A Crown, A Throne Could Not Be

My Advisers Built A Wall Between Myself And My People. I Didn't Realize What Was Happening. When I Woke Up, I Had Lost My People.

Many Westerners Forget That When The Prophet Spoke Of Four Wives As The Maximum Allowable Number, He Had In Mind A Reduction To Four As Compared To The Number Then Often Prevailing; Moreover, Mohammed Specified That A Man Should Acquire More Than One Wife Only If He Could Treat Them All With Equal Justice - Obviously A Difficult Feat For Even The Most Diligent Man To Achieve. In Effect, Then, The Prophet Curtailed The Number Of Wives.

The Shah Regarded Politics As The Province Of Demagoguery, An Art In Which Only Charlatans Could Excel. He Had No Time For What He Saw As The Tedious Process Of Achieving Consensus Through Debate And Discussion And Tried To Justify His Solitary Exercise Of Power By Insisting It Was What Iran Needed To Catch Up With Lost Time. He Believed He Was More Patriotic Than Anyone Else And Needed No Advice On How Best To Promote And Protect The Highest Interests Of The Nation.

Contrary To What Many Believed, My Father Was Kind And Tenderhearted, Especially Towards His Family. His Forbidding Sternness Seemed To Melt Into Love, Kindness, And Easy Familiarity When He Was With Us. Especially With Me, His Acknowledged Successor To The Throne, He Would Play Lightheartedly. When We Were Alone Together, He Would Sing Me Little Songs; I Don't Remember His Ever Doing This In Front Of Others, But When Only The Two Of Us Were There, He Would Often Sing To Me.

Let Me Tell You Quite Bluntly That This King Business Has Given Me Personally Nothing But Headaches.