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119-550: The museum was officially opened in September 1977 under the guidance of Queen Farah Pahlavi , but was closed in November 1978. It was reopened a year later in 1979, with some changes in its internal decorations and further expansion of its exhibition space. It was closed again in 1984 due to internal difficulties and reopened a year later. It was finally opened for the fifth time, after its renovation on 4 February 2000. The museum

238-508: A German princess, Sophia of Anhalt-Zerbst . In 1762, shortly after the death of Empress Elizabeth, Sophia, who had taken the Russian name Catherine upon her marriage, overthrew her unpopular husband, with the aid of her lover, Grigory Orlov . She reigned as Catherine the Great . Catherine's son, Paul I , who succeeded his mother in 1796, was particularly proud to be a great-grandson of Peter

357-492: A blue-and-white striped undershirt. In mid-2007, a Russian archaeologist announced a discovery by one of his workers. The excavation uncovered the following items in the two pits which formed a "T": Geneticists used a combination of autosomal STR and mtDNA sequencing to detect relationships between the family members' remains. Using a DNA sample from Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh , a grand nephew of Alexandra, scientists matched his DNA to her and her children's remains found in

476-955: A ceremonial role. In 1961 during a visit to France, the Francophile Farah befriended the French culture minister André Malraux , leading her to arrange the exchange of cultural artifacts between French and Iranian art galleries and museums, a lively trade that continued until the Islamic revolution of 1979. She spent much of her time attending the openings of various education and health-care institutions without venturing too deeply into controversial issues. However, as time progressed, this position changed. The Queen became much more actively involved in government affairs where it concerned issues and causes that interested her. She used her proximity and influence with her husband Mohammad Reza, to secure funding and focus attention on causes, particularly in

595-519: A cousin of Nicholas II, had been exiled to the Caucasus in 1916 for his part in the murder of Grigori Rasputin, and managed to escape Russia. Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaievich , who was supreme commander of Russian troops during World War I prior to Nicholas II taking command, along with his brother, Grand Duke Peter , and their wives, Grand Duchesses Anastasia and Militza , who were sisters, and Peter's children, son-in-law, and granddaughter also fled

714-517: A daughter who, under agnatic primogeniture , could not inherit the throne. The pressure for Farah was acute. The shah himself was deeply anxious to have a male heir as were the members of his government. Furthermore, it was known that the dissolution of the Mohammad Reza's previous marriage to Queen Soraya had been due to her infertility. The couple had four children: The exact role the new queen would play, in public or government affairs,

833-853: A diplomat serving as the Persian Ambassador to the Romanov Court in St. Petersburg , Russia. Her own father was an officer in the Imperial Iranian Armed Forces and a graduate of the French Military Academy at St. Cyr . Farah wrote in her memoir that she had a close bond with her father, and his unexpected death in 1948 deeply affected her. The young family was in a difficult financial state. In their reduced circumstances, they were forced to move from their large family villa in northern Tehran into

952-636: A favorite grandchild of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. Though a kind-hearted man, he tended to leave intact his father's harsh policies. For her part the shy Alix, who took the name Alexandra Feodorovna, became a devout convert to Orthodoxy as well as a devoted wife to Nicholas and mother to their five children, yet avoided many of the social duties traditional for Russia's tsarinas. Seen as distant and severe, unfavorable comparisons were drawn between her and her popular mother-in-law, Maria Fyodorovna. When, in September 1915, Nicholas took command of

1071-680: A future democratic referendum, effectively terminating the Romanov dynasty's rule over Russia. After the February Revolution, Nicholas II and his family were placed under house arrest in the Alexander Palace . While several members of the imperial family managed to stay on good terms with the Provisional Government and were eventually able to leave Russia, Nicholas II and his family were sent into exile in

1190-545: A granddaughter of Queen Victoria and elder sister of Tsarina Alexandra . Following the 1905 assassination of her husband, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich , Elisabeth Feodorovna had ceased living as a member of the Imperial family and took up life as a serving nun , but was nonetheless arrested and slated for death with other Romanovs. They were thrown down a mine shaft into which explosives were then dropped, all being left to die there slowly. The bodies were recovered from

1309-461: A mass grave in the fortress, though Dmitry Konstantinovich's body was collected by his former adjutant, rolled up in a rug and taken away for a private burial in the garden of a house in Petrograd, where he remains to this day. In 1919, Maria Feodorovna, widow of Alexander III, and mother of Nicholas II, managed to escape Russia aboard HMS  Marlborough , which her nephew, King George V of

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1428-548: A mistress, Princess Catherine Dolgorukova . Immediately following the death of his wife in 1880 he contracted a morganatic marriage with Dolgorukova. His legitimization of their children, and rumors that he was contemplating crowning his new wife as empress, caused tension within the dynasty. In particular, the grand duchesses were scandalized at the prospect of deferring to a woman who had borne Alexander several children during his wife's lifetime. Before Princess Catherine could be elevated in rank, however, on 13 March 1881 Alexander

1547-411: A result of multiple bullet wounds. Then the dark room where the family was held filled with smoke and dust from the spray of bullets. With limited visibility, the gunmen shot blindly, often hitting the ceiling and walls, creating more dust and debris. As a result of this many of the gunmen themselves became injured. Alexandra was soon shot in the head by military commissar Peter Ermakov and was killed. It

1666-529: A shared apartment with one of Farideh Ghotbi's brothers. The young Farah Diba began her education at Tehran's Italian School , then moved to the French Jeanne d’Arc School until the age of sixteen and later to the Lycée Razi . She was an athlete in her youth, becoming captain of her school's basketball team. Upon finishing her studies at the Lycée Razi , she pursued an interest in architecture at

