Reza Pahlavi accepted the Friedrich Naumann Foundation’s Freedom Prize in Frankfurt on November 7, 2026, describing himself as a temporary custodian of the award for the Iranian people. Police said about 18,000 people gathered in the city to support him.
The prize was presented at St. Paul’s Church, where Germany’s first elected parliament met in 1848–49. The foundation is linked to the pro-business Free Democratic Party. The award was made to the Iranian people, with Pahlavi accepting it on their behalf, according to AFP.
“I hold it only temporarily,” Pahlavi said, adding that he hoped one day to place it in Tehran “in the hands of its rightful owners.” He said Iran was not waiting to be taught democracy, but was being prevented from practicing it. Supporters in the crowd chanted, “Long live the shah, long live Iran!”
Pahlavi is the son of Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, Iran’s last shah, who was deposed in the 1979 revolution. The revolution led to the establishment of the Islamic Republic. Reza Pahlavi has previously offered to lead a transitional government if Iran undergoes a democratic transition, while saying that the future form of government should be decided by referendum.
The ceremony drew objections as well as support. Frankfurt’s branches of the Social Democrats and the Greens boycotted the event, saying Pahlavi could not be treated as a legitimate representative of the Iranian people. A letter signed by about 200 prisoners in Iran also protested the award, according to a spokeswoman for the Society for German-Iranians in Hesse. The letter called Pahlavi a symbol of a “bygone dictatorship.”
Nicole French 
Reid Bentley