Farah Pahlavi

Wait! Before any of you lefties get mad at me, hear me out. Yes she is a royal and I hate royals, they tend to be worthless. I mean, when I lived in England I had to be vocal in my anti-monarchy stance because there are a lot of people there who still adore those leeches. And I certainly was always taught to reject the Greek pseudo-monarchs (they were installed by the Austro-Hungarian incestuous worldwide royalty mafia in the late 1800s when Greece was in a very weak moment). But, I have to say, I have a soft spot for Farah Pahlavi. She is the former Empress of Iran and frankly she's hot.
I know, she was the Shah's wife and she and he lived in ludicrous opulence while much of the country was living in (forgive the term) the third world and their regime was torturing and silencing dissidents. But, but, but... there are lots of pluses to Her Imperial Highness Farah:

1. She was always pretty damn gorgeous. Call me superficial.
2. She founded the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, which was and is a world class collection, though few have seen it.
3. She agreed to take part in the fascinating documentary The Queen and I, albeit after threatening to shut down the production on various occasions.

This documentary, directed by and co-starring Nahid Persson Sarvestani, is the reason I am currently obsessed. It just recently premiered on HBO and it's super engaging. Sarvestani grew up in Iran and by the time she and her brother were teens they were passing out pamphlets as part of the anti-Shah movement which led to the revolution. After her brother was hanged after the revolution by the Ayatollah, Sarvestani and her child went into exile like the Shah and Farah (though certainly in a different type of exile). So the meeting between these two women is, needless to say, fraught with tension but leads to an awkward friendship which is what makes the film so watchable. The Queen is now 71 (she was married at 21 and widowed at 42) and still looks fantastic in her suits and salon coiffed hair (which unfortunately the cameras were not allowed to film her having done). Sarvestani goes to events and fundraisers with the queen and visits the Shah's grave with the queen and really (politely) hits her with some tough questions. Farah ends up handling herself quite well, and looking good. Watch it. It's on HBO.

Here are some more pictures of Farah.