1785-537: A university student in 1950s France about being asked where she was from: When I told them Iran ... the Europeans would recoil in horror as if Iranians were barbarians and loathsome. But after Iran became wealthy under the Shah in the 1970s, Iranians were courted everywhere. Yes, Your Majesty. Of course, Your Majesty. If you please, Your Majesty. Fawning all over us. Greedy sycophants. Then they loved Iranians. From

1904-597: A wide selection of Iranian artifacts from foreign and domestic collections. This was achieved with the help of the brothers Houshang and Mehdi Mahboubian, the most prominent Iranian antiquities dealers of the era, who advised the Empress from 1972 to 1978. With these artifacts she founded several national museums (many of which still survive to this day) and began an Iranian version of the National Trust . Museums and cultural centres created under her guidance include

2023-461: A year, the couple searched for permanent asylum. Many governments were unwilling to allow them within their borders because the revolutionary government in Iran had ordered the Shah and Shahbanu's arrest and death and it was not known how much it would pressure foreign powers. Egyptian president Anwar Sadat , who had maintained close relations with Mohammad Reza for years (and whose wife Jehan Sadat

2142-457: Is Dimitri Konstantinovich . The family fortunes soared when Roman's daughter, Anastasia Zakharyina , married Ivan IV ("the Terrible") on 3 (13) February 1547. Since her husband had assumed the title of Tsar of all Russia , which derives from the title " Caesar ", on 16 January 1547, she was crowned as the first tsaritsa of Russia. Her mysterious death in 1560 changed Ivan's character for

2261-505: Is currently administrated by the Cultural Heritage Organization of Iran . The collections of the museum belong to a period from the 7th millennium BC to the early 20th century. The displays are arranged chronologically. Objects on display include artifacts made of baked clay, metal and stone from the pre historic times to pottery and metal objects, textile and lacquer painting, manuscripts and jewelry belonging to

2380-472: Is one Andrei Kobyla , attested around 1347 as a boyar in the service of Simeon , the prince of Moscow and grand prince of Vladimir . Later generations assigned to Kobyla an illustrious pedigree . An 18th-century genealogy claimed that he was the son of the Old Prussian prince Glanda Kambila, who came to Russia in the second half of the 13th century, fleeing the invading Germans . Indeed, one of

2499-599: Is the widow of the last Shah of Iran , Mohammad Reza Pahlavi . She was born into a prosperous Iranian family whose fortunes were diminished after her father's early death. While studying architecture in Paris , she was introduced to Mohammad Reza at the Iranian embassy , and they were married in December 1959. The Shah's first two marriages had not produced a son—necessary for royal succession —resulting in great rejoicing at

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2618-618: The Danish royal family . In 2005 the coffin with her remains was moved to the Peter and Paul Fortress to be buried beside that of her husband. The transfer of her remains was accompanied by an elaborate ceremony at Saint Isaac's Cathedral officiated by Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow . Descendants and relatives of the Dowager Empress attended, including her great-grandson Prince Michael Andreevich , Princess Catherine Ivanovna of Russia ,

2737-603: The Decembrist revolt . Nicholas I fathered four sons, educating them for the prospect of ruling Russia and for military careers, from whom the last branches of the dynasty descended. Alexander II , son of Nicholas I, became the next Russian emperor in 1855, in the midst of the Crimean War . While Alexander considered it his charge to maintain peace in Europe and Russia, he believed only a strong Russian military could keep

2856-754: The Moscow Patriarchate . In 2006 representatives of the Romanov family were making plans to re-inter the remains elsewhere. The town became a place of pilgrimage to the memory of Elisabeth Fyodorovna, whose remains were eventually re-interred in Jerusalem . On 13 June 1918, Bolshevik revolutionary authorities killed Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich of Russia and Nicholas Johnson (Michael's secretary) in Perm . Their bodies have never been found. The exiled Grand Duke Nicholas Konstantinovich of Russia died on 26 January 1918, with some rumors claiming he

2975-467: The Royal Palace of Niavaran , designed by Mohsen Foroughi, and completed in 1968: it mixes traditional Iranian architecture with 1960's contemporary design. Nearby is the personal library of the Empress, consisting of 22,000 books, comprising principally works on Western and Eastern art, philosophy and religion; the interior was designed by Aziz Farmanfarmayan. Historically a culturally rich country,

3094-587: The Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art is considered to be one of the most significant outside Europe and the United States. The vast collection has been tastefully showcased in a large coffee table book published by Assouline titled Iran Modern According to Parviz Tanavoli , a modern Iranian sculptor and a former Cultural Adviser to the Empress, that the impressive collection was amassed for "tens, not hundreds, of millions of dollars". As of 2008 ,

3213-471: The Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art . Using funds allocated from the government, the Shahbanu took advantage of a somewhat depressed art market of the 1970s to purchase several important works of Western art. Under her guidance, the museum acquired nearly 150 works by such artists as Pablo Picasso , Claude Monet , George Grosz , Andy Warhol , Jackson Pollock , and Roy Lichtenstein . The collection of

3332-636: The Zemsky Sobor on every important issue. This strategy proved successful. The early Romanovs were generally accepted by the population as in-laws of Ivan the Terrible and viewed as innocent martyrs of Godunov's wrath. Mikhail was succeeded by his only son Alexei , who steered the country quietly through numerous troubles. Upon Alexei's death, there was a period of dynastic struggle between his children by his first wife Maria Ilyinichna Miloslavskaya ( Feodor III , Sofia Alexeyevna , Ivan V ) and his son by his second wife Nataliya Kyrillovna Naryshkina ,

3451-626: The de facto rule of Russia. Upon the childless death of Feodor, the 700-year-old line of the Rurik dynasty came to an end, ushering in the Time of Troubles . After a long struggle, the party of Boris Godunov prevailed over the Romanovs, and the Zemsky Sobor elected Godunov as tsar in 1598. Godunov's revenge on the Romanovs led to all the family and its relations being deported to remote corners of

