Life in Exile
After the Shah's death, the exiled Empress remained in Egypt for nearly two years. President Sadat gave her and her family use of Koubbeh Palace in Cairo. A few months after President Sadat’s assassination in October 1981, the Empress and her family left Egypt. President Ronald Reagan informed the Empress that she was welcome in the United States.
She first settled in Williamstown, Massachusetts but later bought a home in Greenwich, Connecticut. After the death of her daughter Princess Leila in 2001, she purchased a smaller home in Potomac, Maryland, near Washington, D.C., to be closer to her son and grandchildren. Empress Farah now divides her time between Washington D.C and Paris. She also makes an annual July pilgrimage to the late Shah's mausoleum at Cairo's al-Rifa'i Mosque.
The Empress supports charities, including the Annual Alzheimer Gala IFRAD (International Fund Raising for Alzheimer Disease) held in Paris.
She was featured in a Swedish documentary made by Swedish-Iranian film director Nahid Persson Sarvestani titled The Queen and I in 2008.
The Empress continues to appear at certain international royal events, such as the 2011 wedding of Albert II, Prince of Monaco, 2004 wedding of Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark, and the 2010 wedding of Prince Nikolaos of Greece and Denmark.
Read more about this topic: Farah Pahlavi
Famous quotes containing the words life in, life and/or exile:
“The only living works are those which have drained much of the author’s own life into them.”
—Samuel Butler (1835–1902)
“Their rebukes have never made me angry, because I have always wondered why they did not rebuke me more. They should have. Their friendly praise has been one of the sweetest, most warming things in my life in the theater. I do go on the stage unafraid of them and with love in my heart for them.”
—Minnie Maddern Fiske (1865–1932)
“The exile is a singular, whereas refugees tend to be thought of in the mass. Armenian refugees, Jewish refugees, refugees from Franco Spain. But a political leader or artistic figure is an exile. Thomas Mann yesterday, Theodorakis today. Exile is the noble and dignified term, while a refugee is more hapless.... What is implied in these nuances of social standing is the respect we pay to choice. The exile appears to have made a decision, while the refugee is the very image of helplessness.”
—Mary McCarthy (1912–1989)