Hamid Reza Pahlavi

Hamid Reza Pahlavi
Born4 July 1932
Tehran, Imperial State of Persia
(present-day Iran)
Died12 July 1992(1992-07-12) (aged 60)
Tehran, Iran
Burial
Behesht-e Zahra
Spouse
Minou Dowlatshahi
​
​
(m. 1951, divorced)​

Homa Khameneh
​
​
(m. 1959, divorced)​

Houri Khameneh
​
(m. 1974)​
IssueNiloufar Pahlavi
Behzad Pahlavi
Nazak Pahlavi
Ja'afar Pahlavi
HousePahlavi
FatherReza Shah
MotherEsmat Dowlatshahi

Hamid Reza Pahlavi (Persian: حمیدرضا پهلوی; 4 July 1932 – 12 July 1992) was Reza Shah's eleventh and last born child, and a half-brother of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last shah of Iran.

Early life and education

Hamid Reza Pahlavi was born on 4 July 1932. He was the youngest son of Reza Shah and his fourth and favourite wife, Esmat Dowlatshahi.[1][2][3] His parents married in 1923.[1][4] His mother was a member of the Qajar dynasty.[5] Of both his parents he had four siblings: Abdul Reza Pahlavi, Ahmad Reza Pahlavi, Mahmoud Reza Pahlavi and Fatemeh Pahlavi.[6] They lived in the Marble Palace in Tehran with their parents.[2]

He studied in the United States and in Tehran.[7] While attending high school in Washington, D.C., (the Honeywell Foundation) in September 1947, he skipped school to take a train to Hollywood, California, to visit his brother, Mahmoud, who was studying at UCLA.[7] He stated that he did so because his high school did not have girl students and he was homesick.[7] He had acted similarly three months previously, leaving his high school in Newport, Rhode Island, to travel to Paris and Provincetown.[7]

Personal life

Hamid Reza married three times and had four children.[8] He first married Minou Dowlatshahi in Tehran in March 1951.[8] Of this marriage he got a daughter: Niloufar Pahlavi (born 1953). In 1959 he married Homa Khameneh, by whom he had two children: Behzad Pahlavi (1957–1983) and Nazak Pahlavi (12 February 1958 – 27 December 1987).[9] In 1974 Hamid Reza married Houri Khameneh, by whom he had one child: Ja'afar Pahlavi (born 1975).

One of his sons, Behzad, lived in the United Kingdom for a while, but he was brought by Shah Mohammad Reza to Iran and attended the military school in Tehran.[10]

Due to his scandalous lifestyle, Hamid Reza's title of prince was removed and the Shah banned him from the court.[10] In the 1960s he became known as a leading figure in opium trafficking business.[11]

Later years and death

Pahlavi's grave in Behesht-e Zahra

After the Iranian Revolution that overthrew Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Hamid Reza stayed in Iran and changed his name to FaFar Islami.[10] However, he was arrested as a vagrant in 1986.[9][12] He received a sentence of ten years in Evin prison on drug charges.[12] In an interview held in prison in 1989, Pahlavi however stated that he was sentenced for his family connections.[12] He also said that he was not treated badly in prison and "things could be worse".[12] Inmates in his prison cell included a former general and senior officials of the Shah's regime.[12] In July 1992, while serving his sentence, he died of a heart attack.[13]

References

  1. ^ a b "Reza Shah Pahlavi". Iran Chamber Society. Retrieved 16 July 2013.
  2. ^ a b Diana Childress (2011). Equal Rights Is Our Minimum Demand: The Women's Rights Movement in Iran 2005. Twenty-First Century Books. p. 40. ISBN 978-0-7613-7273-8.
  3. ^ Gholamali Haddad Adel; Mohammad Jafar Elmi; Hassan Taromi Rad, eds. (1 October 2012). Pahlavi Dynasty: An Entry from Encyclopaedia of the World of Islam. MIU Press. p. 144. ISBN 978-1-908433-01-5.
  4. ^ Gholam Reza Afkhami (13 December 2008). The Life and Times of the Shah. University of California Press. p. 605. ISBN 978-0-520-94216-5.
  5. ^ Afkhami, Gholam Reza (12 January 2009). The Life and Times of the Shah. University of California Press. p. 605. ISBN 978-0-520-94216-5.
  6. ^ Edgar Burke Inlow (1 January 1979). Shahanshah: The Study of Monarchy of Iran. Motilal Banarsidass. p. 91. ISBN 978-81-208-2292-4.
  7. ^ a b c d "Hamid flies coop again. School without girls fails to charm Iranian Prince." The Philadelphia Inquirer, 18 September 1947
  8. ^ a b "Dowlatshahi family". Qajar Pages. Retrieved 19 July 2013.
  9. ^ a b "Nazak". Argentic. Retrieved 16 July 2013.
  10. ^ a b c Asadollah Alam (1991). The Shah and I. London and New York: IB Tauris. p. 245. ISBN 1-85043-340-2.
  11. ^ Maziyar Ghiabi (June 2019). Drugs Politics: Managing Disorder in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/9781108567084. ISBN 978-1108475457.
  12. ^ a b c d e "Late Shah's brother interviewed in prison". The Indiana Gazette. 2 August 1989. Retrieved 19 July 2013.
  13. ^ "Hamid Reza Pahlavi". Orlando Sentinel. 15 July 1992. Retrieved 16 July 2013.