3570-407: The royal equerries . One of Kobyla's sons, Feodor , a member of the boyar duma of Dmitry Donskoy , was nicknamed Koshka ("cat"). His descendants took the surname Koshkin, then changed it to Zakharin (descendants of Zakhary ), which later split into two branches: Zakharin-Yakovlev (descendants of Yakov Zakharyevich) and Zakharin-Yuriev (descendants of Yuri Zakharyevich). During the reign of Ivan

3689-594: The École Spéciale d'Architecture in Paris, where she was a student of Albert Besson . Many Iranian students who were studying abroad at this time were dependent on State sponsorship. Therefore, when the Shah , as head of state, made official visits to foreign countries, he frequently met with a selection of local Iranian students. It was during such a meeting in 1959 at the Iranian Embassy in Paris that Farah Diba

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3808-515: The 1850s, practically all marriages had been with German princelings. His son Alexander III succeeded Alexander II. This tsar, the second-to-last Romanov emperor, was responsible for conservative reforms in Russia. Not expected to inherit the throne, he was educated in matters of state only after the death of his older brother, Nicholas. Lack of diplomatic training may have influenced his politics as well as those of his son, Nicholas II. Alexander III

3927-435: The 2016 wedding of Prince Leka of Albania , the 2023 funeral of Constantine II of Greece , and the 2023 wedding of Crown Prince Hussein of Jordan . In 2003, Farah wrote a book about her marriage to Mohammad Reza entitled An Enduring Love: My Life with the Shah . The publication of the former Empress's memoirs attracted international interest. It was a best-seller in Europe, with excerpts appearing in news magazines and

4046-820: The Asiatic Institute; the Civilisations Discussion Centre; the Pahlavi University; the Academy of Sciences. Farah worked long hours at her charitable activities, from about 9 am to 9 pm every weekday. Eventually, the Queen came to preside over a staff of 40 who handled various requests for assistance on a range of issues. She became one of the most highly visible figures in the Imperial Government and

4165-502: The Duke of Fife. In the early 1990s, considerable controversy surrounded the accuracy of mtDNA heteroplasmy for DNA testing particularly for distant relatives. In an attempt to refine the results of the investigation, Russian authorities exhumed the remains of Nicholas II's brother, George Alexandrovich. George's remains matched the heteroplasmy of the remains found in the grave indicating that they did in fact belong to Tsar Nicholas II. After

4284-541: The French style. The Empress wrote in 1978 that her duties were: I could not write in detail of all the organizations over which I preside and in which I take a very active part, in the realms of education, health, culture and social matters. It would need a further book. A simple list would perhaps give some idea: the Organization for Family Well Being-nurseries for the children of working mothers, teaching women and girls to read, professional training, family planning;

4403-411: The Great, although his mother's memoirs arguably insinuate that Paul's natural father was, in fact, her lover Sergei Saltykov , rather than her husband, Peter. Painfully aware of the hazards resulting from battles of succession, Paul decreed house laws for the Romanovs – the so-called Pauline Laws , among the strictest in Europe – which established semi-Salic primogeniture as the rule of succession to

4522-514: The Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov line were: Paul (1796–1801), Alexander I (1801–1825), Nicholas I (1825–1855), Alexander II (1855–1881), Alexander III (1881–1894), and Nicholas II (1894–1917). Constantine Pavlovich and Michael Alexandrovich , both morganatically married, are occasionally counted among Russia's emperors by historians who observe that the Russian monarchy did not legally permit interregnums . Yet neither

4641-530: The House of Romanov, descendants after Elizabeth are sometimes referred to as Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov . Paul I became the first heir to the throne, having the title tsesarevich , which was subsequently used for all main heirs. The abdication of Nicholas II on 15 March [ O.S. 2 March] 1917 as a result of the February Revolution ended 304 years of Romanov rule and led to

4760-411: The Iran of the 1960s had little to show for it. Many of the great artistic treasures produced during its 2,500-year history had found their way into the hands of foreign museums and private collections. It became one of Farah's principal goals to procure for Iran an appropriate collection of its own historic artifacts. To that end, she secured from her husband's government permission and funds to "buy back"

4879-425: The Islamic period. The museum’s library possesses over 10,000 Persian, English, French and German books about Persian art, history, archaeology and classical paintings. The publication department has published many books regarding Iranian arts and collections. There are also different training courses in the museum such as Drawing , Calligraphy , Watercolor and Oil painting . In May 2015 various documents of

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4998-761: The Negarestan Cultural Center, the Reza Abbasi Museum , the Khorramabad Museum with its valuable collection of Lorestān bronzes , the National Carpet Gallery and the Glassware and Ceramic Museum of Iran . Aside from building a collection of historic Iranian artifacts, Farah also expressed interest in acquiring contemporary Western and Iranian art. To this end, she put her significant patronage behind

5117-1138: The Organization for Blood Transfusion; the Organization for the Fight Against Cancer; the Organization for Help to the Needy, the Health Organization ;... the Children's Centre; the Centre for the Intellectual Development of Children ... the Imperial Institute of Philosophy; the Foundation for Iranian Culture; the Festival of Shiraz, the Tehran Cinema Festival; the Iranian Folklore Organization;

5236-596: The Romanovs' rule". After the February Revolution of 1917, a special decree of the Provisional Government of Russia granted all members of the imperial family the surname "Romanov". The only exceptions, the morganatic descendants of the Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich (1891–1942), took (in exile) the surname Ilyinsky . The Romanovs share their origin with two dozen other Russian noble families. Their earliest common ancestor

5355-641: The Russian Crown in 1613. The large memorial church " on the blood " has been built on the spot where the Ipatiev House once stood. Nicholas II and his family were proclaimed passion-bearers by the Russian Orthodox Church in 2000. In Orthodoxy, a passion-bearer is a saint who was not killed because of his faith, like a martyr; but who died in faith at the hand of murderers. In the mid-1970s, Dr. Alexander Avdonin discovered

