Amidst the sandy beaches and palm trees, the Shah felt quite at home, yet H.I.M Mohammad Reza was a considerable distance from his native Persia, visiting the
Sunshine State. Accompanied by his wife, the Shah began his tour with the unexpected decision to drive a car. It was far from conventional for any head of state, let alone a monarch from the Middle-East, to travel without a chauffeur. Yet the Shah dispensed with the stuffy old customs of yesteryear, gaining from the outset of his visit the curiosity of the American public.
H.I.M the Shah of Iran, Driving in Miami
What began as curiosity turned swiftly into endearment as news of the Shah’s pro-Western policies and Queen Soraya’s progressive educational initiatives for young girls circulated in the American Press. Whereas the Shah’s visit only marginally improved the already robust involvement of American corporations in Iran’s petroleum sector – the
official purpose of the trip being to promote investment - if success were measured in column inches, the full-length news spreads and the cover of
Time magazine testified to the resounding triumph of the Shah’s visit in capturing first the interest and soon after the hearts of the American people.
Shah and Queen of Iran taking a stroll
The Shah seemed in-tune with the American way-of-life, embodying that care-free confidence which served as the hallmark of the United States. The unfailing charm of Mohammad Reza once again stood him in good stead with the American media. “Our man in Iran,” read the endearing headline of the
New York Times, “Iran’s Enlightened Monarch,” read the
Washington Post. The glamour of a Persian Prince had no doubt seized the imagination of the American public. Yet, hidden from public view, the
unofficial story had less of that fairy-tale magic and more of a hard dose of reality. The happy couple, the Shah and his beloved Queen, had been unable to have a child. Far from the prying eyes of the media, the Shah and Soraya visited leading gynaecologists in the hope of curing or confirm what the loving couple feared: Queen Soraya was barren. A secret over-night visit [to evade the press] to Dr. William Masters in Missouri to seek fertility treatment remained the couple’s last remaining hope, yet this too proved inconclusive.
The Imperial Couple of Iran, Miami Beach
H.I.M Mohammad Reza had not shied away from defying ancient prejudices and challenging time-honoured injustices, but even the reformist Shah could not escape the age-old source of vexation for all monarchies: the question of succession. Without a son, the Pahlavi Dynasty’s tenure as Iran’s Imperial Family would be brief. Notwithstanding the great reforms being brought about in Persia, particularly with respect to women and society, the attitudes of the Iranian people were such that they would not accept a
Queen Regnant. Thus, not only the legacy of the Pahlavi Line, but Iran’s progressive course and the broader stability of the Middle-East, rested in no small measure on the birth of a son.
H.I.M. the Shah and H.M. Queen Soraya at the Marina with Floridians
The whirlwind pace of the Shah’s tour of Florida – flitting from Miami to Key West, strolling down the boardwalk one moment and boarding a yacht the next – kept journalists and photographers on their toes. It seemed that the Imperial Couple, deeply in love, basking in the glow of public affection, were living the American dream. Yet, concealed from the media, the growing worry surrounding the Queen’s infertility brought with it new troubles. Although the Shah and his Queen put on a brave face for the American people, those close to the Imperial Couple knew well that, along the tree-lined boulevards and sun-kissed beaches, all was not well in Paradise.
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