Princess Fawzia become Empress Fawzia !!

Princess Fawzia of Egypt married Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (1919-
1980), the Crown Prince of Iran, in Cairo, on March 16, 1939; after
their honeymoon, the wedding ceremonies were repeated in Tehran.
Two years later, the crown prince succeeded his exiled father and
was to become the last Shah of Iran.



Soon after her husband's
ascent to the throne, Queen Fawzia appeared on the cover of the
September 21, 1942 issue of Life magazine, photographed by Cecil
Beaton, who described her as an "Asian Venus" with "a perfect
heart-shaped face and strangely pale but piercing blue eyes."



The marriage was not a success. After the birth of the couple's only
child, Princess Shahnaz Pahlavi, Queen Fawzia " the title of empress
was not yet used in Iran at that time " obtained an Egyptian divorce
in 1945, whereupon she moved to Cairo. This divorce was not
recognized by Iran, however, and eventually an official divorce was
obtained, in Iran, on November 17, 1948, with Queen Fawzia
reclaiming her previous distinction of Princess of Egypt. A major
condition of the divorce was that her daughter be left behind to be
raised in Iran. Curiously, Queen Fawzia's brother, King Farouk,
divorced his first wife, Queen Farida, the same week.



In the official announcement of the divorce, it was stated that "the
Persian climate had endangered the health of Empress "sic" Fawzia,
and that thus it was agreed that the Egyptian King's sister be
divorced." In another official statement, the Shah said that the
dissolution of the marriage "cannot affect by any means the existing
friendly relations between Egypt and Iran.