5474-695: The Russian North and Urals , where most of them died of hunger or in chains. The family's leader, Feodor Nikitich Romanov , was exiled to the Antoniev Siysky Monastery and forced to take monastic vows with the name Filaret . The Romanovs' fortunes again changed dramatically with the fall of the Godunov dynasty in June 1605. As a former leader of the anti-Godunov party and cousin of the last legitimate tsar, Filaret Romanov's recognition

5593-507: The Russian crown, Filaret's 16-year-old son Mikhail Romanov , then living at the Ipatiev Monastery of Kostroma , burst into tears of fear and despair. He was finally persuaded to accept the throne by his mother Kseniya Ivanovna Shestova , who blessed him with the holy image of Our Lady of St. Theodore . Feeling how insecure his throne was, Mikhail attempted to emphasize his ties with the last Rurikid tsars and sought advice from

5712-829: The Siberian town of Tobolsk by Alexander Kerensky in August 1917. In the October Revolution of 1917 the Bolsheviks ousted the Provisional Government. In April 1918, the Romanovs were moved to the Russian town of Yekaterinburg , in the Urals, where they were placed in the Ipatiev House . Here, on the night of 16–17 July 1918, the entire Russian Imperial Romanov family, along with several of their retainers, were executed by Bolshevik revolutionaries, most likely on

5831-512: The Terrible , the first crowned tsar of all Russia . Nicholas II , the last Emperor of Russia , and his immediate family were executed in 1918, but there are still living descendants of other members of the imperial house. The house consisted of boyars in Russia (the highest rank in the Russian nobility at the time) under the reigning Rurik dynasty , which became extinct upon the death of Feodor I in 1598. The Time of Troubles , caused by

5950-457: The Terrible , the former became known as Yakovlev ( Alexander Herzen among them), whereas the grandchildren of Roman Yurievich Zakharyin-Yuriev changed their name to "Romanov". Feodor Nikitich Romanov was descended from the Rurik dynasty through the female line. His mother, Evdokiya Gorbataya-Shuyskaya, was a Rurikid princess from the Shuysky branch, daughter of Alexander Gorbatyi-Shuisky . A ninth generation ancestor of Michael I Romanov

6069-426: The United Kingdom, had sent to rescue her, at the urging of his own mother, Queen Alexandra, who was Maria's elder sister. After a stay in England with Queen Alexandra , she returned to her native Denmark, first living at Amalienborg Palace , with her nephew, King Christian X , and later, at Villa Hvidøre . Upon her death in 1928 her coffin was placed in the crypt of Roskilde Cathedral , the burial site of members of

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6188-452: The areas of women's rights and cultural development. Farah's concerns were the "realms of education, health, culture and social matters" with politics being excluded from her purview. One of Farah's main initiatives was founding Pahlavi University (now Shiraz University ), which was meant to improve the education of Iranian women, and was the first American-style university in Iran; before then, Iranian universities had always been modeled on

6307-425: The army at the front lines during World War I, Alexandra sought to influence him toward an authoritarian approach in government affairs even more than she had done during peacetime. His well-known devotion to her injured both his and the dynasty's reputation during World War I, due to both her German origin and her unique relationship with Rasputin , whose role in the life of her only son was not widely known. Alexandra

6426-485: The author appearing on talk shows and in other media outlets. However, opinion about the book, which Publishers Weekly called "a candid, straightforward account" and The Washington Post called "engrossing", was mixed. Elaine Sciolino , The New York Times 's Paris bureau chief, gave the book a less than flattering review, describing it as "well translated" but "full of anger and bitterness". But National Review's Reza Bayegan , an Iranian writer, praised

6545-645: The beginning of her royal life, Farah took an active interest in promoting culture and the arts in Iran. Through her patronage, numerous organizations were created and fostered to further her ambition of bringing historical and contemporary Iranian Art to prominence both inside Iran and in the Western world. In addition to her own efforts, Farah sought to achieve this goal with the assistance of various foundations and advisers. Her ministry encouraged many forms of artistic expression, including traditional Iranian arts (such as weaving, singing, and poetry recital) as well as Western theatre. Her most recognized endeavour supporting

6664-447: The birth of Crown Prince Reza in October of the following year. As a philanthropist, she progressed Iranian civil society through many charities, and founded Iran's first American-style university , enabling more women to become students in the country. She also facilitated the buying-back of Iranian antiquities from museums abroad. By 1978, growing anti-imperial unrest fueled by communism , socialism , and Islamism throughout Iran

6783-401: The bodies were exhumed in June 1991, they remained in laboratories until 1998, while there was a debate as to whether they should be reburied in Yekaterinburg or St. Petersburg. A commission eventually chose St. Petersburg. The remains were transferred with full military honor guard and accompanied by members of the Romanov family from Yekaterinburg to St. Petersburg. In St. Petersburg remains of

6902-402: The children's clothing. Following the murder of the Romanov family, the Bolsheviks made several attempts to dispose of the bodies. Initially the bodies were to be thrown down a mineshaft; however, the location of the disposal site was revealed to locals, causing them to change the location. Instead of a burial, the Bolsheviks decided to burn two of the corpses of the former royal family. Burning

7021-473: The corpses proved to be difficult as it took significant time, so the group resorted to disfiguring the pair with acid. In a rush, the Bolsheviks threw nine additional bodies into a grave and covered them with acid as well. The bodies of the Romanovs were then hidden and moved several times before being interred in an unmarked pit where they remained until the summer of 1979 when amateur enthusiasts disinterred and re-buried some of them, and then decided to conceal

7140-427: The country into a great power through a series of wars and reforms. The direct male line of the Romanovs ended when Elizabeth died childless in 1762. As a result, her nephew Peter III , an agnatic member of the House of Holstein-Gottorp (a cadet branch of the German House of Oldenburg that reigned in Denmark ), ascended to the throne and adopted his Romanov mother's house name. Officially known as members of

