May 16, 2018
Iran’s Foreign Ministry has asked the government to authorize the sale of Chateau Val Ory Moka in the Republic of Mauritius, where Reza Shah (1878-1944), the founder of the Pahlavi dynasty, spent the first six months of his life in exile.
Reza Shah abdicated on August 25, 1941, under pressure from the occupying British forces, which offered to keep his family in power if he agreed to live in exile. He was then taken by the British to Mauritius, then to Durban, and finally to Johannesburg, South Africa, where he died of a heart attack on July 26, 1944.
Reza Shah’s body was taken to the royal Al Rifai Mosque in Cairo, Egypt, where years later his son the exiled Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was buried. His remains were eventually returned to Iran In May 1950 and buried in a mausoleum in Shahr-e Ray, in the southern suburbs of the capital, Tehran.
Reza Shah’s tomb was destroyed after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, but his remains were never found until now. On April 23, construction workers at a shrine in Shahr-e Ray discovered a mummified body that most likely belongs to Reza Shah. It is unclear what the Iranian regime plans to do with the remains.
Iran, which is the legal owner of the Chateau Val Ory, has sold the majority of the Moka land in the last few decades. The dilapidated Chateau Val Ory is the only remaining part of Reza Shah’s sizable property. The building has fallen into ruin due to neglect.
With Mauritius fast becoming a popular tourist destination, its government is trying to give a complete face-lift to the island nation. Renovating Chateau Val Ory is part of this revitalization project.
