Fawzia of Egypt
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Her Royal Highness Princess Fawzia bint Fuad of Egypt (Alexandria, Egypt, November 5, 1921 -) was the first wife of the last Shah of Iran and a sister of King Farouk I. Though referred to as a princess out of courtesy, she is legally Fawzia Shirin, having remarried in 1949 and having lost her royal titles in 1952 when the Egyptian monarchy was abolished.
She was born Her Sultanic Highness Princess Fawzia bint Faud at Ras al-Tine Palace in Alexandria, the eldest daughter of Fuad I, Sultan of Egypt (later King Fuad I) and his second wife, Nazli Sabri. In addition to her sisters Faiza, Faika, and Fathiya, and her brother Farouk, she had two half-siblings from her father's previous marriage to Princess Shivakiar Khanum Effendi. Princess Fawzia was raised to the rank of Royal Highness in 1922, when her father became king.
Princess Fawzia of Egypt married Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (1919-1980), the Crown Prince of Iran, in Cairo, on March 16, 1939; after their honeymoon, the wedding ceremonies were repeated in Tehran. Two years later, the crown prince succeeded his exiled father and was to become the the last Shah of Iran. The marriage was not a success. After the birth of the couple's only child, Princess Shahnaz, Queen Fawzia -- the title of empress was not yet used in Iran at that time -- obtained an Egyptian divorce in 1945. This divorce was not recognized by Iran, however, and eventually an official divorce was obtained, in Iran, on November 17, 1948. One major condition of the divorce was that her daughter be left behind to be raised in Iran. The former Queen Fawzia also reclaimed her previous distinction of Princess of Egypt.
On March 28, 1949, in Cairo, Princess Fawzia married Colonel Ismail Hussain Shirin Bey, (1919-1994), a distant cousin and onetime Egyptian Minister of War and the Navy. The couple had two children: Nadia (born 1950) and Muhammed (born 1955).
A noted beauty, she appeared on the cover of the September 21, 1942 issue of Life magazine, photographed by Cecil Beaton, who described the then Queen of Iran as an "Asian Venus" with "a perfect heart-shaped face [and] strangely pale but piercing blue eyes."
Fawzia Shirin is the senior member of the deposed Egyptian Royal Family residing in Egypt. Her nephew Fuad, who was proclaimed King Fuad II of Egypt upon the departure of his father into exile in Europe, resides in Switzerland.
Her death was mistakenly reported in January 2005. Journalists had confused her with her niece Princess Fazia (Fevziye) (1940-2005), one of the three daughters of King Farouk.de:Fausia (Prinzessin)