7259-511: The country. Elizaveta Mavrikievna , widow of Konstantin Konstantinovich , escaped with her daughter Vera Konstantinovna and her son Georgii Konstantinovich , as well as her grandson Prince Vsevolod Ivanovich and her granddaughter Princess Catherine Ivanovna to Sweden. Her other daughter, Tatiana Konstantinovna , also escaped with her children Natasha and Teymuraz , as well as her uncle's aide-de-camp Alexander Korochenzov. They fled to Romania and then Switzerland. Gavriil Konstantinovich

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7378-428: The couple departed for Contadora Island in Panama . Both Mohammad Reza and Farah viewed the Carter administration with some antipathy in response to a lack of support. Speculation arose that the Panamanian government was seeking to arrest Mohammad Reza in preparation for extradition to Iran. The Shah and Shahbanu again made an appeal to President Anwar Sadat to return to Egypt (Empress Farah writes that this plea

7497-446: The couple was allowed into the United States for medical treatment, inflaming already tense relations between the US government and the revolutionaries in Tehran . The tensions ultimately led to the attack and takeover of the American embassy in Tehran in what became known as the Iran hostage crisis . The Shah and Shahbanu were not permitted to remain in the United States, and shortly after the Shah's surgical treatment on 22 October 1979,

7616-506: The day after the killing at Yekaterinburg of the tsar and his family, members of the extended Russian imperial family met a brutal death by being killed near Alapayevsk by Bolsheviks. They included: Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich of Russia , Prince Ioann Konstantinovich of Russia , Prince Konstantin Konstantinovich of Russia , Prince Igor Konstantinovich of Russia and Prince Vladimir Pavlovich Paley , Grand Duke Sergei's secretary Varvara Yakovleva, and Grand Duchess Elisabeth Feodorovna ,

7735-443: The death of Peter. His only son to survive into adulthood, Tsarevich Alexei , did not support Peter's modernization of Russia. He had previously been arrested and died in prison shortly thereafter. Near the end of his life, Peter managed to alter the succession tradition of male heirs, allowing him to choose his heir. Power then passed into the hands of his second wife, Empress Catherine , who ruled until her death in 1727. Peter II ,

7854-429: The establishment of the Russian Republic under the Russian Provisional Government in the lead-up to the Russian Civil War of 1917–1922. In 1918, the Bolsheviks executed Nicholas II and his family. Of the House of Romanov's 65 members, 47 survivors went into exile abroad. In 1924, Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich , the senior surviving male-line descendant of Alexander II of Russia by primogeniture , claimed

7973-426: The find until the fall of communism. In 1991 the grave site was excavated and the bodies were given a state funeral under the nascent democracy of post-Soviet Russia, and several years later DNA and other forensic evidence was used by Russian and international scientists to make accurate identifications. The Ipatiev House has the same name as the Ipatiev Monastery in Kostroma , where Mikhail Romanov had been offered

8092-422: The funeral of former U.S. president Ronald Reagan in Washington, D.C. She supports charities, including the International Fund Raising for Alzheimer Disease gala in Paris. Farah continues to appear at certain international royal events such as the 2004 wedding of Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark , the 2010 wedding of Prince Nikolaos of Greece and Denmark , the 2011 wedding of Albert II, Prince of Monaco ,

8211-404: The future Peter the Great . Peter ruled from 1682 until his death in 1725. In numerous successful wars he expanded the tsardom into a huge empire that became a major European power. He led a cultural revolution that replaced some of the traditionalist and medieval social and political system with a modern, scientific , Europe-oriented , and rationalist system. New dynastic struggles followed

8330-482: The headship of the defunct Imperial House of Russia. Legally, it remains unclear whether any ukase ever abolished the surname of Michael Romanov (or of his subsequent male-line descendants) after his accession to the Russian throne in 1613, although by tradition members of reigning dynasties seldom use surnames, being known instead by dynastic titles ("Tsarevich Ivan Alexeevich", "Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich", etc.). From January 1762 [ O.S. December 1761],

8449-466: The imperial family were moved by a formal military honor guard cortege from the airport to St Petersburg's Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral where they (along with several loyal servants who were killed with them) were interred in a special chapel near the tombs of their ancestors. At the cathedral, the remaining Romanov family hosted a formal funeral for Tsar Nicholas II attended by many relatives and representatives from nations worldwide. On 18 July 1918,

8568-576: The last living member of the Imperial Family born before the fall of the dynasty, and Prince Dmitri and Prince Nicholas Romanov . Among the other exiles who managed to leave Russia were Maria Feodorovna's two daughters, the Grand Duchesses Xenia Alexandrovna and Olga Alexandrovna , with their husbands, Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich and Nikolai Kulikovsky , respectively, and their children, as well as

8687-514: The leaders of the Old Prussian rebellion of 1260–1274 against the Teutonic order was named Glande. This legendary version of the Romanov's origin is contested by another version of their descent from a boyar family from Novgorod. His actual origin may have been less spectacular. Not only is Kobyla Russian for " mare ", some of his relatives also had as nicknames the terms for horses and other domestic animals, thus suggesting descent from one of

8806-419: The life of Farah Pahlavi in exile. In the play Liz Snoijink acted as Farah Diba. Empress Farah House of Romanov The House of Romanov (also transliterated as Romanoff ; Russian : Рома́новы , romanized :  Romanovy , IPA: [rɐˈmanəvɨ] ) was the reigning imperial house of Russia from 1613 to 1917. They achieved prominence after Anastasia Romanovna married Ivan

