Princess Leila Pahlavi: biography

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:47

The life of a princess is not always like a fairy tale. Leyla Pahlavi, the youngest daughter of the last Shah of Iran, knew this firsthand. Due to a coup d'état, Her Highness was forced to leave her native country with her entire family forever. Life in exile was filled with depression, which led to he alth problems and the early death of the princess.

The birth of a princess, her family

Leila Pahlavi was born on March 27, 1970 in a military hospital located in the Iranian capital Tehran (subsequently this institution was named after the princess). She was the youngest daughter of the Persian Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi and his third wife Empress Farah. In addition to Leila, three more children grew up in the family of the ruler of Iran and his wife: daughter Faranhaz, sons Reza Kir and Ali Reza. The girl also had an older half-sister, Shankhaz, born from her father's first marriage to the Egyptian princess Fawzia.

Childhood, exile from the country

Princess Leila spent the first years of her life in luxuryPahlavi. Tehran (Iran) the baby considered the best city in the world. Here she had her own apartment, consisting of 6 rooms. It seemed to the youngest daughter of the Iranian Shah that her whole life would be happy and cloudless, but unexpectedly for her in 1978, the Islamic Revolution broke out in the country, as a result of which in 1979 her father was overthrown from the throne. To escape, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi was forced to flee abroad with his family. A year after his exile, he died in Cairo of lymphoma. After burying her husband, the widowed Empress Farah moved to the United States with her children. Here the family of the last Persian Shah led a quiet but well-to-do life. Leila received her secondary education at the Pine Cobble School in Massachusetts, after which she became a student at the prestigious Brown University in Rhode Island. In her student years, the princess began to get involved in sculpture and even sculpted a bust of her late father out of clay with her own hands.

Modeling career

Having received a higher education in 1992, she was in no hurry to look for a job in the speci alty of Pahlavi Leila. The girl's biography contains information that after graduating from university, she settled in the town of Greenwich, Connecticut, but spent a lot of time in Paris, where her mother had moved by that time, or in London. Being the owner of high growth and attractive appearance, the princess began to engage in the modeling business and became one of the best models of the fashion house Valentino Garavani. Despite a successful career, collaboration with the world famousthe couturier did not bring moral satisfaction to Leila. Uncertainty in her own attractiveness caused her to develop low self-esteem and anorexia on a nervous basis. Leila Pahlavi also suffered from severe depression. At the insistence of her mother, Her Highness was repeatedly treated in clinics in England and America, but she did not succeed in achieving a full recovery.

Life in London

When Leila came to London, she stayed at her favorite Leonard Hotel, always renting the same luxurious room for $675 a night. The hotel staff knew Her Highness well and treated her with respect and sympathy. They called her a friendly, well-mannered and modest girl, with whom there were no problems or conflict situations. According to them, the princess stayed with them in order to unwind, but no one has ever seen her bring any of her friends or acquaintances to her room.

Leyla had a particularly reverent attitude towards the capital of Foggy Albion. London attracted the girl to him with some unknown force, and at one time she seriously thought about buying her own house here and leaving the States forever. The princess was forced to abandon the idea due to the fact that in the event of moving to the UK, her dogs had to endure a six-month quarantine. Not wanting to be separated for such a long period from her four-legged pets, she preferred to stay at a hotel during her stay in London. Leonard.

Leila Pahlavi was a well-to-do girl and could afford any whims. According to rumors, after the expulsion from the country, about 10 billion dollars accumulated in foreign accounts of her father, on which his widow and children subsequently lived. Empress Farah repeatedly and categorically denied such information, calling it complete nonsense. Nevertheless, the wife and children of the last Persian Shah had money and allowed them to lead a comfortable life.

Longing for home country

Despite the we alth and opportunities that it provides to a person, Leila felt immensely lonely and offended by fate. Throughout the long years spent in America and Europe, she constantly yearned for Iran and dreamed of returning to it. However, the path to the region where she was born and where her father ruled was closed to her. In one of the interviews, Her Highness admitted that she often sees dreams in which she is in the palace and is afraid that at any moment they can come for her to arrest and send her to execution.

Private life

The youngest daughter of the last Shah of Persia never became the heroine of secular chronicles. Raised in strict Shia traditions, she carefully guarded her personal life from prying eyes, so nothing is known about her romances with members of the opposite sex. The girl has never been married and had no children.

Death of a Princess

In the early morning of June 10, 2001, 31-year-old Layla was found dead in herfavorite room at London's Leonard Hotel. She was found lying in bed with no signs of a violent death. The room occupied by Her Highness was in perfect order. The cause of the death of the princess was named only after the autopsy of her body. According to experts, the girl died as a result of taking a large dose of sleeping pills. In addition to him, small amounts of cocaine were found in her body. Given that no suicide note was found next to Leila's body, experts suggested that she could have taken a lethal dose of sleeping pills through negligence. However, they did not completely exclude the version of suicide.

Suicide rumors

In Western countries, newspapers were full of headlines about the death of Princess Leila Pahlavi. The news of her untimely death became the subject of intense discussion in the media. Most people were inclined to believe that Her Highness took her own life. In favor of suicide is the fact that at the moment when Leila was found dead, the TV was working in the room she occupied. On the night the princess died, the media announced the results of the presidential elections in Iran, which were won by a large margin by the current head of the country, Mohammad Khatami, who advocates democratic reforms. Most likely, the girl was deeply disappointed with the results of the elections and realized that the Iranians who voted for the republic would hardly ever want to see representatives of the Pahlavi dynasty in their state. For a depressed princess, the realization that she is not needed by herpeople and never be able to return to their native land, could be the last straw. Taking a lethal dose of sleeping pills, she put an end to her life, filled with disappointments and resentments.

Members of the royal family refused to comment on the causes of Leila's death. The official message left by Princess Reza's elder brother Kir Pahlavi stated that Her Highness had passed away as a result of a long illness. The heir to the non-existent Iranian throne chose not to specify what illness the girl suffered from.

Farewell to Layla

The funeral of the youngest daughter of Mohammed Reza Pahlavi took place on June 17, 2001 in Paris. The mother of the deceased, Empress Farah, wanted the princess to be buried in the Passy cemetery near her grandmother. In addition to the closest relatives, the funeral was attended by representatives of the royal house of Bourbon and the nephew of former French President Francois Mitterrand Frederic. The girl's family did not install pompous monuments on her grave. The place of her burial is decorated with a modest inscription: “Princess Leila Pahlavi. 1970-2001”, as well as flowers brought to the cemetery by fans of the Iranian dynasty living in France.

9, 5 years after Leyla's death, her brother Ali Reza voluntarily passed away. Like his sister, he greatly experienced the expulsion from Iran and dreamed of the revival of the monarchy in it. Finally disappointed in reality, the heir to the Iranian throne took his own life in January2011, shooting himself in the head. The deaths of Leyla and Ali Reza were great losses for the Iranian royal family. Today, it includes Empress Dowager Farah, her children Reza Cyrus and Farankhaz, as well as the daughter of the late Persian Shah from his first marriage, Shankhaz.