Neslishah

Murat Bardakçi, Meyzi Baran

Description

A Life of Palaces and Exile from Istanbul to Cairo
Twice a princess, twice exiled, Neslishah Sultan had an eventful life. When she was born in Istanbul in 1921, cannons were fired in the four corners of the Ottoman Empire, commemorative coins were issued in her name, and her birth was recorded in the official register of the palace. After all, she was an imperial princess and the granddaughter of Sultan Vahiddedin. But she was the last member of the imperial family to be accorded such honors: in 1922 Vahiddedin was deposed and exiled, replaced as caliph-but not as sultan-by his brother (and Neslishah's other grandfather) Abdülmecid; in 1924 Abdülmecid was also removed from office, and the entire imperial family, including three-year-old Neslishah, were sent into exile.
Sixteen years later on her marriage to Prince Abdel Moneim, the son of the last khedive of Egypt, she became a princess of the Egyptian royal family. And when in 1952 her husband was appointed regent for Egypt's infant king, she took her place at the peak of Egyptian society as the country's first lady, until the abolition of the monarchy the following year. Exile followed once more, this time from Egypt, after the royal couple faced charges of treason. Eventually Neslishah was allowed to return to the city of her birth, where she died at the age of 91 in 2012.
Based on original documents and extensive personal interviews, this account of one woman's extraordinary life is also the story of the end of two powerful dynasties thirty years apart.
Contents
Ottoman Titles
Turkish Spelling and Pronunciation
Neslishah's Family Tree
Who's Who
Preface
Prologue
Part One
Turkey: A Cold Night in March
1: Waiting for O
2: Last Entry in the Register
3: The Muddy Roads of Çatalca
Part Two
Europe: The Difficult Job of a Princess
4: Funeral of a Sultan
5: The Carpet under the Sacred Sculpture
Part Three
Egypt: A Bride in the Land of the Pharaohs
6: Forced Engagement, Consenting Marriage
7: Moonlit Nights and Nights of Fear
Part Four
Turkey: Was the Caliph Muslim?
8: The Duke of Windsor's Can-Can
9: All That Is Beautiful Has Been Built by My Grandfathers
Epilogue
Notes
Index

Sujets

• Lettres et linguistique
• Biography
• Royalty
• Autobiography

Informations

• Publié par: The American University in Cairo Press
• Date de parution: 12 novembre 2017
• Nombre de lectures: 3
• EAN13: 9781617978449
• Langue: English

Extrait

NESLISHAH
NESLISHAH
THE LAST OTTOMAN PRINCESS
MURAT BARDAKÇI
The American University in Cairo Press Cairo New York
This electronic edition published in 2017 by The American University in Cairo Press 113 Sharia Kasr el Aini, Cairo, Egypt 420 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10018 www.aucpress.com
Copyright © 2011, 2017 by Murat Bardakçı
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
ISBN 978 977 416 837 6 eISBN 978 1 61797 844 9
Version 1
Contents
Turkish Spelling and Pronunciation
Ottoman Titles
Neslishah’s Family Tree
Who’s Who
Prefacex
Prologue
Part One Turkey: A Cold Night in March
1. Waiting for Oğuz Osman
2. Last Entry in the Register
3. The Muddy Roads of Çatalca
Part Two Europe: The Difficult Job of a Princess
4. Funeral of a Sultan
5. The Carpet under the Sacred Sculpture
Part Three Egypt: A Bride in the Land of the Pharaohs
6. A Forced Engagement, a Marriage by Consent
7. Moonlight and Nights of Fear
8. A First Lady Arrested
9. Looking for a Gentleman to Shake Hands With
10. Password: “Unnnnn!”
Part Four Turkey: Was the Caliph a Muslim?
11. The Duke of Windsor’s Conga
12. All That Is Beautiful Has Been Made by My Grandfathers
Epilogue
Notes
Turkish Spelling and Pronunciation
T urkish names of places and persons in this book are spelled in the Turkish manner, except for Neslishah (Neslişah) and Istanbul (İstanbul).
Approximate pronunciation of special characters in the Turkish alphabet:
c as j in jacket
ç as ch in chair
ş as s in sugar
ı/I as a in about
i/İ as ee as in feet
ö as in German König
ü as u in French tu
ğ lengthens a preceding vowel
Ottoman Titles
A n Ottoman emperor had the title Sultan , which preceded his given name, as in Sultan Vahideddin. He would be addressed as Efendimiz .
The sons of the emperor were called Ş ehzade (Imperial Prince), while the daughters used the title Sultan (Imperial Princess) following the given name, as in Neslishah Sultan.
In addressing a şehzade, his first name was followed by the word Efendi , as in Faruk Efendi. The imperial princesses were addressed as Sultan Efendi .
The sons of the şehzades retained the title of their fathers, the daughters used the title Sultan , while the sons of the imperial princesses were known as Beyzade or Sultanzade and their daughters as Hanımsultan —they were princes and princesses, but of a lower status than a şehzade or a female sultan.
Ottoman dynastic law was patrilineal, whereby the affiliation to the dynasty was passed from father to son and continued through the male line. All şehzades and female sultans were members of the imperial dynasty, while the children of the hanımsultans and the sultanzades were not members of the dynasty but only part of the Ottoman family. The same was true of the wives of the sultans, who used the title Kadınefendi .
At the beginning of the Ottoman Empire, the succession to the throne was based on the system of primogeniture, whereby the first born son of the sultan became the ruler of the empire. Later, seniority prevailed and the oldest male member of the dynasty inherited this position.

