Ali Reza Pahlavi (born 1922)

This article is about the son of Reza Shah. For his nephew of the same name, see Ali Reza Pahlavi (born 1966).

Ali Reza Pahlavi (Persian: علیرضا پهلوی; 1 March 1922 – 17 October 1954) was the second son of Reza Shah Pahlavi, Shah of Iran, and the brother of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. He was a member of the Pahlavi dynasty.^[1]

Ali Reza Pahlavi
Born	(1922-03-01)1 March 1922 Tehran, Sublime State of Iran
Died	17 October 1954(1954-10-17) (aged 32) Alborz, Imperial State of Iran
Burial	Mausoleum of Reza Shah
Spouse	Christiane Cholewski ​ ​ (m. 1946; div. 1948)​
Issue	Patrick Ali Pahlavi
House	Pahlavi
Father	Reza Shah
Mother	Tadj ol-Molouk

Education and marriage

He joined the French Army in the year 1944 and served there until 1947, then returned to Iran. During his service in France, Ali Reza married a French-Polish descent widow named Christiane Cholesky (or Chouleski). She was the daughter of André-Louis Cholesky, a French mathematician and the author of Cholesky decomposition. She had received the first prize for the most beautiful leg in Deauville from Marlene Dietrich.^[2] Ali Reza accepted Christiane's four-year-old son, Christian Pahlavi, as his adopted son and gave him his surname. Ali Reza also became the father of a boy named Ali Patrick Pahlavi through Christiane, but the Iranian court did not recognize this marriage, so the couple lived in Paris.

Displeased with his brothers' passive stance towards the events in Mohammad Mossadegh's government, Ali Reza founded the "Shah's Fedayeen". Unlike his brothers, he actively supported the Shah's regime and was ready to take effective action against Mossadegh's government. He played a key role in organizing the events of 28 February 1953, by calling for and mobilizing thugs such as Tayeb Haj Rezai, Hossein Esmaeili Pour (Ramazan Yekie), and Shaban Jafari. All those who mobilized to demonstrate against Mossadegh and in support of the Shah on 28 Mordad also played similar roles. ^[3]

On 21 November 1953, Ali Reza Pahlavi was appointed as the head of the Army Sports Association.^[4]

Death

Ali Reza died on 17 October 1954 in a plane crash in the Alborz Mountains.^[5][6]

Honours

National honours

• Knight Grand Cordon of the Order of Pahlavi^{[citation needed]}
• Order of Military Merit, First Class (1937)^{[citation needed]}
• Order of Military Merit, Second Class (1937)^{[citation needed]}
• Order of Glory, First Class (1937)^{[citation needed]}

Foreign honours

• Knight Grand Cordon of the Supreme Order of the Renaissance (28 February 1949)^{[citation needed]}
• Member First Class of the Order of the Supreme Sun^{[citation needed]}