You've probably seen a meme circulating that shows the so-called "Princess Qajar."

It's a set of black and white photos showing an Iranian woman with a mustache, unibrow, and unusual clothes.  A typical caption reads something like: "this woman was a great beauty in her day. 13 men committed suicide after she spurned their advances!"

We're meant to be shocked that this "uggo" could command such devotion.

But who is the real woman behind the pretty blatantly racist and sexist meme?

In this episode we dig into the lives of two women who saw Iran's attempted transformation from Western puppet to independent nation.

Esmat Al-Dawlha and Taj Al-Sultanah

Sources:

Articles:
https://abitofhistoryblog.com/tag/esmat-al-dowleh/

http://royal-splendor.blogspot.com/2018/07/princess-qajar.html

https://positivenegativeimpact.com/princess-qajar

https://historyofyesterday.com/the-beauty-symbol-from-the-19th-century-proves-that-
beauty-is-determined-by-society-aa8e2a0260c0

Books:
Al-Saltaneh, T., Neshati, A., Amanat, A., & Vanzan, A. (2021). Crowning Anguish: Memoirs of a Persian Princess from the Harem to Modernity. Macmillan Publishers.

Ingenito, D. (2020). Beholding Beauty Sadi of Shiraz and the Aesthetics of Desire in Medieval Persian Poetry (Brill Studies in Middle Eastern Literatures). BRILL.

Keddie, N. R. (2012). Qajar Iran and the Rise of Reza Khan 1796–1925. Mazda Pub.

Shah, N. A., Redhouse, J. W., Iran, S. O., & William, J. (2012). The diary of H.M. the Shah of Persia, during his tour through Europe in A.D. 1873. By J.W. Redhouse. A verbatim translation. Ulan Press.


Websites:
www.britannica.com
www.qajarwomen.org
www.biographypedia.com


Music:
Market by PeriTune | http://peritune.com
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

Farda to miyaee by Houshmand Aghili
https://www.easypersian.com/

Psalm 23 by Toyohiko Santoh
www.archive.org