| Summary/Abstract |
Reza Shah spent the last two years of his life in exile in Johannesburg, being allowed to relocate after several unhappy months on the island of Mauritius. He was more content in Johannesburg than in Mauritius. He took walks, was impressed by the broad avenues, the orderliness of the people and the presence of women in the workplace. He was able to receive visits from family members in Iran. However, problems remained. His sons were not getting a proper education. The royal family remained under British control. Colour bar problems arose regarding housing. Reza Shah grew restless, more reclusive, perhaps sensing he was nearing his last years. He asked repeatedly to move to a country nearer to Iran. But the British, believing it harmful to their interests to have Reza Shah anywhere near Persia, adamantly refused. In July 1944, Reza Shah suffered a massive, fatal heart attack, ending his long, unhappy exile. This article recounts the final years of a once powerful, much-feared autocrat reduced, due to the exigencies of war, to a humiliating exile in foreign lands and under conditions dictated not by himself but by an imperial power from whose influence he had strived to free Iran.
|