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 and/or exile:
“The sweetest joys of life grow in the very jaws of its perils.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)
“the bird in the poplar tree
dreaming, his head
tucked into
far-and-near exile under his wing ...”
—Denise Levertov (b. 1923)