Rezā Shāh - Death

Death

Reza Shah was then moved by invading British forces into exile to British territories, first to Mauritius, then to Durban, thence Johannesburg, South Africa, where according to his British captors, he died on July 26, 1944 of a heart ailment about which he had been complaining for many years. (His personal doctor had boosted the King's morale in exile by telling him that he was suffering from chronic indigestion and not heart ailment. He lived on a diet of plain rice and boiled chicken in the last years of his life.) He was sixty-six years old at the time of his death.

After his death, his body was carried to Egypt, where it was embalmed and kept at the royal Al Rifa'i Mosque in Cairo, (also the future burial place of his son, the exiled Mohammad Reza Pahlavi). Many years later, the remains were flown back to Iran, where the embalming was removed, and buried in a beautifully designed and decorated mausoleum built in his honor at town of Ray, in the southern suburbs of the capital, Tehran. Satellite map The Iranian parliament (Majlis) later designated the title "the Great" to be added to his name. On January 14, 1979, shortly before the Iranian Revolution, the remains were moved back to Egypt and buried in the Al Rifa'i Mosque in Cairo.

Following the Revolution in 1979, Reza Shah's mausoleum was destroyed by the newly formed Islamic state, at the direction of Ayatollah Sadeq Khalkhali, which was sanctioned by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Many other historical sites were destroyed shortly thereafter.