The LAST EMPRESS

Farah Diba Pahlavi lived in opulence with her husband the Shah of Iran in the 1960s and '70s. Forty-five years after exile, she speaks from Paris about grief, regret, and her hope for a new Iran.

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The Empress of Iran lives alone in the quiet splendour of a Paris apartment with a sweeping view across the River Seine and the great city landmarks beyond.

It is not a sight anyone could easily tire of, but Farah Diba Pahlavi, now 86, says she would gladly swap it for one last glimpse of home.

"I miss so many things," she tells The Weekly in a voice grown husky from a lifetime's fondness for perfumed Persian cigarettes.

"I miss the warmth of the people, the smell of jasmine and seeing the snow on the mountains."

Now in her 46th year of exile, the widow of Iran's last Shah, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, clings to the belief that her dream of a return will be realised. To millions of Iranians, including many who have only known the austere, theocratic rule of the mullahs, she remains the revered Shahbânu – the Queen Consort – a living reminder of a time when a fast-changing Iran was the darling of the Western world.

That brief interlude ended with a revolution that toppled the Shah and brought to power a clique of radical Islamic clerics who have never since relinquished it. Today, Iran is again in turmoil following a 12-day war with Israel that saw the country's defence infrastructure shredded, and dozens of the regime's key figures killed. Among those like Farah who yearn for an end to the mullahs’ rule, the war was seen as both a tragedy and an opportunity.

In a statement issued to her followers at the height of the fighting, the empress declared: “In these dark and uncertain days, my heart aches with yours. I feel your pain, and I salute your bravery, and your unwavering spirit. As war casts its shadow across our land, I want you to know that you are not alone — our strength lies in our unity, our history, and our unbreakable will to endure.