His exile opened the way for the triumphant return from France on February 1, 1979 and the establishment of an Islamic republic. At first courted then dumped by the Americans, he drifted between Morocco, the Bahamas, Mexico, the United States and Panama, before being given asylum on March 24, 1980, by his only real ally, Egyptian president Sadat. Gravely ill on arrival, he was rushed by helicopter to a military hospital, where he had his spleen removed. He then had a long convalescence at Cairo’s Kubbeh Palace, surrounded by his wife, Farah Diba, and four children. But his health deteriorated.
