Tadj ol-Molouk

She was the first queen in Iran after the Muslim conquest in the seventh century to have participated in public royal representation, and she played a major role in the kashf-e hijab (ban of the veil) in 1936.

It was arranged and proved an advantage in the military career of Reza Khan at the time, due to the connections of her father, enabling him to advance in the Cossack hierarchy.

Privately, Tadj ol-Molouk did not live with Reza Shah at this point, as he reportedly devoted his time to his other wives, Turan Amirsoleimani, and, from 1923, Esmat Dowlatshahi.

[5] In 1928, the queen attended the Fatima Masumeh Shrine during her pilgrimage in Qom wearing a veil which did not cover her completely as well as showing her face, for which she was harshly criticised by a cleric.

[5] That day, Reza Shah attended the graduation ceremony of the Tehran Teacher's College with the queen and their two daughters unveiled and dressed in modern clothes, without veils.

[5] Tadj ol-Molouk continued to participate in public representation in this fashion when obliged to by her husband and thus played an indirect role in his policy, but she never made any initiatives of her own and stayed out of political involvement.

A year after Reza Shah's death, she married Gholamhossein Saheb Divani, the son of a prominent family from Shiraz who was her junior.

When the health of the shah was beginning to deteriorate in 1971, this was not admitted, and the official reason for physicians to visit the palace was for the sake of the elderly Tadj ol-Molouk.

Before the 1979 revolution, Tadj ol-Molouk was sent by Mohammad Reza Shah to Princess Shams Pahlavi's house in Beverly Hills.

Queen Tadj ol-Molouk in 1937
Tadj ol-Molouk with her grandson Crown Prince Reza in 1965