Bedrifelek Kadın

Bedrifelek Kadın was born on 4 January 1851 in Poti, Georgia. She was a member of Natukhai Circassian princely family, House of Kerzedzh (Adyghe: Къэрзэдж). Her father was Prince Kerzedzh Mehmed Bey, and her mother was Princess İnal-lpa Faruhan Hanım, an Abkhazian. She had an elder sister, Princess Bezmigül Dilber Hanım, and a younger brother, Prince Kazim Pasha. She was the maternal niece of Sultan Abdulmejid I's wife Şayeste Hanım. She also had three younger half-sisters, Princess Şazıdil Hanım, Princess Nevrestan Hanım and Princess Melekistan Hanım, whose mother was her father's second wife, Melekyar Hanım Vorkoj.[1]

In 1864, aged thirteen, during the ethnic cleansing of Circassians, she had been brought to Istanbul, where her father entrusted her and her sisters in the care of their aunt Şayeste Hanım. Here her name according to the custom of the Ottoman court was changed to Bedrifelek.[1]

Bedrifelek married Abdul Hamid on 15 November 1868 in the Dolmabahçe Palace. After her marriage, her younger brother Kazım Pasha was given the post of Sixth Army Cavalry in Baghdad.[2]

A year after the marriage, on 11 January 1870, she gave birth to the couple's first child, a son, Şehzade Mehmed Selim,[3] followed two years later by Zekiye Sultan, born on 21 January 1872.[4]

After Abdul Hamid's accession to the throne on 31 August 1876,[5] she was given the title of the "Second Consort".[6][7] In 1877, Bedrifelek and other members of the imperial family settled in the Yıldız Palace,[8] after Abdul Hamid moved there on 7 April 1877.[9] Here on 11 February 1878, she gave birth to the couple's third child, a son, Şehzade Ahmed Nuri.[10]

On 16 September 1895,[11] after the death of Abdul Hamid's first wife, Nazikeda Kadın, Bedrifelek was installed the principal consort with the title of "Senior Consort".[6][7] After Perestu Kadın's death in 1904, she became the principal lady in the imperial harem.[6]

On 27 April 1909, Abdul Hamid was deposed, and sent into exile in Thessaloniki.[12] Bedrifelek didn't followed him, and so remained in Istanbul.[2] After Thessaloniki fell to Greece in 1912, Abdul Hamid returned to Istanbul, and settled in the Beylerbeyi Palace, where he died in 1918.[13]

After the imperial family was sent into exile in 1924, Bedrifelek settled in a mansion in Serencebey, where she died on 6 February 1930. She was buried in Yahya Efendi cemetery, Istanbul.[14]

Bedrifelek Kadın and Abdul Hamid had three children:

• Şehzade Mehmed Selim (Istanbul, Beşiktaş, Dolmabahçe Palace, 11 January 1870 – Beirut, Lebanon, 4 May 1937, and buried in Damascus), married with issue;
• Zekiye Sultan (Istanbul, Beşiktaş, Dolmabahçe Palace, 21 January 1872 – Pau, 13 July 1950, and buried there), married with issue;
• Şehzade Ahmed Nuri (Istanbul, Yıldız Palace, 11 February 1878 – Nice, France, August 1944, and buried there) unmarried without issue;

• Ottoman Imperial Harem
• List of consorts of the Ottoman sultans

• Uluçay, M. Çağatay (2011). Padişahların kadınları ve kızları. Ötüken. ISBN 978-9-754-37840-5.
• Açba, Harun (2007). Kadın efendiler: 1839-1924. Profil. ISBN 978-9-759-96109-1.
• Sakaoğlu, Necdet (2008). Bu Mülkün Kadın Sultanları: Vâlide Sultanlar, Hâtunlar, Hasekiler, Kandınefendiler, Sultanefendiler. Oğlak Yayıncılık. ISBN 978-6-051-71079-2.