Reza Pahlavi II (Persian: رضا پهلوی; born 31 October 1960) is the oldest son of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran, and his wife Farah Diba. Before the Islamic Revolution in 1979, he was the crown prince and the last heir apparent to the throne of the Imperial State of Iran. Today, Pahlavi resides in Great Falls, Virginia.
Pahlavi is the founder and leader of the self-styled National Council of Iran, an exiled opposition group, participates in the Iranian democracy movement, and is a prominent critic of Iran's Islamic Republic government.
Reza Pahlavi was born in Tehran as the eldest son of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran and Farah Pahlavi, the Shahbanu of Iran. Pahlavi's siblings include his sister Princess Farahnaz Pahlavi (born 1963), brother Prince Ali Reza Pahlavi (1966–2011), and sister Princess Leila Pahlavi (1970–2001), as well as a half-sister, Princess Shahnaz Pahlavi (born 1940).
When he was born, the Shah pardoned 98 political prisoners, and the government declared a 20% reduction in income tax. He studied at the eponymous "Reza Pahlavi School", a private school located in the royal palace and restricted to the imperial family and court associates.He was trained as a pilot; his first solo flight was at the age of 11, and he obtained his license a year later. He was a supporter of Taj Abadan football club.
As a cadet of the Imperial Iranian Air Force, he was sent to the United States in August 1978 to continue his pilot training. He was one of 43 cadet pilots in the one-year pilot training program at the former Reese Air Force Base, TX, which included flying the Cessna T-37 Tweet and Northrop T-38 Talon. As a result of the Iranian Revolution, he left the base in March 1979, about four months earlier than planned.
Pahlavi began studies at Williams College in September 1979, but dropped out in 1980. He then enrolled at The American University in Cairo as a political science student, but his attendance was irregular. In 1981, it was reported that he had dropped out of the program and continued his studies privately with Iranian professors, with a focus on Persian culture and history, Islamic philosophy, and oil in Iran.
Pahlavi obtained a BSc degree in political science by correspondence from the University of Southern California in 1985. He is fluent in English and French in addition to his native Persian.
