SORAYA: The Autobiography of Her Imperial Highness

by Princess Soraya ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 9, 1964

The ex-Empress of Iran wrote this to publicize the fact that she hates publicity. It is a translation from the German and may have lost spark in the translation because neither the princess nor the people she speaks of seem to have a personality. It is a curious sliver of autobiography -- rushing through her family background and girlhood with few anecdotes and no self-analysis. Much of the tragic/romantic potential in being cast off for failure to produce a son and heir for the Peacock throne is dissipated in the recitation of the businesslike arrangement of her marriage to the Shah and the businesslike divorce. The Shah is described as a dedicated, abstemious and autocratic man. She found his sisters insinuating, his mother unbending and his Court conniving. Her own efforts as Empress were ceremonial and charitable, but at least once political. For the first time anywhere, Soraya claims that she thought of and urged the Shah's coup against his unstable Prime Minister Mossadegh. (Maybe she just hates publicity, not history.) Reports of a horde of handsome men since the divorce are dismissed as just a few and just good friends. There isn't much here that wouldn't fit into a long ladies magazine serial.

Pub Date: Oct. 9, 1964

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1964

Categories: NONFICTION