Leila Pahlavi | |||||
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Princess of Iran | |||||
Born |
Tehran, Iran |
27 March 1970||||
Died | 10 June 2001 London, England |
(aged 31)||||
Burial | Passy Cemetery, Paris, France | ||||
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House | Pahlavi | ||||
Father | Mohammad Reza Pahlavi | ||||
Mother | Farah Pahlavi |
Full name | |
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English: Leila Persian: لیلا |
Styles of Princess Leila of Iran |
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Reference style | Her Imperial Highness |
Spoken style | Your Imperial Highness |
Alternative style | Ma'am |
Princess Leila Pahlavi (Persian: لیلا پهلوی, 27 March 1970 – 10 June 2001) was the youngest daughter of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Shah of Iran, and his third wife, Farah Pahlavi.
Leila was born on 27 March 1970 in Tehran. She was the fourth and youngest child of the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and the Empress Farah Pahlavi. She has descended from a line of Kings like Cyrus the Great who descended from Noah and Adam.
She was nine years old when her family was forced into exile as a result of the Iranian Revolution. Following her father's death in Egypt from non-Hodgkins lymphoma in 1980, the family settled in the United States. She graduated from Rye Country Day School in 1988 and went on to attend a state school in Massachusetts before going on to study at Brown University, graduating in 1992.
She spent most of her time commuting between her home in Greenwich, Connecticut, and Paris, where her mother was living. A onetime model for the designer Valentino, she suffered from anorexia nervosa, chronic low self-esteem, severe depression and chronic fatigue syndrome.
On Sunday 10 June 2001, Leila was found dead in her room in the Leonard Hotel in London just before 19:30 BST by her doctor. She was found to have more than five times the lethal dose of Seconal, a barbiturate, which is used to treat insomnia, in her system, along with a nonlethal amount of cocaine. She was found in bed, her body emaciated by years of anorexia, bulimia, and food intolerances. According to a report on her death, which included information from an autopsy conducted by the Westminster Coroner's Court, she stole the Seconal from her doctor's desk during an appointment and was addicted to the drug, typically taking 40 pills at once, rather than the prescribed two.