Farah Pahlavi (Persian: فرح پهلوی; née Diba [دیبا]; born 14 October 1938) is a member of the Pahlavi dynasty. She is the last queen and empress (شهبانو, Shahbânu) of Iran, and is the third wife and widow of the last shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
She was born into a prosperous Iranian family whose fortunes were diminished after her father's early death. While studying architecture in Paris, she was introduced to the Shah at the Iranian embassy, and they were married in December 1959. The Shah's first two marriages had not produced a son—necessary for royal succession—resulting in great rejoicing at the birth of Crown Prince Reza in October of the following year. As a philanthropist, she advanced the welfare of Iranian civil society through the establishment of charities and founded Iran's Shiraz University, Iran's first American-style university, increasing the number of women students. She also facilitated the recall of Iranian antiquities from museums abroad.
By 1978, growing anti-imperial unrest fueled by growing inequality between rich and poor throughout Iran was showing clear signs of impending revolution, prompting Farah and the Shah to leave the country in January 1979 under the threat of a death sentence. For that reason, most countries were reluctant to harbor them, with Anwar Sadat's Egypt being an exception. Facing execution should he return, and in ill health, Mohammad Reza died in exile in July 1980. Farah led the Pahlavi dynasty as regent until October 1980, when her son, Reza Pahlavi, declared himself Shah of Iran, ending Farah's regency.
Since 1979, she has lived in exile, primarily in the United States and France. She has been a vocal supporter of the Iranian protestors and critic of the Iranian Islamic regime in the wake of the killing of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while in the custody of Iranian hijab police in 2022, the subsequent execution of Iranian protester Mohsen Shekari later that year, and the 2025–2026 Iranian protests.
Farah Diba was born on 14 October 1938 in Tehran, Iran, to an upper-class family. She was the only child of Captain Sohrab Diba (1899–1948), an officer in the Imperial Iranian Armed Forces and a graduate of the French Military Academy of St. Cyr, and his wife Farideh Ghotbi (1920–2000). In her memoir, Farah wrote that her father's family were natives of Iranian Azerbaijan while her mother's family were of Gilak origin, from Lahijan on the Iranian coast of the Caspian Sea.
In the late 19th century, her grandfather had been a diplomat serving as the Persian Ambassador to the Romanov Court in St. Petersburg, Russia. She was moreover a relative of Iranian politician Abolhassan Diba, Iranian architect Kamran Diba, and Iranian-American curator Layla Diba.
Farah wrote in her memoir that she had a close bond with her father, and his unexpected death in 1948 deeply affected her. The young family was in a difficult financial state. In their reduced circumstances, they were forced to move from their large family villa in northern Tehran into a shared apartment with one of Farideh Ghotbi's brothers.
The young Farah Diba began her education at Tehran's Italian School, then moved to the French Jeanne d’Arc School for girls until the age of 16, and later to the Lycée Razi. She was an athlete in her youth, becoming captain of her school's basketball team. Upon finishing her studies at the Lycée Razi, she pursued an interest in architecture at the École Spéciale d'Architecture in Paris, where she was a student of Albert Besson.
Many Iranian students who were studying abroad at this time were dependent on State sponsorship. Therefore, when the Shah, as head of state, made official visits to foreign countries, he frequently met with a selection of local Iranian students. It was during such a meeting, in 1959 at the Iranian Embassy in Paris, that Farah Diba was first presented to Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
After returning to Tehran in the summer of 1959, Mohammad Reza and Farah Diba began their courtship. The couple announced their engagement on 23 November 1959.
Farah Diba married Mohammad Reza Palavi on 20 December 1959, aged 21. The young Queen of Iran (as she was styled at the time) was the object of much curiosity and her wedding received worldwide press attention. Her gown was designed by Yves Saint Laurent, then a designer at the house of Dior, and she wore the newly commissioned Noor-ol-Ain Diamond tiara.
After the pomp and celebrations associated with the imperial wedding, the success of this union depended on the birth of a male heir. Although he had been married twice before, the Shah's previous marriages had given him only a daughter who, under agnatic primogeniture, could not inherit the throne. The pressure for Farah was acute. The shah himself was deeply anxious to have a male heir as were the members of his government. Furthermore, it was known that the dissolution of the Mohammad Reza's previous marriage to Queen Soraya had been due to her infertility.
Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi of Iran (born 31 October 1960). He and his wife Yasmine have three daughters.
Princess Noor Pahlavi (born 3 April 1992)
Princess Iman Pahlavi (born 12 September 1993)
Princess Farah Pahlavi (born 17 January 2004)
Princess Farahnaz Pahlavi of Iran (born 12 March 1963)
Prince Ali Reza Pahlavi of Iran (28 April 1966 – 4 January 2011). He and his companion Raha Didevar had one daughter.