[2] Born in Paris, Patrick Ali Pahlavi is a son of Prince Ali Reza Pahlavi and his wife Christiane Cholewski (or Choleski), a French woman,[1] of Polish descent (although no record of his parents' 20 November 1946 wedding in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, France, is on official record there).

In February 1955, Prince Patrick Ali was at the centre of a dispute between his mother and his uncle, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi the Shah.

[6] Because of the dispute, he was placed in "protective custody" with policemen guarding his suite at the Hotel Excelsior in Italy until his mother gave into the Shah's demands and he was enrolled at the school.

In 1975, he was arrested and jailed at Evin prison, where he faced daily interrogations and psychological torture, including a fake execution.

[5] Pahlavi studied and practiced a number of religions and spiritualities, including Taoism, Buddhism (Zen), Hinduism (Advaita), Judaism, Christianity and Islam over a forty-year period.