Soraya Esfandiary Bakhtiari
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- See also the Soraya disambiguation page.
She was the only daughter of Khalil Esfandiary Bakhtiari, a notable of the Bakhtiari tribe and Persian ambassador to Germany, and his Russian-born German wife, Eva Klein; she had one brother, Bijan.
At the age of 18, the green-eyed Soraya, an Ava Gardner lookalike, who was introduced to the royal court by Forough Zafar Bakhtiari, married the Shah at Golestan Palace in Tehran on February 12, 1951. She was divorced by him on April 6, 1958, when it became apparent that she could not bear children. A weeping Shah announced their divorce to the Iranian people in a speech that was broadcast on radio and television. The headline-making divorce inspired French songwriter Françoise Mallet-Jorris to write a hit pop song, "Je veux pleurer comme Soraya" (I Want to Cry Like Soraya).
Granted the style and title Her Imperial Highness the Princess Soraya of Iran, she moved to France and launched a brief career as a film actress. She starred in the 1965 movie "Three Faces of a Woman" and became the companion of its Italian director Franco Indovina (1932-1972). After Indovina's death in a plane crash, she spent the remainder of her life unhappily, by her own admission, wandering through Europe, buying antiques and couture, appearing at social events in a desultory fashion, and generally becoming known as a serious depressive.
Princess Soraya died of undisclosed causes at age 69 and is buried in the Westfriedhof, a cemetary in Munich, Germany. In 2002, her tomb was defaced with the words "miserable parasite," followed by the phrase "Didn't work from the ages of 25 to 60." The vandalism made headlines throughout Europe.
Upon learning of her death, her brother, who died one week after Soraya, sadly commented, "After her, I don't have anyone to talk to." Since Soraya's death, several young women have come forward claiming to be her illegitimate daughter, reportedly born in 1962, according to the Persian-language weekly Nimrooz; the claims have not been confirmed.
The former queen's belongings were sold at auction in Paris after her death. Her wedding dress, which was made by Christian Dior, brought $1.2 million.
Princess Soraya wrote two memoirs of her life, one in German (1964) and one in French, both of which were translated into English (Palace of Solitude, 1991; ISBN 0704370204).
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