Princess Fawzia Fuad of Egypt and Iran (Persian: شاهدخت فوزیه‎ Arabic: الأميرة فوزية‎) (5 November 1921 - 2 July 2013) was an Egyptian princess who became Queen of Iran as the first wife of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.

She is also known as Fawzia Shirin, having remarried in 1949. Although her royal titles are no longer recognized by the Egyptian government after the Egyptian Revolution of 1952 international protocol dictates that former monarchs and members of former ruling royal families still retain titles obtained whilst a member of a reigning monarchy. She was the oldest member of the deposed Muhammad Ali Dynasty residing in Egypt. Her nephew, Fuad, who was proclaimed King Fuad II of Egypt and Sudan after the Revolution, resides in Switzerland.

Early life

Princess Fawzia was born Her Sultanic Highness Princess Fawzia bint Fuad at Ras el-Tin Palace in 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. Her maternal great-grandfather was Major-General Muhammad Sharif Pasha, Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs, who was of Turkish origin. One of her great-great-grandfathers was Suleiman Pasha, a French army officer who served underNapoleon, converted to Islam, and oversaw an overhaul of the Egyptian army. 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 Shwikar Khanum Effendi.

Marriages and children

First marriage to Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the future Shah

Queen Fawzieh with Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlevi and their daughter, Princess Shahnaz in Tehran during the Second World War

The wedding ceremony of Princess Fawzia and Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. From left to right: King Farouk of Egypt (the bride's brother), Princess Fawzia (the bride) and the Crown Prince of Iran (the groom).

Commemoration Medallion of Marriage of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi and Princess Fawzia of Egypt – March 1939 – The medallion is now in Sahebgharanie palace in Niavaran Palace complex

Princess Fawzia of Egypt married Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (1919–1980), the Crown Prince of Iran, at the Abdeen Palace in Cairo, on 16 March 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 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 not a success. After the birth of the couple’s daughter, Queen Fawzia (the title of empress was not yet used in Iran at that time) obtained an Egyptian divorce in 1945, whereupon she moved to Cairo. This divorce was first not recognized for several years by Iran, but eventually an official divorce was obtained in Iran, on 17 November 1948, with Queen Fawzia successfully reclaiming her previous distinction of Princess of Egypt as well. A major condition of the divorce was that her daughter be left behind to be raised in Iran. Curiously, Queen Fawzia’s brother, King Farouk, divorced his first wife, Queen Farida, the same week.

In the official announcement of the divorce, it was stated that “the Persian climate had endangered the health of Empress 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.”

Second marriage

Princess Fawzia with Ismail Shirin

On 28 March 1949, in Cairo, Princess Fawzia married Colonel Ismail Chirine (1919–1994), who was the eldest son of Husain Shirin Beyand 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. The couple had two children, one daughter and one son:

• Nadia Khanum (19 December 1950, Cairo – October 2009). She married first (and divorced) Yusuf Shaba’an and second with Mustafa Rashid. She had two daughters, one with her first husband, and another with her second husband:

• Sinai (born October 1973, daughter of Yusuf Shaba’an)
• Fawzia Rashid (daughter of Mustafa Rashid)

• Husain Shirin Effendi (born 1955, Giza)

Later life

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 KingFarouk.

In her later life, she lived in Alexandria, Egypt, where she died on 2 July 2013 at the age of 92. 

Titles, styles and honours

Titles and styles from birth

 Styles of Princess Fawzia of Egypt and of Iran

Reference style Her Imperial & Royal Highness Spoken style Your Imperial & Royal Highness Alternative style Ma'am

• Her Sultanic Highness Princess Fawzia of Egypt (1921–1922)
• Her Royal Highness Princess Fawzia of Egypt (1922–1939, 1949–1952)
• Her Imperial and Royal Highness Princess Fawzia of Egypt and of Iran (15–16 March 1939) (a day before her first marriage she was granted the title Shahdokht (Princess) with style Imperial Highness)
• Her Imperial and Royal Highness The Crown Princess of Iran, Princess of Egypt (1939–1941)
• Her Imperial Majesty The Queen of Iran (1941–1948)
• Her Imperial and Royal Highness Princess Fawzia of Egypt and Iran (1948–1949)
• Her Imperial and Royal Highness Princess Fawzia of Egypt and Iran, Mrs Shirin (1952–2013)

Honours

• Decoration of al-Kemal in brilliants (Egypt, 16 May 1939)
• Grand Cordon of the Order of Khorshid (i.e. Sun) (Iran, 27 October 1940)

Ancestry

Princess Fazia is of Albanian, Circassian, and French descent; the Egyptian royal family is not ethnically Egyptian. Princess Fawzia was a member of the Muhammad Ali dynasty, a family of Albanian origin.