Farah Diba	Sohrab Diba	1938	21 December 1959		11 February 1979 husband's deposition	Alive

Heirs

Prince Ali-Reza Pahlavi, the heir presumptive until his death in 1954

The former constitution of Iran specifically provided that only a male who was not descended from Qajar dynasty could become the heir apparent.^[15] This made all half-brothers of Mohammad Reza ineligible to become heirs to the throne.^[15] Until his death in 1954, the Shah's only full brother Ali Reza was his heir presumptive.^[15]

The constitution also required the Shah to be of Iranian descent, meaning that his father and mother are Iranian.^[16]

Line of succession in February 1979

• Reza Shah Pahlavi (1878–1944)
  • Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi (1919–1980)
    • (1) Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi (b. 1960)
    • (2) Prince Ali-Reza Pahlavi (1966)
  • Prince Ali-Reza Pahlavi (1922–1954)
    • (3) Prince Patrick Ali Pahlavi (b. 1947)
      • (4) Prince Davoud Pahlavi (b. 1972)
      • (5) Prince Houd Pahlavi (b. 1973)
      • (6) Prince Mohammad Pahlavi (b. 1976)

Current Line of Succession

• Reza Shah Pahlavi (1878–1944)
  • Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi (1919–1980)
    • (1) Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi (b. 1960)
    • Prince Ali-Reza Pahlavi (1966–2011)
  • Prince Ali-Reza Pahlavi (1922–1954)
    • (2) Prince Patrick Ali Pahlavi (b. 1947)
      • (3) Prince Davoud Pahlavi (b. 1972)
      • (4) Prince Houd Pahlavi (b. 1973)
        • (5) Prince Rafaël Pahlavi (b. 2006)
      • (6) Prince Mohammad Pahlavi (b. 1976)

List of crown princes

Name		Portrait	Relationship to monarch	Became heir	Ceased to be heir; reason
Office vacant from 15 December 1925 to 24 April 1926
1	Mohammad Reza Pahlavi		Eldest son	25 April 1926[17]	16 September 1941 (Became king)
Office vacant from 16 September 1941 to 26 October 1967
2	Reza Pahlavi II		Eldest son	1 November 1960 (Proclaimed)[17] 26 October 1967 (Designated)[17]	11 February 1979 (Father deposed)

Royal jewels

Main articles: Pahlavi Crown, Empress Crown, and Iranian Crown Jewels

Monuments

Main articles: Mausoleum of Reza Shah and Shahyad Tower

Use of titles

• Shâh: Emperor, followed by Shâhanshâh of Iran, with style His Imperial Majesty
• Shahbânu: Shahbânu or Empress, followed by first name, followed by "of Iran", with style Her Imperial Majesty
• Valiahd: Crown Prince of Iran, with style His Imperial Highness
• Younger sons: Prince (Shâhpūr, or King's Son), followed by first name and surname (Pahlavi), and style His Imperial Highness.
• Daughters: Princess (Shâhdokht, or King's Daughter), followed by first name and surname (Pahlavi), and style Her Imperial Highness.
• Children of the monarch's daughter/s use another version of Prince (Vâlâ Gohar, "of superior essence") or Princess (Vâlâ Gohari), which indicate descent in the second generation through the female line, and use the styles His Highness or Her Highness. This is then followed by first name and father's surname, whether he was royal or a commoner. However, the children by the last Shah's sister Fatemeh, who married an American businessman as her first husband, are surnamed Pahlavi Hillyer and do not use any titles.

See also

• Iran portal
• Monarchy portal
• Modern history portal

• List of Shia dynasties
• List of Muslim states and dynasties
• Imperial Standards of Iran
• Monarchism in Iran

