Shams Pahlavi was an Iranian royal of the Pahlavi dynasty, who was the elder sister of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran. During her brother's reign she was the president of the Red Lion and Sun Society.

Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, commonly referred to in the Western world as Mohammad Reza Shah, or just simply The Shah, was the last monarch of Iran. He began ruling the Imperial State of Iran after succeeding his father Reza Shah in 1941 and remained in power until he was overthrown by the 1979 Iranian Revolution, which abolished the country's monarchy and established the Islamic Republic of Iran. In 1967, he took up the title Shahanshah and held several others, including Aryamehr and Bozorg Arteshtaran.