Bedrifelek Kadın

Bedrifelek Kadın (4 January 1851 – 6 February 1930; Ottoman Turkish: بدر فلك قادین‎) was the principal consort of Sultan Abdul Hamid II of the Ottoman Empire.

Life

Bedrifelek Kadın was born into Karzeg dynasty on 4 January 1851 in Poti, when Georgia was under Ottoman Empire. Her father was Prince Mehmed Bey Karzeg and her mother was Princess Faruhan Hanım İnal-lpa. Her father belonged to the Natukhai clan of Circassia and her mother was an Abkhazian. Her personal name is unknown. She was the maternal niece of Abdülmecid I's wife Şayeste Hanım. She had four sisters Princess Bezmigül Dilber Hanım, Princess Şazıdil Hanım, Princess Nevrestan Hanım and Princess Melekistan Hanım, and a brother Prince Kazim Pasha, Sixth Army Cavalry in Baghdad. She had blue eyes and blond hair.

In 1864, during the ethnic cleansing of Circassians, her family emigrated from the Caucasus to Istanbul, where she was delivered at the court of the Ottoman Sultan. On 15 November 1868 Bedrifelek married Şehzade Abdul Hamid at the Dolmabahçe Palace, Istanbul. When Şehzade Abdul Hamid came to the throne as Abdul Hamid II, she then took the position of the Üçüncü Kadınefendi or Third Imperial Lady Consort. Later, Bedrifelek became İkinci Kadın or Second Imperial Lady Consort after her predecessor and second wife Abdul Hamid II, Safinaz Nurefsun Kadınefendi, divorced with her husband on 26 July 1879. When Nazikeda Kadın died on 11 April 1895, Bedrifelek became Baș Kadınefendi or Chief Imperial Lady Consort.

After Abdul Hamid II's deposition in 1909, she and Abdul Hamid settled with their son, Şehzade Mehmed Selim in Serencebey, where Abdul Hamid died in 1918. After the abolition of the Ottoman Caliphate by the Parliament of the Republic of Turkey in 1924, Mehmed Selim Efendi went into exile in Nice, France. As but an adjunct member of the Imperial family, Bedrifelek was not exiled, and so remained in Turkey. She died on 6 February 1930, and was buried in Yahya Efendi cemetery.

Issue

Together with Abdul Hamid, Bedrifelek had three children:

• Şehzade Mehmed Selim Osmanoğlu Efendi (Istanbul, Beşiktaş, Beşiktaş Palace, 11 January 1870 – Beirut, 4 May 1937 and buried in Damascus)
• Zekiye Sultan (Istanbul, Dolmabahçe Palace, 21 January 1872 – Pau, 13 July 1950 and buried there)
• Şehzade Ahmed Nuri Efendi (Istanbul, Yıldız Palace, 11 February 1878 – Nice, August 1944)

Titles and styles

• 15 November 1868 – 30 May 1876: Bedrifelek Üçüncü Hanımefendi Hazretleri (Her Highness The Third Lady Consort Bedrifelek) or Üçüncü Gözde (The Third Favour)
• 30 May 1876 – 31 August 1876: Veliahd Zevcesi Bedrifelek Üçüncü Hanımefendi Hazretleri (Her Highness The Crown Princess Bedrifelek, The Third Favour Lady Consort)
• 31 August 1876 – 26 July 1879: Devletlu İsmetlu Bedrifelek Üçüncü Kadınefendi Hazretleri (Her Highness The Third Imperial Lady Consort Bedrifelek)
• 26 July 1879 – 11 April 1895: Devletlu İsmetlu Bedrifelek İkinci Kadınefendi Hazretleri (Her Highness The Second Imperial Lady Consort Bedrifelek)
• 11 April 1895 – 27 April 1909: Devletlu İsmetlu Bedrifelek Baș Kadınefendi Hazretleri (Her Highness The Chief Imperial Lady Consort Bedrifelek)