The feast of the Shah of Persia with truffle pearl stuffed quail eggs

Before landing in Iran, Queen Ingrid of Denmark and her daughter Anna Maria of Greece were worried about the jewels they would wear at the celebrations of the 2,500 years of the founding of the Persian empire by Cyrus II the Great that would take place between the October 12 and 14, 1971. The wife of Constantine II of Greece decided on the carat of the Romanov emeralds, but Miguel of Greece, cousin of the monarch, exclaimed that whatever he chose, his stones would look like peanuts comparing them with the Persian treasure.

And he was not on the wrong track because at the official dinner on October 14 five decades ago, Farah Diba wore the Noor-ul-Ain tiara designed by Harry Winston with 324 yellow, white and pink diamonds set in platinum, with one of the world's largest pink diamonds at 60 carats.

From his throne of solid gold and 27,000 precious stones, Muhammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Persia, King of Kings, Light of the Aryans and Shadow of the Almighty wanted to honor his ancestor Cyrus II the Great. While it is true that he modernized the country through the White Revolution, his Western education, his obsession with making a young dynasty like the Pahlavis internationally known, and the nationalization of oil laid the foundations for a titanic omnipotence. . While more than half of the population lived below the poverty line due to lack of water and infrastructure, the Shah decided to organize what the Guinness Book of Records continues to classify as the most expensive party in history. At the current exchange rate, about 700 million euros.

"That cost him the throne," our collaborator Jaime Peñafiel, one of the few survivors of that odyssey, assures LOC "because there has never been anything like it in history. And there never will be." From his Parisian exile, Ayatollah Khomeini warmed up: "This is the devil's party." In his book The Shah or the Excess of Power, Kapuscinski makes it clear that the oil profits went to the coffers of the Almighty. Persepolis was a great desert and became a garden. 15,000 trees and 50,000 songbirds brought from Europe plus another 20,000 sparrows from Spain were imported. A few days later they died because it was not their habitat.

A 1,000-kilometre highway was paved from Tehran to Persepolis, the royal guard sported Lanvin designs, 250 red Mercedes limousines whisked guests away, and a 50-tent palatial citadel was built from 37 kilometers of natural silk. The Parisian firm Maison Jansen was in charge of all the decoration. On October 14, the great banquet was held in the main tent of 68 meters by 28 meters from whose ceiling Bohemian chandeliers fell, the table linen was from Porthault, the tableware from Limoges with the coat of arms of the imperial family painted and the glassware from Baccarat .

A serpentine table of almost 80 meters presided over by the Shah of Persia and the Shabanu seated numerous crown heads and heads of state, among them, the then Prince Juan Carlos and Princess Sofía, Federico IX of Denmark, Olav V of Norway, Carlos Gustavo of Sweden, Baldwin and Fabiola of Belgium, Rainier of Monaco and Grace Kelly, the Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie I, Imelda Marcos, the dictators Mobutu and Ceausescu, the American Vice President Spiro Agnew or Felipe de Edinburgh with his daughter Princess Anne. In front of the presidential table, 42 oval tables were set up for 12 guests. One of the most serious problems occurred when a storm in the area messed up the hairstyles and tiaras of the guests.

Dinner was served by Maxim's in Paris. During those days they hoarded 18 tons of food. Before Pierre Cardin bought the restaurant, Louis Vaudable told his chef Michel Menant: "You are going to make history." This coordinated the more than 160 chefs brought from Paris, Monte Carlo and St. Tropez supervised by Max Blouet, former manager of the George V in Paris. The menu was bound in turquoise and lapis lazuli satin covers woven with the emblem of the imperial house in gold.

In the text printed in Persian and French in black and gold on vellum decorated with gold medallions and arabesques, the following could be read: quail eggs with truffle pearls, crayfish mousse, loin of lamb stuffed and roasted in its juices, vintage champagne sorbet, peacock imperial style, salad invented by Alexandre Dumas, fig turban garnished with port raspberries and mocha coffee. To drink, 2,500 bottles of champagne, 1,000 of Burgundy, 1,000 of Bordeaux wine and other wines.

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