| Spouse: | |
| House: | Pahlavi dynasty |
| Father: | Reza Shah |
| Mother: | Esmat Dowlatshahi |
| Birth Date: | 30 October 1928 |
| Birth Place: | Tehran, Imperial State of Persia |
| Death Place: | London, United Kingdom |
Fatemeh Pahlavi (Persian: فاطمه پهلوی; 30 October 1928 - 27 May 1987) was the Iranian-born tenth child of Reza Shah Pahlavi, and half-sister of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. She was a member of the Pahlavi dynasty.
Fatemeh Pahlavi was born in Tehran on 30 October 1928.[1] She was the tenth child of Reza Shah and the fourth of his fourth and last wife, Esmat Dowlatshahi.[2] Her mother was from the Qajar dynasty and married Reza Shah in 1923.[3] Fatemeh was the younger full-sister of Abdul Reza Pahlavi, Ahmad Reza Pahlavi and Mahmoud Reza Pahlavi and the older full-sister of Hamid Reza Pahlavi.[4]
Pahlavi attended Converse College (now Converse University) in Spartanburg, South Carolina. She attended the College with her lady-in waiting, Kokab Moarefi, in the 1947–1948 school year, but did not return any following years or obtain her degree.[5] [6] However, Moarefi would stay behind, and graduate from Converse in 1950.[7] She and her brothers lived at the Marble Palace in Tehran with their parents.[2]
During the reign of her half-brother, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Fatemeh Pahlavi owned a bowling club and dealt with business, having shares in the firms involved in construction, vegetable oil production and engineering.[8] She also had a fortune of some $500 million during that time.[9] Her fortune came from the "commissions" extracted from military contractors by her second husband, Mohammad Amir Khatami.[9] Pahlavi also involved in activities concerning higher education in Iran[10] and had shares in an Iranian football team, Persepolis F.C.[11]
Pahlavi took courses from a British pilot to learn to fly a helicopter,[12] becoming the first Iranian woman with a helicopter license.[13] After she completed the first solo flight, she gifted her trainer with a watch, Omega Speedmaster, which had been given to the Shah by the Apollo 11 astronauts in 1969 when they visited Iran as part of a tour to celebrate the first Moon landing.[12] In early 2021 the watch was sold for £18,000 at auction.[12]
Fatemeh Pahlavi married twice. She married Vincent Lee Hillyer (1924 - 7 July 1999) in a civil ceremony in Civitavecchia, Italy, on 13 April 1950. Hillyer converted to Islam.[14] On 10 May, they wed in a religious ceremony at Iran's embassy in Paris.[14] [15] Hillyer was a friend of her brother Abdul Reza Pahlavi.[16] Fatemeh and Hillyer met in Iran during the latter's visit to the country. The marriage was not fully endorsed by Shah Mohammad Reza,[17] probably due to negative reactions in Iran.[18] They had three children, two sons, Kayvan and Dariush, and one daughter, Rana, who died in an accidental fall in infancy in 1954.[19] They divorced in September 1959.[20]
After divorcing Hillyer, she married Mohammad Amir Khatami, the commanding general of Iran's air force, on 22 November 1959.[21] [22] The shah and his then fiancée Farah Diba attended the wedding ceremony.[21] They had two sons, Kambiz (born 1961) and Ramin (born 1967), and a daughter, Pari (born 1962).[23]
Pahlavi left Iran before the Islamic revolution in 1979.[18] During her last years, she was living in London.
Pahlavi died at her London home on 27 May 1987 of cancer.[24] [25] She was 58 years old and was survived by her four sons.[26] [25]