Fawzia of Egypt

Princess Fawzia was born Her Sultanic Highness Princess Fawzia bint Fuad at Ras el-Tin Palace, Alexandria, the eldest daughter of Sultan Fuad I of Egypt and Sudan (later King Fuad I), and his second wife, Nazli Sabri on 5 November 1921. she had two half-siblings, Fawkia and Ismail, from her father's previous marriage to Princess Shwikar Effendi. Fawzia was raised by multiple nannies, including Anne Eugene, an English nanny, with whom she and her sisters kept contact after the royal family were overthrown. She was homeschooled from age of 4. Fawzia had lessons in Arabic, English and French. ==Marriage==

The marriage of Princess Fawzia to Iran's Crown Prince Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was planned by the latter's father, Reza Shah. A declassified CIA report in May 1972 described the union as a political move. The marriage was also significant in that it united a Sunni royal, the princess, and a Shia royal, the crown prince. The Egyptians were not impressed with the gifts sent by Reza Shah to King Farouk to persuade him to marry his sister to the prince Mohammad Reza. When an Iranian delegation arrived in Cairo to arrange the marriage, the Egyptians took the Iranians on a tour of the palaces built by Isma'il Pasha, known as "Isma'il the Magnificent", to show them proper royal splendor. King Farouk was not initially interested in marrying off his sister to the Crown Prince of Iran, but Aly Maher Pasha, the king's favorite political adviser, persuaded him that a marriage alliance with Iran would improve Egypt's position within the Islamic world and against Britain. At the same time, Maher Pasha was working on plans to marry off Farouk's other sisters to King Faisal II of Iraq and to the son of Emir Abdullah of Jordan, intending to forge an Egyptian-dominated bloc in the Middle East. To prepare for life in Iran, Fawzia was assigned a tutor to teach her Persian. However, they saw each other only once before their wedding. They married at the Abdeen Palace in Cairo on 15 March 1939. King Farouk took the couple on a tour of Egypt, showing them the pyramids, Al-Azhar University, and other famous sites. The contrast between the Crown Prince Mohammad Reza, dressed in the simple uniform of an Iranian officer, and the lavish opulence of the Egyptian court typified by the famously free-spending Farouk in his expensive suits, was much remarked upon at the time. At the time Prince Mohammad Reza lived in awe of his overbearing father, Reza Shah, and was dominated by Farouk, who was considerably more self-confident. When they returned to Iran the wedding ceremony was repeated at the Marble Palace, Tehran, which was also their future residence. The wedding dinner was a French-style dinner with "caviar from the Caspian Sea", "Consommé Royal", fish, fowl and lamb. Fawzia disliked Reza Khan, whom she described as a violent and thuggish man prone to attacking people with either his whip or riding crop. In contrast to the French food she had grown up with in Egypt, Fawzia found the food at the Iranian court sub-par. In the same way, Fawzia found that the palaces of Iran could not be compared to the palaces that she had grown up in in Egypt. ==Queen of Iran==

Following the marriage, the Princess was granted Iranian nationality. Two years later the crown prince succeeded his exiled father and was to become the Shah of Iran. Soon after her husband's ascent to the throne, Queen Fawzia appeared on the cover of the 21 September 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." With Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, she had one child, a daughter: • HIH Princess Shahnaz Pahlavi (born 27 October 1940). The marriage was a failure. Fawzia was deeply unhappy in Iran, and often missed her homeland of Egypt. Fawzia's relations with her mother-in-law and her sisters-in-law were notably tempestuous as the Queen Mother and her daughters saw her as a rival for Mohammad Reza Shah's affections, and the women constantly feuded with each other. One of Mohammad Reza's sisters broke a vase over Fawzia's head. The womanizing Mohammad Reza Shah was frequently unfaithful to Fawzia, and was often seen driving around with other women in Tehran from 1940 onward. Queen Fawzia (the title of empress was not yet used in Iran at that time) moved to Cairo in May 1945 and obtained an Egyptian divorce. The reason for her return was that she viewed Tehran as underdeveloped in contrast to modern, cosmopolitan Cairo. She consulted an American psychiatrist in Baghdad for her troubles shortly before she left Tehran. Mohammad Reza told the British ambassador in 1945 that his mother was "probably the main obstacle to the return of the Queen". Incidentally, Queen Fawzia's brother, King Farouk, also divorced his first wife, Queen Farida, in November 1948. In the official announcement of the divorce, it was stated that "the Persian climate had endangered the health of Queen 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." After her divorce Princess Fawzia headed the Egyptian court. ==Later life==

On 28 March 1949, at the Koubba Palace in Cairo, Princess Fawzia married Colonel Ismail Chirine (or Shirin) (1919–1994), who was the eldest son of Hussein Chirine Bey and his wife, HH Princess Amina Bihruz Khanum Effendi. He was a graduate of Trinity College, Cambridge, and a one-time Egyptian minister of war and the navy. Following the wedding they lived in an estate owned by the Princess in Maadi, Cairo. They also resided in a villa in Smouha, Alexandria. They had two children, one daughter and one son: • Nadia Chirine (19 December 1950, Cairo – October 2009). She married firstly (and divorced) Yusuf Shabaan, an Egyptian actor. Her second husband was Mustafa Rashid. She had two daughters, one with each husband: • Sinai Shabaan (born October 1973) Princess Fawzia's death was mistakenly reported in January 2005. Journalists had confused her with her niece, Princess Fawzia Farouk (1940–2005), one of the three daughters of King Farouk. ==Death==

In her later life, Princess Fawzia lived in Alexandria, where she died on 2 July 2013 at the age of 91. Her funeral ceremony was held after noon prayers at Sayeda Nafisa Mosque in Cairo on 3 July. She was buried in Cairo next to her second husband. At the time of her death, she was the oldest member of the deposed Muhammad Ali dynasty residing in Egypt. ==Legacy==

A town in Iran, Fawziabad, was named for Princess Fawzia in 1939. ==Honours==

• : Decoration of al-Kamal in brilliants (16 May 1939) • : Grand Cordon of the Order of Khorshid (27 October 1940) ==Gallery==

Image:Cecil Beaton Photographs- Political and Military Personalities; Chahnaz, Princess of Iran, Fawzieh, Queen of Iran, Mohammed Reza Pahlevi CBM2404.jpg|Queen Fawzia with Mohammad Reza Shah and their daughter, Princess Shahnaz, in Tehran during the Second World War. Image:Fawzia+Reza.jpg|The wedding ceremony of Princess Fawzia and Prince Mohammad Reza. From left to right: King Farouk of Egypt (the bride's brother), Princess Fawzia (the bride) and the Crown Prince of Iran (the groom). Image:Commemoration Medallion of Marriage of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi and Princess Fawzia of Egypt - March 1939.JPG|Commemoration Medallion of Marriage of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and Princess Fawzia of Egypt – March 1939 – The medallion is now in Sahebgharaniyeh Palace, Niavaran Palace Complex. ==Ancestry==