First wife of the Shah of Iran has died aged 92



His Imperial Majesty Mohammad Reza Pahlavi Shahanshah Ariyamehr with H.I.H. Princess Fawzia of Egypt, 1st wife of the Shahanshah of Iran.



Princess Fawzia, the first wife of the Shah of Iran and a daughter and sister of Egyptian kings has died aged 92, a member of the Egyptian Royal Family has announced.

Her death was reported on social media by her nephew, King Fuad II, who was Egypt’s King before he was deposed in 1953, when Egypt was deprieved of the Monarchy and declared a republic under the dictatorship of Gamal Abdel Nasser.

“The royal family of Egypt announces to the nation that it is mourning the passing of Her Royal Highness Princess Fawzia Fuad, daughter of His Majesty King Fuad I and sister of His Majesty King Faruk I and aunt of his Majesty King Fuad II and the former Empress of Iran… The funeral procession for Her Royal Highness Princess Fawzia will start after noon prayer on Wednesday.”

Her relatives have said she will be buried in Cairo.

Princess Fawzia became the Queen of Iran after marrying then Crown Prince Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in 1939, they divorced nine years later. She remarried in Egypt in 1949 to Ismail Chirine, an Egyptian army officer.

Princess Fawzia of Egypt and Colonel Ismail H. Chirine.

Fellow blogger Theodore Harvey found the right words:

As Egypt undergoes yet more turmoil with the military ouster of President Morsi today, one more link to an era when Egyptians enjoyed relative stability and liberty is gone. Egypt and Iran are still paying the price for the ouster of her brother & nephew and husband respectively.