Shahnaz Pahlavi was born in Tehran on 27 October 1940. She is the only child of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and his first wife Princess Fawzia Fuad. Shahnaz is the half-sister of Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, Princess Farahnaz Pahlavi, Prince Ali Reza Pahlavi II and Princess Leila Pahlavi – the four children of the Shah by his third wife, Shahbanou Farah Pahlavi. Her maternal grandparents were King Fuad I and Queen Nazli of Egypt; and her paternal grandparents were Rezā Shāh Pahlavi and Queen Tadj ol-Molouk of Iran. She is also the niece of King Farouk I of Egypt and thus a cousin of the last Egyptian King, Fuad II.