|
|
|
|
|
Fawzia Of Egyptright Her Royal Highness Princess Fawzia bint Fuad of Egypt (b. November 5, 1921) is a Princess of Egypt and a former Empress of Iran. Princess Fawzia is a daughter of King Fuad I of Egypt and Queen Nazli Sabri. She married Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran. Princess Fawzia is a sister of the late King Farouk I of Egypt, who abdicated in 1952. Princess Fawzia was born at Ras al-Tine Palace in Alexandria, Egypt. Her nickname has been Wuzzy. For many years Princess Fawzia was celebrated as one of the most noted beauties of her times. Princess Fawzia married His Imperial Majesty Mohamed Reza Shah Pahlavi of Iran (1919 -1980) on March 16, 1939 in a magnificent ceremony in Cairo. She later obtained a divorce, on November 17, 1948 from the Shah of Iran. The Imperial couple had one daughter, Princess Shahnaz (born October 27, 1940; married 1st, Ardeshir Zahedi, one time Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs, twice Ambassador to the United States, and to the United Kingdom; married 2nd, Khosrow Djahanbani Qajar). Her marriage to the Shah of Iran was reportedly unhappy, as she produced no male heir to the Peacock Throne. They were divorced in 1948 whereupon Fawzia returned to Egypt. (The empress had obtained a secret Egyptian divorce in 1945, which was deemed not legal in Iran.) Her daughter Shahnaz remained with her father in Iran, notably rejecting the Hashemite King Faisal II's offer of marriage, a year before his assassination and the abolition of the Iraqi monarchy. Although Fawzia never returned to Iran after her divorce, she sent flowers of condolence, to his funeral in Cairo, upon learning of the Shah's death in 1980. On March 28, 1949 in Cairo, Princess Fawzia married Colonel Ismail Husain Shirin Bey, (1919-1994), a distant cousin and onetime Minister of War (for 24 h), with whom she had two more children. Her half-sister Princess Fawkia's son Ahmad Fakhri Bey was married to Gloria Rubio y Alatorre (1912-1980), better known as Gloria Guinness, one of the great beauties of the 1960s who was one of the "swans" beloved by Truman Capote. Princess Fawzia is presently the senior member of the deposed Egyptian Royal Family residing in Egypt, her nephew, King Fuad II, son of her late brother King Farouk I of Egypt resides in exile, in Switzerland. Sadly her death was mistakenly reported in January 2005; journalists had confused her with her niece Princess Fazia (Fevziye), daughter of former King Farouk.
|
 |
|
| Copyright 2005-2009 OnPedia.com. All Rights Reserved |
|
|