involved in the kidnapping, torture, and assassination of General Mahmoud Afshartous, Mossadegh's chief of police, and bribed the Shah's twin sister Princess Ashraf Pahlavi to play a key role in the coup and to eventually become a power behind his resulting dictatorship. Darbyshire, on behalf of Prime Minister Winston Churchill, along with his American counterpart Stephen Meade who spoke for Secretary of State Foster Dulles, met with Princess Ashraf and persuaded her to return to Tehran and convince her brother to cooperate with their plan. Therefore he directed the British side of the coup by radio contact from Cyprus, controlling the street mobs, thugs, prostitutes and military officers who were paid off by the Rashidians. On 3 August 1954 he was transferred to the Foreign Office. When the Suez Crisis took place, Darbyshire was the station chief in Geneva, under cover as the consul since 20 April 1956. There he made contact with members of the Muslim Brotherhood with an aim to destabilize Egypt under leadership of Gamal Abdel Nasser. He had the same position in Bahrain, under cover as the First Secretary from 8 November 1958 onward. He was responsible for liaison with Oman's Internal Security Service (mainly staffed with British officers) and coordinating between the MI6, the Special Air Service and Military Intelligence during the Jebel Akhdar War. In that capacity, he also worked closely with Mossad and SAVAK against influence of Nasserite movement. In July 1960, he was called back to London. He worked in the group vetting the information provided by Soviet defector Oleg Penkovsky. Darbyshire returned to Tehran as station chief in 1963, on a mission lasting until 1967. Portrayal in film and television In the 2019 documentary Coup 53 by Taghi Amirani, actor Ralph Fiennes plays the part of Darbyshire. Awards Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (1953) Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (1961) References Footnotes Sources External links 1924 births 1993 deaths MI6 operatives in Iran British Special Operations Executive personnel British consuls Members of the Order of the British Empire Officers of the Order of the British Empire