References

1. Aghaie, Kamran Scot (1 December 2011). The Martyrs of Karbala: Shi'i Symbols and Rituals in Modern Iran. University of Washington Press. ISBN 978-0-295-80078-3.
2. کوروش, نوروز مرادی; نوری, مصطفی (1388). "سندی نویافته از نیای رضاشاه" (PDF). پیام بهارستان. د۲،س ۱،ش۴.
3. معتضد, خسرو (1387). تاج های زنانه (چاپ اول ed.). تهران: نشر البرز. pp. 46 47 48 49 50 51 جلد اول. ISBN 9789644425974.
4. نیازمند, رضا (1387). رضاشاه از تولد تا سلطنت (چاپ ششم ed.). تهران: حکایت قلم نوین. pp. 15 16 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 39 40 43 44 45. ISBN 9645925460.
5. زیباکلام, صادق (1398). رضاشاه (اول ed.). تهران: روزنه،لندن:اچ انداس. pp. 61, 62. ISBN 9781780837628.
6. Cyrus Ghani; Sīrūs Ghanī (6 January 2001). Iran and the Rise of the Reza Shah: From Qajar Collapse to Pahlavi Power. I.B.Tauris. pp. 147–. ISBN 978-1-86064-629-4.
7. Zirinsky, Michael P. (1992). "Imperial power and dictatorship: Britain and the rise of Reza Shah, 1921-1926". International Journal of Middle East Studies. 24 (4): 639–663. doi:10.1017/s0020743800022388. S2CID 159878744. Retrieved 2 November 2012.
8. Brysac, Shareen Blair. "A Very British Coup: How Reza Shah Won and Lost His Throne." World Policy Journal 24, no. 2 (2007): 90–103. Accessed 8 August 2021. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40210096
9. "Mashallah Ajudani". Ajoudani. Archived from the original on 22 October 2018. Retrieved 17 January 2013.
10. Curtis, Glenn E.; Hooglund, Eric. Iran: A Country Study: A Country Study. Government Printing Office. p. 27. ISBN 978-0-8444-1187-3.
11. Gholam Reza Afkhami (27 October 2008). The Life and Times of the Shah. University of California Press. p. 4. ISBN 978-0-520-25328-5. Retrieved 2 November 2012.
12. Afkhami, Gholam Reza (2009). The Life and Times of the Shah. University of California Press. p. 4. (..) His mother, who was of Georgian origin, died not long after, leaving Reza in her brother's care in Tehran. (...).
13. GholamAli Haddad Adel; et al. (2012). The Pahlavi Dynasty: An Entry from Encyclopaedia of the World of Islam. EWI Press. p. 3. (...) His mother, Nush Afarin, was a Georgian Muslim immigrant (...).
14. Homa Katouzian. "State and Society in Iran: The Eclipse of the Qajars and the Emergence of the Pahlavis" I.B.Tauris, 2006. ISBN 978-1845112721 p 269
15. Dareini, Ali Akbar (1999). The rise and fall of the Pahlavi dynasty. Motilal Banarsidass Publ. p. 446. ISBN 81-208-1642-0. 2. The Shah gives another account for his separation with Fawzia. "For reasons still obscure to medical science, Queen Fawzia bore only one child; thus unfortunately no male heir issued from our marriage. Under the Persian Constitution the crown must pass by direct line of descent to a male heir. This rules out not only my daughter but also my three sisters. The Constitution further stipulates that no one descended from the previous Qajar dynasty is eligible to become king. Since two of my father's wives were of Qajar blood, my half-brothers who are their sons are ineligible. In fact I had only one brother not related to the Qajar line, and to my sorrow he was to die in an aeroplane crash in 1954. With these limitations it is no wonder that my advisors felt it important for my wife to bear a son. It is true that the Constitution might have been amended, but the dimate of opinion seemed opposed to tampering with the provisions relating to the royal succession. Besides, I was young and, quite apart from the constitutional factor, I wanted more children. When Queen Fawzia went to Egypt on an extended stay, we decided on a divorce." Please see Mission for My Country His Imperial Majesty Mohammad Reza Shah Pahiavi, Hutchinson and Co. (Publishers) Ltd., London, 1961–1968; pp. 219–220
16. Hoyt, Edwin Palmer (1976). The Shah: The Glittering Story of Iran and Its People. P. S. Eriksson. p. 49. ISBN 9780839777533.
17. Curtis, Glenn; Hooglund, Eric (April 2008). Iran, a country study. Washington, D.C., US: Library of Congress. p. 186. ISBN 978-0-8444-1187-3.

External links

• Media related to Pahlavi dynasty at Wikimedia Commons

— Royal house — House of Pahlavī Founding year: 1925 Deposition: 1979
Preceded by House of Qâjâr	Ruling house of Iran 15 December 1925 – 11 February 1979	Vacant Monarchy abolished Republic declared