Born in the Iranian capital of Tehran in Pars Hospital, Yasmine Etemad-Amini (now known as Yasmine Pahlavi) would later leave Iran with her family for the United States as a result of the tensions in the country leading up to the Iranian Revolution that saw the overthrow of the Shah of Iran and replacing it with an Islamic Republic with the Ayatollah Khomeini as Supreme Leader.
She was born to parents Abdullah and Forough on 26 July 1968. Yasmine would attend the private Tehran Community School before her family’s relocation to San Francisco, California, where she would later attend Notre Dame High School. After meeting Crown Prince Reza in 1986, her university studies took her to the East Coast at Georgetown University in Washington D.C. where she studied political science and graduated in 1990. Princess Yasmine would later gain a law degree from the same institution in 1998 and would be admitted to the Maryland Bar Association.
The Princess has worked in D.C.’s World Bank’s law department, as well as clerked for a Superior Court Judge in the American capital. Additionally, she also served as a staff attorney for The Children’s Law Center in the city.
A year after graduating with her undergraduate degree, Her Imperial Highness co-founded the Foundation for the Children of Iran. She held a leadership position in the foundation until her resignation from both her role and affiliation with the organisation in 2014. Its purpose is “to provide health care services to Iranian children or children of Iranian origin regardless of race, colour, creed, religious or political affiliation,” according to her biography on her mother-in-law, Empress Farah’s official website.
By virtue of being married to the Crown Prince, Yasmine Pahlavi is technically Iran’s crown princess; however, according to Empress Farah’s official website, she is only referred to as Princess Yasmine Pahlavi. She has been a vocal opponent of the brutal Iranian regime in her homeland and has expressed support for it returning to democracy, as well as support for the current protestors taking to the streets in the country demanding change.
Crown Prince Reza and Princess Yasmine, who married on 12 June 1986, have three daughters, Princesses Noor (b. 3 April 1992), Iman (b. 12 September 1993) and Farah (b. 17 January 2004). Princess Noor now resides in the United Kingdom (she moved from New York in October 2017) after graduating with a B.A. from her mother’s alma mater, Georgetown, in 2014 with a degree in Psychology. Princess Iman lives in New York after obtaining a B.A. in Psychology and Communications in 2015 from the University of Michigan. Princess Farah, still a minor, lives with her parents in the United States where she is in secondary school.
Alongside her husband, daughters Noor and Iman, as well as her mother-in-law, she has a social media presence where on her verified Facebook account she, in particular, shares messages of support in Persian and English for those in Iran living under the brutal regime and those protesting for a better life and country. Just on 5 January, she shared a video of a protest in the Iranian town of Zanjan, where her grandfather and father grew up saying, “This happened in my grandfather and father’s hometown of Zanjan. I wish my Father were alive to see the brave people of Zanjan stand up for their rights!”
Additionally, she released a message to Iranian women on the anniversary of the lifting of the veil and the right to vote earlier this month saying, “This is my message to the many brave women of Iran on the anniversary of the lifting of the hejab and obtaining the right to vote. Women progressed so far under Reza Shah and Mohammed Reza Shah, only to be stripped of their legal rights and be pushed back a century when Iran was taken over by the radical Islamists. Today we remember and celebrate the proud, societal advances led by our family. And we know Iranian women will again be true equals in Iran as soon as we liberate our beloved country from Khamenei and Rouhani’s barbaric and murderous reign. Iran will be liberated by her sisters and daughters and mothers. Women will recapture their fully-equal voice in our proud nation. The cause is just, and victory is near.”
The family has had issues with people creating fake accounts, pretending to be them and releasing false statements. As a result, Crown Prince Reza published a comprehensive list of all the official social media accounts of his family, which can be found here. It includes his wife, daughters and mother.
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