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With the title of imperial princess under her arm, a diplomatic passport in her purse , a pension of $ 7,000 a month and other trinkets bought by Mohammad Reza Pahleví such as a luxurious apartment in Paris, a Rolls-Royce Phantom IV or a 22 diamond, 37 carat set in platinum by Harry Winston, Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiari became a luxury migrant.

The Shah of Persia disowned his second wife as sterile in 1958. He tried to carve out a future as an actress in the Roma de la Dolce Vita, but failed in the attempt. However, there she fell in love again with Franco Indovina , who directed her in Three profiles of a woman (1965). They were to get married in 1972, but he died shortly before in a plane crash.

Again with a wounded heart, Prince Alfonso de Hohenlohe "invited her to come to Marbella because they already knew each other - Jaime Peñafiel says - but before he went through Ibiza and there I made the first report that he granted after the shah's rejection." As a great friend of the Pahleví, the journalist describes the former empress as "a very unhappy woman who resurfaced in Marbella under the protection of Alfonso de Hohenlohe . She was wonderful, she knew who she was, she knew how to admire herself and she was very nice."

The bombshell

Another veteran journalist, José Luis Yagüe, 85, witnessed Soraya's arrival in Marbella: "Prince Alfonso was almost a brother and he told me: 'It has been published that the Shah of Persia has repudiated Soraya because she couldn't have children. Do you know where she is? I have her at the hotel . " Yagüe was quick to react: "How? That's a bombshell. Let's see how we can do to create positive publicity for Marbella! They made some apparently stolen photos of him and with the headline Soraya, the woman with the most beautiful green eyes in the world takes refuge in the last paradise of Europe ', Marbella appeared in all the world's media ".

He bought Casa Maryam, an 800-square-meter mansion on the Golden Mile, and went for a walk dragging his weights of sadness . "At that time she frequented the Menchu ​​place and went to the bars, but we didn't pay any attention to her because it was not news. She had been the ex of the shah, but Persia was no longer anything. She took refuge in drinking, " says Yagüe.

One of his closest friends was the futurologist Rappel : "at his last party in Marbella enlivened by Los del Río he took off a medallion of diamonds that the Shah had given him with the inscription in Arabic 'May Allah be with you' and he gave it to me That night she asked me to open the dance with her. "

"Educated, but bland"

Some of his close friends were from the BNP Pariban bank , who were said to be the true owners of his mansion and, of course, he rubbed shoulders with Prince Alfonso de Hohenlohe, Adnan Khashoggi, Jesús Gil or Gunilla von Bismarck, who recalls that "he had sad green eyes, but he was so sweet, he loved to dance, he liked The Chorys, he wanted to enjoy life, but he was so sad that it didn't work. I liked him very well."

The life partner of the German aristocrat, Luis Ortiz, does n't mince words : " She was very polite, but more bland than the host. I dined next to her and I don't remember her speaking to me, or who I had on the other side. And look, I dined next to important people, like Queen Silvia of Sweden, with whom you die laughing. So I can't tell you if Soraya was nice or unpleasant because she was like a figure of I don't even know the voice he had, maybe it was mute (laughs) ".

When the summer season was over, he used to retire to his main residence on Avenue Montaigne in Paris, a few meters from where Marlene Dietrich lived. He would go to high-class saraos in some corner of the world and when temperatures rose he would return to the Costa del Sol. From the perspective of a lens, paparazzi Juan Carlos Teuma assures that "he saw a rather sad lady, he did not worry a lot for the photographers, he let himself be done, but he didn't get along with them either. " She died alone in her Parisian home in 2001 at the age of 69.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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