The Pahlavi dynasty (Persian: خاندان پهلوی, romanized: Xândân-e Pahlavi) was an Iranian royal dynasty that was the last to rule Iran before the country's monarchy was overthrown in the Iranian Revolution in 1979. It was founded in 1925 by Reza Shah Pahlavi, born Reza Khan, a non-aristocratic Iranian soldier of Mazanderani origin, who took on the name of the Pahlavi scripts of the Middle Persian language from the Sasanian Empire of pre-Islamic Iran. The dynasty largely espoused a form of Iranian nationalism rooted in the pre-Islamic era (notably based on the Achaemenid Empire) during its time in power, especially under its last Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
The dynasty replaced the Qajar dynasty in 1925 following the 1921 coup d'état, which began on 14 January 1921 when 42-year-old soldier Reza Khan was promoted by British General Edmund Ironside to lead the British-run Persian Cossack Brigade. About a month later, under British direction, Reza Khan's 3,000–4,000 strong detachment of the Cossack Brigade reached Tehran. The rest of the country was taken by 1923, and by October 1925 the Majlis agreed to depose and formally exile Ahmad Shah Qajar. The Majlis declared Reza Pahlavi as the Shah of Iran on 12 December 1925, pursuant to the Persian Constitution of 1906. Initially, Pahlavi had planned to declare the country a republic, as his contemporary Mustafa Kemal Atatürk had done in Turkey, but he abandoned the idea in the face of British and clerical opposition.
The dynasty ruled Iran autocratically, with a more pluralistic period beginning in 1941 and ending in 1953, when Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh was overthrown in a coup d'état instigated by the United States and the United Kingdom. The Shah then consolidated an increasingly autocratic rule, culminating in a brief one party state period which ended shortly before the dynasty was overthrown by the Iranian Revolution of 1979.
Family background
In 1878, Reza Khan was born at the village of Alasht in Savadkuh County, Mazandaran Province. His parents were Abbas Ali Khan and Noushafarin Ayromlou. His mother was a Muslim immigrant from Georgia (then part of the Russian Empire) whose family had emigrated to mainland Qajar Iran after Iran was forced to cede all of its territories in the Caucasus following the Russo-Persian Wars several decades prior to Reza's birth. His father was a Mazandarani, commissioned in the 7th Savadkuh Regiment, and served in the Anglo-Persian War in 1856.
Pahlavi monarchs, regents, and heads of the house
– In pretence
Reign of Pahlavi monarchs and tenure of later pretenders; and their lifespan
Source:
Consorts
– In pretence
Heirs
The 1906 constitution of Iran specifically provided that only a male who was not descended from the Qajar dynasty could become the heir apparent. This made all half-brothers of Mohammad Reza ineligible to become heirs to the throne. Until his death in 1954, the Shah's only full brother Ali Reza was his heir presumptive. The constitution also required the Shah to be of Iranian descent, meaning that his father and mother are Iranian.
Line of succession in February 1979
- Reza Shah Pahlavi (1878–1944)
- Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi (1919–1980)
- (1) Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi (b. 1960)
- (2) Prince Ali-Reza Pahlavi (1966-2011)
- Prince Ali-Reza Pahlavi (1922–1954)
- (3) Prince Patrick Ali Pahlavi (b. 1947)
- (4) Prince Davoud Pahlavi (b. 1972)
- (5) Prince Houd Pahlavi (b. 1973)
- (6) Prince Mohammad Pahlavi (b. 1976)
Current line of succession
- Reza Shah Pahlavi (1878–1944)
- Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi (1919–1980)
- Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi (b. 1960)
- Prince Ali-Reza Pahlavi (1966–2011)
- Prince Ali-Reza Pahlavi (1922–1954)
- (1) Prince Patrick Ali Pahlavi (b. 1947)
- (2) Prince Davoud Pahlavi (b. 1972)
- (3) Prince Houd Pahlavi (b. 1973)
- (4) Prince Rafaël Pahlavi (b. 2006)
- (5) Prince Mohammad Pahlavi (b. 1976)
Heirs to the headship (since 1979)
The Persian Constitution of 1906 specifically provided that only a male could become the heir, with the current candidate being Patrick Ali Pahlavi. However, Pahlavi has declared his eldest daughter, Noor Pahlavi, as his heir
Use of titles
- Shâh: Emperor, followed by Shâhanshâh of Iran, with style His Imperial Majesty
- Shahbânu: Shahbânu or Empress, followed by first name, followed by "of Iran", with style Her Imperial Majesty
- Valiahd: Crown Prince of Iran, with style His Imperial Highness
- Younger sons: Prince (Shâhpūr, or Shah's Son), followed by first name and surname (Pahlavi), and style His Imperial Highness.
- Daughters: Princess (Shâhdokht, or Shah's Daughter), followed by first name and surname (Pahlavi), and style Her Imperial Highness.
- Children of the monarch's daughter/s use another version of Prince (Vâlâ Gohar, "of superior essence") or Princess (Vâlâ Gohari), which indicate descent in the second generation through the female line, and use the styles His Highness or Her Highness. This is then followed by first name and father's surname, whether he was royal or a commoner. However, the children by the last Shah's sister Fatemeh, who married an American businessman as her first husband, are surnamed Pahlavi Hillyer and do not use any titles.