1/I just finished watching @GameOfThrones, the TV series based on the books by @GRRMspeaking. There are scenes in the show depicting the clash between crown and clergy that have actual real world counterparts. Let me tell you a story from Iran.

2/Although my story refers to accounts claiming to describe a real event, there are as usual various muddied versions of this account, and we can never be sure the extent to which it "really" happened and exactly how it happened.

3/Remember that scene in @GameOfThrones where the young King Tommen goes to the Sept to confront the high sparrow about the detainment of his mother and wife? The Shah of Iran reportedly had a similar confrontation, but with a different outcome.

4/I'm referring to an account of Reza Shah, the first king of the Pahlavi dynasty in Iran who ruled from 1925-1941. He clashed with the Islamic clergy often during his aggressive agenda of modernization, especially over the hijab. He straight up BANNED the hijab in 1936.

5/You can read about Reza Shah's hijab ban and its consequences in my thread as guest tweeter on @HistoriansOfIran here: https://twitter.com/HistorianofIran/status/1263526577440124928

6/SO as this account goes, to enforce the hijab ban, the Shah sent his wife the Queen and a few women of the court to an important mosque around Tehran, tasked to enter the mosque WITHOUT the traditional hijab / veil, and instead wearing just hats.

7/The clergy at the mosque who were lead by a famous ayatollah actually refused to let the queen in! "Not without the veil," they said. Reminds me of those moments in #GoT where we all thought whaaat?! Can they even DO that!?

8/So the Queen sends a message to the Shah and updates him on the situation. What happens next? Shortly after, the Shah HIMSELF arrives at the mosque. Everyone is surprised and waiting to see what happens. OH THE SUSPENSE!

9/In some variations of this account, the Shah also brings his chief of military (Taymur Tash) and surrounds the mosque with artillery and armor! (Needless to say, the pics in my tweets are not actual pics of the event.)

10/Reportedly the Shah gets out of his car, walks straight into the mosque, grabs two clergymen standing in the way by the neck, and shoves them into the mosque's courtyard pool! The queen and her company then enter.

11/In other variations the Shah or his military chief, personally enter the building of the mosque without taking off their boots (thus violating the sanctity of the mosque), go after the head ayatollah, and drag him out by his beard! He is imprisoned for 6 months & later exiled.

12/Again I emphasize doubts about this story because many historians of the era don't mention it and because there is no record of any protests or uproar against the Shah after this event. Also, various accounts pin different dates and locations on it.

13/My own introduction to the story was through the book by Dr. Eliz Sanasarian (1982) "The Women's Rights Movement in Iran: Mutiny, Appeasement and Repression from 1900 to Khomeini" THE END.