Faithful Love - My Life with the Shah of Iran

Author: Farah Diba
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-10-01
Features: "Whenever I think of that January morning in 1979, a sharp pain stabs me. The capital of Tehran had been subjected to barbaric attacks for months, yet the entire city was engulfed in a tense silence, as if our capital had suddenly held its breath. It was on January 16th, and we were about to leave this country." Her story is like a fairy tale. At the age of 21, Farah Diba married the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. In this turbulent autumn of the year, her peaceful life underwent a dramatic transformation: the world media eagerly reported her coronation as the Queen of Iran, and overnight, she became an international celebrity. Although severe divisions had already emerged within the country, during the years before her coronation, she enjoyed a happy marriage, raised four children, and devoted herself to domestic social and cultural endeavors.
Twenty years later, this fairy-tale story turned into a nightmare: protests and riots plunged the country into chaos. To avoid bloodshed, Farah and the Shah decided to leave Iran. Living in exile, the Shah fell seriously ill and was never able to return to his homeland again. They sought refuge in Morocco, the Bahamas, Mexico, and Panama, and at one point, they hid in a hospital in New York for treatment. Eventually, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat agreed to allow them to settle in Egypt. However, after eighteen months, the president himself was assassinated by fundamentalists. At that time, tensions between the United States and the Middle Eastern countries began to expose the inherent flaws in their foundations, making the story of the Shah's later years a tragic episode in the late 20th century.
As the last queen of Iran, Farah Diba finally breaks her silence to tell this heart-wrenching story—one about her love for the Shah and the country he ruled. This book shares her personal perspective on those turbulent times, and most importantly, it provides compelling human testimony from a witness who lived through a tragic domestic struggle in history.