Monarchy
Following in a line of Persian dynasties stretching back 3000 years, the Pahlavi dynasty was founded early in the twentieth century. The revolution of 1979 led to the replacement of the Persian constitutional monarchy (de facto absolute monarchy) with an Islamic republic. Although he currently lives in exile, Pahlavi is still regarded by some Iranians as the current Shah of Iran. After the death of his father, Mohammad-Rezā Shāh Pahlavi, Pahlavi symbolically declared himself Shāhanshāh (Literally, King of Kings in Persian) at the age of 21, but now his press releases refer to him as either "Reza Pahlavi" or "the former Crown Prince of Iran".
Read more about this topic: Reza Pahlavi
Famous quotes containing the word monarchy:
“Montesquieu well knew, and justly admired, the happy constitution of this country [Great Britain], where fixed and known laws equally restrain monarchy from tyranny and liberty from licentiousness.”
—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (1694–1773)
“People think they have taken quite an extraordinarily bold step forward when they have rid themselves of belief in hereditary monarchy and swear by the democratic republic. In reality, however, the state is nothing but a machine for the oppression of one class by another, and indeed in the democratic republic no less than in the monarchy.”
—Friedrich Engels (1820–1895)
“How can a monarchy be a suitable thing, which allows a man to do as he pleases with none to hold him to account. And even if you were to take the best man on earth, and put him into a monarchy, you put outside him the thoughts that usually guide him.”
—Herodotus (c. 484–424 B.C.)