Mihrimah Sultan was born on 14 April 1923, in her father's villa located at Haydarpasha.[1] Her father was Şehzade Mehmed Ziyaeddin, son of Sultan Mehmed V and Kamures Kadın and her mother was Neşemend Hanım. She was the eight child and youngest daughter of her father and the only child of her mother. She was the first princess to be born after the abolition of the empire.[2]
She had green eyes.[3] She lived on the second floor with her mother at her father's villa, which was occupied by her mother after her father divorced his wife Melekseyran Hanım.[4] On 29 October 1923, Turkey was officially declared republic and on 3 March 1924, the Caliphate was abolished and the imperial family was sent to exile.[5] The princess settled at Alexandria, Egypt with her family.[2] She lost her mother when was only twelve in 1934,[6] and her father in 1938, when she was fifteen.[2][7] She was educated in Paris and in Cairo, and was adorned with charm, nobility, and a mind of her own.[8]
Marriage
In 1940, during the ongoing World War II, Mihrimah married Prince Nayef bin Abdullah of Jordan, youngest son of King Abdullah I of Jordan.[1][9] The marriage contract was signed on 30 September 1940 and the wedding was held on 7 October 1940 in the villa of Mihrimah's elder half-sister Lütfiye Sultan, which was a wartime scene during the wedding.[10] The wedding was a major national event in Jordan, lasting seven days and seven nights.[8]
The couple moved to Amman, Jordan after the wedding. Her title in Jordan was "Princess Mihrimah Naif" (Arabic: أميرة مهرماه نايف).[3] On 10 August 1941, she gave birth to the couple's first child Prince Ali bin Nayef, he was followed by another son Prince Abubakr Asem bin Nayef, born on 27 April 1948.[2][11] She was a great deal more independent and free-thinking than most other women of her standing, and unlike other women of the court, who hid their faces
behind black veils, she used only a light transparent veil to cover half her face.[8]
After King Abdullah was killed in Jerusalem, his eldest son Talal of Jordan became the king in 1951, and her husband Nayef became heir to the throne. However, King Talal lost his mental balance, was deposed and sent to Istanbul in 1952, where he spent his life in Healing Dormitory in Ortaköy. Prince Nayef was the one who would succeed the throne, however, he rejected and said "I am not interested in politics". After which Talal's elder son Hussein I of Jordan succeeded to the throne. Mihrimah and Prince Nayef resided in Amman, as the senior members of the dynasty.[3]
Later life and death
After her husband's death in 1983, she went on to live in the United States and the United Kingdom for some time and returned to Jordan.[3] She died in Amman on 30 March 2000 at the age of seventy-seven. Her cause of death was blood cancer.[1][3] Her funeral was attended by the family members living in Turkey. She was buried on 2 April 2000 in the mausoleum of her grandfather in Eyüp, Istanbul.[1][2][3]
Issue
By her marriage, Mihrimah Sultan had two sons:[12]
Prince Sultanzade Ali bin Nâyef (b. 10 August 1941). He married Wijdan Muhana (b. 1939, Baghdad) on 11 April 1966. They have three daughters and a son:
Princess Naafa bin Ali (b. 27 December 1966)
Princess Rajwa bin Ali (b. 29 June 1968)
Princess Basma Fatima bin Ali (b. 24 March 1970)
Prince Mohammed Abbas bin Ali (b. 17 February 1973)
^ abcShumsky, Adaia; Shumsky, Abraham (1997). A Bridge Across the Jordan: The Friendship Between a Jewish Carpenter and the King of Jordan. Arcade Pub. pp. 103–104. ISBN978-1-55970-391-8.
^Farah, Caesar E. (2008). Abdülhamid II and the Muslim World. Publications of Yıldız Yayıncılık, Reklamcılık. Foundation for Research on Islamic history, Art and History. p. 398. ISBN978-975-7874-31-7.
Brookes, Douglas Scott (2010). The Concubine, the Princess, and the Teacher: Voices from the Ottoman Harem. University of Texas Press. ISBN978-0-292-78335-5.
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