Who’s Who
Abbas Hilmi II (Alexandria 14 July 1874 – Geneva 20 December 1944): The son of Khedive Tewfik Pasha and the father of Prince Mohamed Abdel Moneim. Egypt’s last khedive and Neslishah Sultan’s father-in-law. Deposed by the British in 1914 for his unfaltering allegiance to the Ottoman Empire. He died in exile.
Abdülmecid Efendi (Istanbul 30 May 1868 – Paris 23 August 1944): The son of Sultan Abdülaziz, the cousin of Sultan Vahideddin, and the last Ottoman caliph. The father of Prince Ömer Faruk Efendi and Princess Dürrüşehvar. The father-in-law of Sabiha Sultan, daughter of Sultan Vahideddin. The grandfather of the princesses Neslishah, Hanzade, and Necla, as well as the princes Barakat Jah and Karamat Jah.
Ali Haydar Bey Germiyanoğlu (Istanbul 20 September 1889 – Istanbul 1968): Sultan Vahideddin’s son-in-law through his marriage to the sultan’s eldest daughter Princess Ulviye. Ali Haydar was her second husband.
Amr Ibrahim (Cairo 18 April 1903 – Montreux 1977): Egyptian prince. The husband of Necla Heybetullah Sultan, Neslishah Sultan’s youngest sister and Prince Osman Rifaat Ibrahim’s father.
Dürrüşehvar Sultan (Istanbul 26 January 1914 – London 7 February 2006): Ottoman imperial princess, daughter of the Ottoman caliph Abdülmecid Efendi and sister of Prince Ömer Faruk Efendi, who became the son-in-law of Sultan Vahideddin. Princess Dürrüşehvar was Neslishah’s aunt and married Azam Jah, son of the nizam of Hyderabad, Osman Khan.
Emine Nazikeda Kadınefendi (Sohum 9 October 1866 – Cairo 1944): Sultan Vahideddin’s first wife and last ba ş kadın efendi (title given to the first wife of the sultan) of the Ottoman Empire. The mother of Ulviye Sultan and Sabiha Sultan.
Farouk (Cairo 11 February 1920 – Rome 18 March 1965): The son of King Fuad and second king of Egypt. He ascended the throne at the age of sixteen upon his father’s death. Some members of the Egyptian royal family thought it suitable that he should marry Neslishah Sultan. After the Free Officers’ revolution of 23 July 1952 he was exiled to Europe and died in Rome while having a meal in a restaurant.
Faisal (Baghdad 2 February 1935 – Baghdad 14 July 1958): The third and last king of Iraq. While engaged to Princess Fazile Ibrahim, the daughter of Neslishah Sultan’s sister, Hanzade Sultan, he was murdered during the revolution in Iraq together with other members of his family.
Fuad (Cairo 26 March 1868 – Cairo 28 April 1936): The son of Khedive Ismail, the brother of Hussein Kamel, who was appointed sultan of Egypt by the British in 1914, and the father of King Farouk. Fuad was the first king of Egypt: on the death of Sultan Hussein Kamel in 1917 he succeeded him to the throne, and in 1922 changed the title of sultan to king .
