Jahanbani was born on 27 February 1941 and was the youngest son of general Amanullah Jahanbani, great grandson of Fath Ali Shah. His mother, Helen Kasminsky, was from the Russian aristocracy in Petrograd. His grandfather served as governor of Azerbaijan. He was the younger brother of Nader Jahanbani who was executed in February 1979 after the Iranian revolution. Jahanbani was married to Shahnaz Pahlavi, the eldest daughter of Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi. They married at the Embassy in Paris in February 1971. In a publication of the argued that the marriage was not supported by Shahnaz Pahlavi’s father, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
