Shahriyar was a Sasanian prince—he was the son of Khosrow II and his Christian queen Maria or Maryam. In 628, a son of Khosrow II, Kavadh II, staged a coup d'état against his father, and thereafter had all his brothers and half-brothers executed. Shahriyar was survived by his son Yazdegerd III, who would later rule the Sasanian Empire from 632 to 651.