Diventato Scià dell’Iran a poco più di vent’anni, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi ha già un primo matrimonio alle spalle quando, il #12febbraio 1951, sposa la diciannovenne Soraya Esfandiari Bakhtiari, bella e blasonata, appartenente ad una delle più importanti famiglie dell’aristocrazia del paese. Una favola triste che Paolo Mieli racconta insieme al professor Franco Cardini oggi #12febbraio a #PassatoePresente alle 13:15 su Rai3 e alle 20.30 su #RaiStoria. | Rai Storia

Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran, was married three times. His first wife was Princess Fawzia of Egypt, a member of the Egyptian royal family. Their marriage strengthened diplomatic ties between Iran and Egypt but eventually ended in divorce. They had one daughter, Princess Shahnaz Pahlavi. His second wife was Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary, admired for her beauty and elegance. Their marriage ended in sorrow when it became clear that she was unable to have children. His third wife

Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary married the Shah of Iran at 19 and became the world’s most glamorous empress. TIME called her beauty legendary; Paris and Rome adored her. But when doctors revealed she could not bear children, her crown became a cage. In 1958, she was exiled—losing her husband, her title, and her homeland. She lived decades in elegance and solitude, a queen without a throne. The dynasty she sacrificed everything for collapsed anyway. Soraya’s story reminds us: a woman’s worth is neve