Fatemeh Pahlavi

Fatemeh Pahlavi was born in Tehran, Iran on 30 October 1928.^[1][2] She was the tenth child of Reza Shah, and the fourth of his fourth and last wife, Esmat Dowlatshahi.^[3][4] Her mother was from the Qajar dynasty and married Reza Shah in 1923.^[5] Fatemeh was the younger full-sister of Abdul Reza Pahlavi, Ahmad Reza Pahlavi and Mahmoud Reza Pahlavi, and the older full-sister of Hamid Reza Pahlavi.^[6]

Fatemeh attended Converse College (now Converse University) in Spartanburg, South Carolina.^[7] She attended the college with her lady-in-waiting, Kokab Moarefi, in the 1947–1948 school year, but did not return any following years or obtain her degree.^[7][8][9] However, Moarefi stayed behind and graduated from Converse in 1950.^[9] She and her brothers lived at the Marble Palace in Tehran with their parents.^[4]

During the reign of her half-brother, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Fatemeh Pahlavi owned a bowling club and dealt with business, having shares in the firms involved in construction, vegetable oil production and engineering.^[10] She also had a fortune of some $500 million during that time.^[11] Her fortune came from the "commissions" extracted from military contractors by her second husband, commander of the Imperial Iranian Air Force Mohammad Amir Khatami.^[11] Pahlavi was also involved in activities concerning higher education in Iran^[12] and had shares in an Iranian football team, Persepolis F.C.^[13]

Fatemeh took courses from a British pilot to learn to fly a helicopter,^[14] becoming the first Iranian woman with a helicopter license.^[15] After she completed her first solo flight, she gifted her trainer with a watch, an Omega Speedmaster, which had been given to the Shah by the Apollo 11 astronauts in 1969 when they visited Iran as part of a tour to celebrate the first Moon landing.^[14] In early 2021 the watch was sold for £18,000 at auction.^[14]

Fatemeh Pahlavi married twice. She married American Vincent Lee Hillyer (1924 – 7 July 1999) in a civil ceremony in Civitavecchia, Italy, on 13 April 1950.^[3] Hillyer was a friend of her brother Abdul Reza Pahlavi.^[16] Fatemeh and Hillyer met in Iran during the latter's visit to the country. Hillyer converted from Roman Catholicism to Islam.^[3] On 10 May, they wed in a religious ceremony at Iran's embassy in Paris.^[3][17] The marriage was not fully endorsed by Shah Mohammad Reza,^[18] probably due to negative reactions in Iran.^[19] They had three children, two sons, Kayvan and Dariush, and one daughter, Rana, who died in an accidental fall in infancy in 1954.^[20] They divorced in September 1959.^[21][22]

After divorcing Hillyer, she married Mohammad Amir Khatami, the commanding general of Iran's air force, on 22 November 1959.^[22][23] The shah and his then fiancée Farah Diba attended the wedding ceremony.^[22] They had two sons, Kambiz (born 1961) and Ramin (born 1967), and a daughter, Pari (born 1962).^[24]

Fatemeh left Iran before the Iranian Revolution in 1979.^[19] During her last years, she lived in London.^[25] She died at her London home on 27 May 1987 of cancer.^[2][26] She was 58 years old and was survived by her four sons.^[25][26]

• List of Iranian women royalty