Coronation of the Iranian monarch

The coronation usually takes place several months after the death of the monarch's predecessor, as it is considered a joyous occasion that would be inappropriate while mourning continues. This interval also gives planners enough time to complete the required elaborate arrangements. However, when Mohammad Reza Pahlavi took the oath of office in the National Consultative Assembly and became the Shah of Iran, the original coronation ceremony was postponed at his request. This meant that the coronation took place 26 years after the beginning of his reign.

History

Pre-Islamic era

Plutarch wrote in his Life of King Artaxerxes that the Persian king was required to go to the ancient capital of Pasargadae for his coronation ceremony. Once there, he entered a temple "to a warlike goddess, whom one might liken to Artemis" (whose name is unknown today, nor can this temple be located), and there divested himself of his own robe, substituting the one worn by Cyrus I at his crowning. After this, he had to consume a "frail" of figs, eat turpentine and drink a cup of sour milk. Plutarch observed that "if they add any other rites, it is unknown to any but those that are present at them". The two Sasanian empresses regnant, Boran and Azarmidokht, c. 630, were the two monarchs that were crowned as shahbanu.

Pahlavi era

The monarchs crowned themselves in elaborate coronation rituals, the latest of which were staged in Tehran, the capital since 1786. The first Pahlavi coronation took place in 1926, when Reza Shah, was crowned as shah and founded the Pahlavi dynasty on the same day of his coronation. The final coronation was that of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, which took place in 1967. His coronation is more notable since Farah Pahlavi, Mohammad Reza's spouse, was crowned shahbanu in 1967, a first since the Muslim conquest of Persia in the 7th century.