A New Generation
After his death, the family supported efforts connected with the study of ancient Persian culture. For the Pahlavi family, preserving interest in history was one way of continuing an intellectual tradition that had been important to Alireza during his lifetime. Iryana was therefore born into a family with a complicated and significant history. Her grandfather, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, was last monarch before the 1979 Revolution.
Her grandmother, Farah Pahlavi, served as Empress of and remains a prominent member of the former imperial family. Iryana’s father was one of their four children. Iryana belongs to a younger generation of the Pahlavi family. Her cousins include Noor, Iman, and Farah Pahlavi, the daughters of Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi and Yasmine Pahlavi. Her position within the family is distinctive because she is the only child of Prince Alireza.
