The Barren Queen

The primary purpose of a queen is to have children. In Moslem kingdoms such as Iran, where only a man can ascend the throne, it is of even greater primacy that they be male.

One bright morning last month, a procession of elderly courtiers and politicians trooped into Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlevi's palace to discuss "crucial matters which have vital importance for the future of the monarchy." The "matters" boiled down to one: the failure of beautiful, 25-year-old Queen Soraya to produce an heir in seven years of marriage.

Slim, Westernized Soraya rushed to Switzerland, probably for a new series of "medical checkups." In Zurich, to conceal her purpose from the press, the green-eyed Queen bought 17 ski costumes, new skis, mufflers, mittens, jaunty knitted caps. But she went skiing only twice, to the dismay of the instructor placed wholly at her disposal. The Queen's German mother played solitaire all day, brooded and developed a facial tic. The Queen ate little, leaving her untouched trays out on the terrace to feed the birds. There were no 7 p.m. phone calls from the Shah, routine on previous trips. Soraya could reflect on the fate of her predecessor, Queen Fawzia, sister of Egypt's former King Farouk. She was able to give the Shah only a daughter, and was divorced (in 1948). But the Shah is reportedly deeply in love with the svelte Soraya (as he was not with Fawzia), and she with him.

When word came that Soraya's father, Iran's Ambassador to West Germany, had broken his leg in a fall, Soraya threw on a mink coat and, with her mother, her Skye terrier and 42 pieces of luggage, set off for Cologne. Two days later her uncle, Assad Bakhtiari, arrived from Teheran as an emissary of the 38-year-old Shah, held a three-hour bargaining session with Soraya and her parents in a carnation-filled embassy room dominated by a huge oil painting of the Shah. His reported offer: unless Soraya agreed to the Shah's taking a second wife who might provide him with a son, he would divorce her. To the second-wife plan, Soraya reportedly gave an "angry and disgusted" no. If the second wife bore a son, she would inevitably become "the" Queen, and Soraya's standing would be sharply downgraded. As for divorce, Soraya shrugged resignedly: "Insh' Allah!" (As God wills it!).

At week's end the disconsolate Queen was trying to find amusement at roulette, the movies and television. Back in Teheran, some courtiers felt sure that, on reflection, Soraya would reconcile herself to sharing the Shah with another wife. Said one courtier: "Women have been known to change their minds."

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