8925-424: The marriage was considered harmonious, producing six children and acquiring for Alexander the reputation of being the first tsar not known to take mistresses. His eldest son, Nicholas, became emperor upon Alexander III's death due to kidney disease at age 49 in November 1894. Nicholas reputedly said, "I am not ready to be tsar...." Just a week after the funeral, Nicholas married his fiancée, Alix of Hesse-Darmstadt ,

9044-524: The mass grave containing the remains of Nicholas II, Alexandra Feodorovna, and three of five Romanov children. The remains were found near Old Koptyaki road in Yekaterinburg, Russia. The grave contained 44 heavily degraded bone and tooth fragments. Avdonin released his discovery following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 prompting investigation by the Russian government. The area where

9163-507: The mass grave. The investigation concluded that Alexei and one Romanov daughter were missing. Experts continue to debate which daughter was missing from the grave as United States experts believe the missing child is Anastasia while Russian experts believe it to be Maria. Many believe that the two children that were not discovered in the grave managed to escape Russia before persecution. As for Nicholas II, scientists used mtDNA heteroplasmy using samples from Princess Xenia Cheremeteff Sfiri and

9282-522: The memoir as "abound[ing] with affection and sympathy for her countrymen." In 2009 the Persian-Swedish director Nahid Persson Sarvestani released a feature length documentary about Farah Pahlavi's life, entitled The Queen and I . The film was screened in various International film festivals such as IDFA and Sundance . In 2012 the Dutch director Kees Roorda made a theatre play inspired by

9401-668: The mine by the White Army in 1918, who arrived too late to rescue them. Their remains were placed in coffins and moved around Russia during struggles between the White and the opposing Red Army . By 1920 the coffins were interred in a former Russian mission in Beijing , now beneath a parking area. In 1981 Grand Duchess Elisabeth was canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia , and in 1992 by

9520-711: The monarchs of the Russian Empire claimed the throne as relatives of Grand Duchess Anna Petrovna of Russia (1708–1728), who had married Charles Frederick, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp . Thus they were no longer Romanovs by patrilineage , belonging instead to the Holstein-Gottorp cadet branch of the German House of Oldenburg that reigned in Denmark. The 1944 edition of the Almanach de Gotha records

9639-553: The monarchy. Pahlavi wrote in her memoirs that "there was an increasingly palpable sense of unease". Under these circumstances most of the Shahbanu's official activities were cancelled due to concerns for her safety. Riots and unrest grew more frequent and culminated in January 1979. The government enacted martial law in most major Iranian cities and the country was on the verge of an open revolution. Mohammad Reza and Farah departed Iran via aircraft on 16 January 1979. For more than

9758-580: The museum which were mostly communications with Queen Farah Diba's office before the 1979 Islamic Revolution were burned. The issue was revealed by Mehr News Agency in Tehran and created a lot of criticism in Persian-language media and social networks. Farah Pahlavi Farah Pahlavi ( Persian : فرح پهلوی ; née   Diba [ دیبا ]; born 14 October 1938) is the former Queen and last Empress ( شهبانو , Shahbânu ) of Iran and

9877-416: The name of Russia's ruling dynasty from the time of Peter III (reigned 1761–1762) as "Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov". However, the terms "Romanov" and "House of Romanov" often occurred in official references to the Russian imperial family. The coat-of-arms of the Romanov boyars was included in legislation on the imperial dynasty, and in a 1913 jubilee , Russia officially celebrated the "300th Anniversary of

9996-405: The orders of Vladimir Lenin . Late on the night of 16 July, Nicholas, Alexandra, their five children and four servants were ordered to dress quickly and go down to the cellar of the house in which they were being held. There, the family and servants were arranged in two rows for a photograph they were told was being taken to quell rumors that they had escaped. Suddenly, a dozen armed men burst into

10115-440: The others, including the young and frail tsarevich, would not die either from multiple close-range bullet wounds or bayonet stabs. The gunmen then proceeded to shoot each family member once again. Even so, two of the daughters were still alive 10 minutes later, and were then bludgeoned with the butt of a rifle ending their lives. Later it was discovered that the bullets and bayonet stabs had been partially blocked by diamonds sewn into

10234-410: The patron of 24 educational, health and cultural organizations. Her humanitarian role earned her immense popularity for a time, particularly in the early 1970s. During this period, she travelled a great deal within Iran, visiting some of the more remote parts of the country and meeting with the local citizens. Farah's significance was exemplified by her part in the 1967 Coronation Ceremonies, where she

10353-535: The peace. By developing the Imperial Russian Army , giving increased autonomy to Finland , and freeing the serfs in 1861 he gained much popular support for his reign. Despite his popularity, however, his family life began to unravel by the mid-1860s. In 1864, his eldest son, and heir, Tsarevich Nicholas , died suddenly. His wife, Empress Maria Alexandrovna , who suffered from tuberculosis, spent much of her time abroad. Alexander eventually turned to

10472-477: The performing arts was her patronage of the Shiraz Arts Festival . This occasionally controversial event was held annually from 1967 until 1977 and featured live performances by both Iranian and Western artists. The majority of her time, however, went into the creation of museums and the building of their collections. As a former architecture student, Farah's appreciation of it is demonstrated in

10591-564: The persistent legend that Anastasia, the youngest Romanov daughter, had survived the execution of her family. Of the several "Anastasias" that surfaced in Europe in the decade after the Russian Revolution, Anna Anderson, who died in the United States in 1984, was the most convincing. In 1994, however, scientists used DNA to prove that Anna Anderson was not the tsar's daughter but a Polish woman named Franziska Schanzkowska. Initially, gunmen shot at Nicholas who immediately fell dead as

10710-697: The populace and dethroned Ivan VI in a coup d'état , supported by the Preobrazhensky Regiment and the ambassadors of France and Sweden. Ivan VI was murdered in 1764 while imprisoned, and his parents died from illness during their captivity. The Holstein-Gottorps of Russia retained the Romanov surname, emphasizing their matrilineal descent from Peter the Great, through Anna Petrovna (Peter I's elder daughter by his second wife). In 1742, Empress Elizabeth of Russia brought Anna's son, her nephew Peter of Holstein-Gottorp , to St. Petersburg and proclaimed him her heir. In time, she married him off to

