Soraya To Revisit London In April

Press, Volume C, Issue 29458, 9 March 1961, Page 2

Soraya To Revisit London In April

IBV SUSAN VAUGHAN) LONDON. Former Queen Soraya will spend a week in London next month. It will be her first visit to Britain since 1955—a visit so utterly different in character from the earlier one that a lifetime and not merely six short years might divide them.

On her last visit, Soraya was the wife of His lipperial Majesty Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlevi, ruler of all Persia. Now she is a divorced woman, a private citizen.

Instead of a semi-state reception she will have simply the attention of the staff at a good hotel. Instead of banquets and formal parties there will be meetings with English directors of the European motor firm of which Soraya has recently become a director. So much has changed—but, of course, not everything. The trappings of royalty cannot be discarded completely and Soraya would not wish it so.

The Shah, who divorced Soraya because she was childless, still retains great affection for her. He allows

her to keep her diplomatic passport, and a jewel collection worth nearly £1 million. And Soraya can call on any Persian Embassy to treat her “both materially and morally” with the honour of her former rank. Used to Dignity Of course, apart from her marriage, Soraya is used to the dignity that stems from a privileged position. She was born on June 22, 1932, the daughter of a Persian chieftain and Moscowborn German mother. Sb-’

had a roving childhoodkindergarten in Berlin, school in Switzerland and London.

The meeting between Soraya and the Shah was hardly romantic in the Western sense. The Shah, who had divorced his first wife, Fawzia, because she had not borne him an heir, was looking around for a second wife. He was shown a snapshot of Soraya and asked to meet her. A few months later their engagement was announced.

But in spite of the formality that surrounded their meeting, there is no doubt that theirs was a love match. Soraya still tells her intimate friends: "I can never stop loving the king, even today.” Names Fade Away That is why she toured the world consulting the most eminent gynaecologists when the long-awaited child refused to arrive. It is also why—since the divorce—the numerous names linked with Soraya seem to fade away without the expected marriage materialising. Remember some of them? The millionaire Count Francesco Pignatari, the German Baron Dieter Von Malsenponickay, Harald Krupp, of the armaments firm, the Italian Prince Raimondo Orsini, and—currently— Hugh O’Brian, who plays Wyatt Earp on television.

Raven-haired, green-eyed Soraya. who has roamed the world in search of diversion, is one of the world's most restless, misunderstood and bored women. But marriage —after being the bride of a king—is evidently not the solution of her troubles. And business—the motorcar business? Well, evidently she considers it worth a try.