Gamal Abd al-Nasser (Alexandria 15 January 1918 – Cairo 28 September 1970): An Egyptian army officer who with the Free Officers ended the Egyptian monarchy with a military coup on 23 July 1952. After the coup, he became the head of the Revolutionary Council as well as the Prime Minister, and from 1956 until his death, he was the president of Egypt, influencing the entire Arab world with his radical politics. In 1956, he nationalized the Suez Canal, but in 1967 during the Six-Day War, he was bitterly defeated and had to relinquish the Sinai peninsula.
Hanzade Sultan (Zehra Hanzade İbrahim Osmanoğlu; Istanbul 19 September 1923 – Paris 19 March 1998): Imperial princess, the granddaughter of the last sultan Vahideddin and the last caliph Abdülmecid Efendi, the second daughter of Sabiha Sultan and Prince Ömer Faruk Efendi, and the sister of Neslishah Sultan and Necla Sultan. Married to Prince Mohamed Ali of the Egyptian royal family. The mother of Princess Fazile Ibrahim and Prince Ahmed Rifaat Ibrahim.
Hümeyra Hanımsultan (Suade Hümeyra Özbaş; Istanbul 4 June 1917 – Kuşadası 17 May 2000): The only daughter of Ulviye Sultan, daughter of Sultan Vahideddin, and his first granddaughter. Married to Halil Özbaş, who came from a well-known family of Söke (Izmir). She was the mother of Hanzade and Halim Özbaş.
Mahmud Namık Efendi (Istanbul 23 December 1913 – Cairo 13 November 1963): Imperial prince, the grandson of Sultan Reşad and the son of Şehzade Ömer Hilmi Efendi. In 1959 he was accused of taking part in a conspiracy against President Gamal Abd al-Nasser of Egypt and was condemned to fifteen years in prison with hard labor. He died in the famous Tora Prison in Cairo.
Mohamed Ali Ibrahim (Cairo 29 April – Paris 2 July 1977): Egyptian prince, the husband of Hanzade Sultan, Neslishah’s sister. The father of Princess Fazile Ibrahim and Prince Ahmed Rifaat Ibrahim.
Mohamed Ali Tewfik (Cairo 9 November 1875 – Lausanne 18 March 1955): The son of Khedive Tewfik, brother of Abbas Hilmi II, the last khedive of Egypt, and uncle of Prince Abdel Moneim, Neslishah’s husband.
Mehmed Ertuğrul Efendi (Istanbul 5 November 1912 – Cairo 2 July 1944): Imperial prince, Sultan Vahideddin’s only son from his second kadınefendi Şadiye Meveddet Hanım. When the sultan went into exile, he took only Ertuğrul Efendi with him. Ertuğrul Efendi fell sick during a tennis match and died a few hours later.
Mohamed Abdel Moneim (Alexandria 20 February 1899 – Istanbul 29 December 1979): Egyptian prince. The son of the last khedive of Egypt, Abbas Hilmi II. After the 1952 military coup in Egypt, he was appointed regent. Neslishah Sultan’s husband, and the father of Prince Abbas Hilmi and Princess İkbal Moneim Savich
Necla Sultan (Necla Heybetullah Amr Osmanoğlu; Nice 6 May 1926 – Lisbon 6 October 2006): Imperial princess, the granddaughter of the last sultan Vahideddin and the last caliph Abdülmecid Efendi. The youngest