10829-529: The reforms the more liberal Alexander II had pushed through were reversed. Alexander had inherited not only his dead brother's position as Tsesarevich , but also his brother's Danish fiancée, Princess Dagmar. Taking the name Maria Feodorovna upon her conversion to Orthodoxy, she was the daughter of King Christian IX of Denmark and the sister of the future kings Frederik VIII and George I of Greece , as well as of Britain's Queen Alexandra , consort of Edward VII . Despite contrasting natures and backgrounds,

10948-472: The remains were found was near the old Koptyaki Road, under what appeared to be double bonfire sites about 70 meters (230 ft) from the mass grave in Pigs Meadow near Yekaterinburg. The archaeologists stated that the bones were from a boy who approximately between the ages of 10 and 13 years at the time of his death and of a young woman who was between the ages of 18 and 23 years old. At the time, Anastasia

11067-479: The resulting succession crisis , saw several pretenders and imposters lay claim to the Russian throne during the Polish-Lithuanian occupation . On 21 February 1613, the Zemsky Sobor elected Michael Romanov as tsar , establishing the Romanovs as Russia's second reigning dynasty. Michael's grandson, Peter I , who took the title of emperor and proclaimed the Russian Empire in 1721, transformed

11186-405: The room and gunned down the imperial family in a hail of gunfire. Those who were still breathing when the smoke cleared were stabbed to death. The remains of Nicholas, Alexandra and three of their children were excavated in a forest near Yekaterinburg in 1991 and positively identified two years later using DNA analysis. The Crown Prince Alexei and one Romanov daughter were not accounted for, fueling

11305-405: The son of Tsarevich Alexei, took the throne but died in 1730, ending the Romanov male line. He was succeeded by Anna I , daughter of Peter the Great's half-brother and co-ruler, Ivan V . Before she died in 1740 the empress declared that her grandnephew, Ivan VI , should succeed her. This was an attempt to secure the line of her father, while excluding descendants of Peter the Great from inheriting

11424-618: The spouses of Xenia's elder two children and her granddaughter. Xenia remained in England, following her mother's return to Denmark, although after their mother's death Olga moved to Canada with her husband, both sisters dying in 1960. Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna , widow of Nicholas II's uncle, Grand Duke Vladimir , and her children the Grand Dukes Kiril , Boris and Andrei , and Kiril's wife Victoria Melita and children, also managed to flee Russia. Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich ,

11543-437: The throne and later died without leaving a son. His brother, crowned Nicholas I , succeeded him on the throne in 1825. The succession was far from smooth, however, as hundreds of troops took the oath of allegiance to Nicholas's elder brother, Constantine Pavlovich who, unbeknownst to them, had renounced his claim to the throne in 1822, following his marriage. The confusion, combined with opposition to Nicholas' accession, led to

11662-530: The throne, requiring Orthodox faith for the monarch and dynasts, and for the consorts of the monarchs and their near heirs. Later, Alexander I , responding to the 1820 morganatic marriage of his brother and heir, added the requirement that consorts of all Russian dynasts in the male line had to be of equal birth (i.e., born to a royal or sovereign dynasty). Paul I was murdered in his palace in Saint Petersburg in 1801. Alexander I, succeeded him on

11781-403: The throne. Ivan VI was only a one-year-old infant at the time of his succession to the throne, and his parents, Grand Duchess Anna Leopoldovna and Duke Anthony Ulrich of Brunswick , the ruling regent, were detested for their German counselors and relations. As a consequence, shortly after Empress Anna's death, Elizabeth Petrovna , a legitimized daughter of Peter I, managed to gain the favor of

11900-618: The value of these holdings are conservatively estimated to be near US$ 2.8 billion. The collection created a conundrum for the anti-western Islamic Republic which took power after the fall of the Pahlavi Dynasty in 1979. Although politically the fundamentalist government rejected Western influence in Iran, the Western art collection amassed by Farah was retained, most likely due to its enormous value. It was, nevertheless, not publicly displayed and spent nearly two decades in storage in

12019-422: The vaults of the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art . This caused much speculation as to the fate of the artwork which was only put to rest after a large portion of the collection was briefly seen again in an exhibition that took place in Tehran during September 2005. By early 1978, dissatisfaction with Iran's imperial government was pronounced. By the end of the year, citizens were holding demonstrations against

12138-429: The worse. Suspecting the boyars of having poisoned his beloved, Ivan launched a reign of terror against them. Among his children by Anastasia, the eldest, Ivan , was murdered by the tsar in a quarrel; the younger Feodor , a pious but lethargic prince, inherited the throne upon his father's death in 1584. Throughout Feodor's reign (1584–1598), the tsar's brother-in-law, Boris Godunov , and his Romanov cousins contested

12257-495: Was assassinated by a hand-made bomb hurled by Ignacy Hryniewiecki . Slavic patriotism, cultural revival, and Panslavist ideas grew in importance in the latter half of this century, evoking expectations of a more Russian than cosmopolitan dynasty. Several marriages were contracted with members of other reigning Slavic or Orthodox dynasties ( Greece , Montenegro , Serbia ). In the early 20th century two Romanov princesses were allowed to marry Russian high noblemen – whereas, until

12376-407: Was 17 years old while Maria was 19 years. Their brother Alexei would have been 14 within two weeks of his murder. Alexei's elder sisters Olga and Tatiana were 22 and 21 years old at the time of the murder respectively. The bones were found using metal detectors and metal rods as probes. Also, striped material was found that appeared to have been from a blue-and-white striped cloth; Alexei commonly wore

