Zekiye Sultan

Zekiye Sultan was born on 12 January 1872 in the Dolmabahçe Palace.[1] Her father was Sultan Abdul Hamid II, and her mother was Bedrifelek Kadın,[2][3] the daughter of Prince Mehmed Karzeg and Princess Faruhan İnal-lpa.[4] She was the third child, and second daughter of her father and the second child of her mother. She had two brothers, Şehzade Mehmed Selim, two years elder than her, and Şehzade Ahmed Nuri, six years younger than her.[5] She was the granddaughter of Abdulmejid I and Tirimüjgan Kadın. [6]

After Abdul Hamid's accession to the throne on 31 August 1876,[7] the imperial family remained in the Dolmabahçe Palace. In 1878,[8] Zekiye along with other members of her family settled in the Yıldız Palace.[9]

With the relocation of Abdul Hamid to Yıldız Palace in 1877, Zekiye Sultan spent his childhood years under the supervision of the nanny and journeyman assigned to her in the apartment of her mother Bedrifelek Kadın. [10]

When Zekiye was 7 years old, she started her education at Ihlamur Mansion with her brother Şehzade Mehmed Selim, with her second cousins Şehzade Mehmed Şevket, Esma Sultan and Şehzade Mehmed Seyfeddin. She studied geography, the Quran, Turkish. She also studied English and French books. [11]

Abdul Hamid besides the formal education in the palace, he had specially taught music and art education. Almost all of his children played and composed various instruments. Şehzade Mehmed Burhaneddin used to play the violoncello. Naime and Ayşe Sultan took piano lessons from François Lombardi, Şadiye Sultan was also interested in mandolin besides the piano. She continued with French Madam Avisnad Bavis. She had a special interest in both Turkish and Alafranga music. [11]

In 1889, Sultan Abdul Hamid II arranged her trousseaux and marriage together with three of Sultan Abdulaziz's daughters, princesses Saliha Sultan, Nazime Sultan, and Esma Sultan.[12] At the age of seventeen, she married Ali Nureddin Pasha, elder son of Gazi Osman Pasha[13] on 20 April 1889 in the Yıldız Palace.[1][14][6]

It was a tradition that princesses were allocated palaces on their marriage, she was allocated Tarlabaşı Palace, [15] the palace first belonged to her aunt Mediha Sultan, the half-sister of her father Abdul Hamid, Mediha Sultan resided in Tarlabaşı Palace with her first husband . [16] Zekiye moved to Tarlabaşı Palace, second day after her marriage. [16]

The two together had two daughters, Ulviye Şükriye Hanımsultan born in 1890, who died at the age of about three on 23 February 1893, and Fatma Aliye Hanımsultan, born in 1891.[6] Fatma Aliye married Mehmed Muhsin Yegen, member of Egyptian Yegen Family in 1911. The couple first child, a son Osman Hayder Bey was born on 5 September 1912 and the couple second child, Salih Zeki Bey was born on 4 September 1921. [17]

Following the imperial family was sent to exile in 1924, Zekiye and her husband settled in Pau, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, France.[3][18][13]

According to Neslişah Sultan, she was chubby and had lost most of her hair, and hardly left the house. She would dress up and wear a blonde wig. She used to collect miniature animals, goats, and flowers, and also ate a lot of sweets.[19]

Zekiye Sultan died on 13 July 1950 in Pau, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, France, and was buried there.[20][13][3] Her husband outlived her by three years, and died in 1953.[6]

Together with Ali Nureddin Pasha, Zekiye had two daughters:

• Ulviye Şukriye Hanımsultan (Istanbul, c. 1890 – 23 February 1893);
• Fatma Aliye Hanımsultan (Istanbul, c. 1891 – Istanbul, 14 April 1972, buried in Yahya Efendi Cemetery), married with issue; [21]

• Mustafa Çağatay Uluçay (2011). Padişahların kadınları ve kızları. Ankara, Ötüken.
• Sakaoğlu, Necdet (2008). Bu mülkün kadın sultanları: Vâlide sultanlar, hâtunlar, hasekiler, kadınefendiler, sultanefendiler. Oğlak Yayıncılık. ISBN 978-9-753-29623-6.
• The Concubine, the Princess, and the Teacher: Voices from the Ottoman Harem. University of Texas Press. 2010. ISBN 978-0-292-78335-5.
• Uru, Cevriye (2010). SULTAN II. ABDÜLHAMİD’İN KIZI ZEKİYE SULTAN’IN HAYATI (1872-1950).