The last Empress of Iran has recalled her shock over her country's 1979 Islamic Revolution - and labelled it 'unbelievable' following her 43 years in exile.
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In an interview for Town&Country, Farah Pahlavi, 83, who was dubbed the Jackie Kennedy of the Middle East during her heyday, opened up about the overthrowing of her late husband Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
In 1979 the Shah, whose family had already fled to Egypt, was deposed and replaced with the hardline Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini - a shift that would have long-lasting and far-reaching implications.
With his liberalising reforms and harsh treatment of his political opponents, the Shah made an enemy of traditionalists in the country, and Khomeini, who had been living in exile in France, successfully returned and announced the creation of an Islamic republic.
The women's rights movement quickly regressed. Wearing the hijab was enforced, many of the liberties they had been granted were withdrawn and the female minister of education in Iran, Farrokhroo Parsa, was executed by firing squad.
Recalling the revolution, Farah admitted: 'It was very sad, and very hard, and we couldn't understand why our people were going in this direction when Iran was doing so much and moving forward.'
She added: 'I don't think that we didn't have problems. But even today, when I think about it, these were not problems to the point that they would lead to what happened.
'Countries change, governments that change for something better are not bad - but to go from Cyrus the Great to this is unbelievable.'
Remembering her time as an empress as 'beautiful', French-educated Farah described how her life was 'very full', filled with meeting kings, queens, presidents, artists and musicians.