12495-539: Was a carrier of the gene for haemophilia , inherited from her maternal grandmother , Queen Victoria. Her son, Alexei , the long-awaited heir to the throne, inherited the disease and suffered agonizing bouts of protracted bleeding, the pain of which was sometimes partially alleviated by Rasputin's ministrations. Nicholas and Alexandra also had four daughters: the Grand Duchesses Olga , Tatiana , Maria and Anastasia . The six crowned representatives of

12614-647: Was born on 14 October 1938 in Tehran to an upper-class family. She was the only child of Captain Sohrab Diba (1899–1948) and his wife, Farideh Ghotbi (1920–2000). In her memoir, Farah writes that her father's family were natives of Iranian Azerbaijan while her mother's family were of Gilak origin, from Lahijan on the Iranian coast of the Caspian Sea . In the late 19th century her grandfather had been

12733-570: Was crowned as the first shahbanu (empress) of modern Iran. It was again confirmed when the Shah named her as the official regent should he die or be incapacitated before the Crown Prince's 21st birthday. The naming of a woman as regent was highly unusual for a Middle Eastern or Muslim monarchy. The great wealth generated by Iran's oil encouraged a sense of Iranian nationalism at the Imperial Court. The Empress recalled of her days as

12852-405: Was crowned; Constantine renounced the throne before his brother's death, and Michael deferred his acceptance of the throne, effectively ending the monarchy. The February Revolution of 1917 resulted in the abdication of Nicholas II in favor of his brother Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich . The latter declined to accept imperial authority save to delegate it to the Provisional Government pending

12971-457: Was designed by Yves Saint Laurent , then a designer at the house of Dior , and she wore the newly commissioned Noor-ol-Ain Diamond tiara . After the pomp and celebrations associated with the imperial wedding, the success of this union became contingent upon the queen's ability to produce a male heir. Although he had been married twice before, the Shah's previous marriages had given him only

13090-431: Was first presented to Mohammed Reza Pahlavi. After returning to Tehran in the summer of 1959, Mohammad Reza and Farah Diba began their courtship. The couple announced their engagement on 23 November 1959. Farah Diba married Shah Mohammed Reza on 20 December 1959, aged 21. The young Queen of Iran (as she was styled at the time) was the object of much curiosity and her wedding received worldwide press attention. Her gown

13209-630: Was friends with Farah), allowed them to stay in Egypt. They also spent time in Morocco , where they were guests of King Hassan II , and in the Bahamas . When their Bahamian visas were not renewed, they went to Mexico and rented a villa in Cuernavaca near Mexico City during the summer of 1979. After leaving Egypt, Mohammad Reza's health further declined from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma . In October 1979,

13328-622: Was killed by the Bolsheviks. His morganatic son Prince Artemy Nikolayevich Romanovsky-Iskander was killed the following year in the Russian Civil War . In January 1919, revolutionary authorities killed Grand Dukes Dmitry Konstantinovich , Nikolai Mikhailovich , Paul Alexandrovich and George Mikhailovich , who had been held in the prison of the Saint Peter and Paul Fortress in Petrograd . The four Grand Dukes were buried in

13447-751: Was made through a conversation between herself and Jehan Sadat). Their request was granted and they returned to Egypt in March 1980, where they remained until the Shah's death four months later on 27 July 1980. After the Shah's death, Farah spent two years in Egypt, where President Anwar Sadat allowed her and the children to stay in the Koubbeh Palace . She was the regent in pretence from 27 July to 31 October 1980. A few months after President Sadat's assassination in October 1981, Farah and her family left Egypt. President Ronald Reagan informed her that she

13566-413: Was not until after the room had been cleared of smoke that the shooters re-entered to find the remaining imperial family still alive and uninjured. Maria attempted to escape through the doors at the rear of the room, leading to a storage area, but the doors were nailed shut. The noise produced as she rattled the doors attracted the attention of Ermakov. Some of the family were shot in the head, but several of

13685-401: Was physically impressive, being not only tall (1.93 m or 6'4", according to some sources), but of large physique and considerable strength. His beard hearkened back to the likeness of tsars of old, contributing to an aura of brusque authority, awe-inspiring to some, alienating to others. Alexander, fearful of the fate which had befallen his father, strengthened autocratic rule in Russia. Some of

13804-529: Was showing clear signs of impending revolution , prompting Farah and the Shah to leave the country in January 1979 under the threat of a death sentence. For that reason, most countries were reluctant to harbour them, with Anwar Sadat 's Egypt being an exception. Facing execution should he return, and in ill health, Mohammad Reza died in exile in July 1980. In widowhood, Farah has continued her charity work, dividing her time between Washington and Paris. Farah Diba

13923-534: Was sought by several impostors who attempted to claim the Rurikid legacy and throne during the Time of Troubles . False Dmitriy I made him a metropolitan , and False Dmitriy II raised him to the dignity of patriarch . Upon the expulsion of the Polish army from Moscow in 1612, the Zemsky Sobor offered the Russian crown to several Rurikid and Gediminian princes, but all declined the honour. On being offered

14042-474: Was uncertain with her main role being simply to give the Shah a male heir. Within the Imperial Household, her public function was secondary to the far more pressing matter of assuring the succession. However, after the birth of the Crown Prince, the Queen was free to devote more of her time to other activities and official pursuits. Like many other royal consorts, Farah initially limited herself to

14161-665: Was welcome in the United States. Farah first settled in Williamstown, Massachusetts and later bought a home in Greenwich, Connecticut . After the death of her daughter Princess Leila in 2001, she purchased a smaller home in Potomac, Maryland , near Washington, D.C. to be closer to her son and grandchildren. Farah divides her time between Washington, D.C. and Paris and makes an annual July visit to Mohammad Reza Shah's mausoleum at Cairo's al-Rifa'i Mosque . Farah attended

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