Mehrdad Pahlbod who died three years ago this month — was for 51 years the husband of Princess Shams, the sister of Mohammad Reza Shah. The couple had three children. Between 1964 and 1978, Mr. Pahlbod served as Minister of Culture and the Arts. After the Revolution, he and his family settled in the United States. Late in life, Mr. Pahlbod dictated his memoirs to the California-based author, producer and Universal Studios development executive Jerry Green. “Devotion: A Memoir of Mehrdad Pahlbod” was published a year after Mr. Pahlbod passed away at the age of 100. Mehrdad was 98 years old when we met. He still possessed a keen sense of wit, and I sensed at once that I was in the presence of a great man.
Mehrdad had the ability to lead and follow, be assertive and yet unassuming, demonstrate love but with firmness, hold to a structure and yet be flexible. He was a student of life – and what a life! Princess Shams’s aunt invited Mehrdad and his two handsome brothers to tea at the princess’s villa. It was enchanting to see Mehrdad’s personality become effervescent when describing his vision of first seeing her. “She was beautiful, radiant, glowing, resplendent, and so many other words that describe beauty and perfection,” he would say.
