Melekber Hanimefendi

Melekber Hanimefendi (Arabic: ملك بر هانم افندی‎‎, Turkish: Melekper Hanımefendi, died October 1890) (Melekber meaning "angel wings") was the second wife of Said Pasha, Wāli of Egypt and Sudan from 1854 until 1863.

Biography

Melekber Hanimefendi was a Circassian, captured during one of the raids and was sold into slavery. She was named and was educated according to the custom of the time. Said marriage with his first wife Inji Hanimefendi did not produced any children. Melekber was selected as a concubine for Said Pasha. Though, some otherwise perceptive foreign residents were convinced that Inji Hanim was his sole consort, and a measure of the obscurity was Melekber. She bore all of Said's children. After the birth of her first child Said married her, as it was necessary according to the custom to marry the mother of the successor.

After Said's death in 1863 she never remarried, and died at Alexandria in October 1890. She was buried in the Nabi Daniel Mosque, Alexandria, and was later reburied in the Al-Rifa'i Mosque, Cairo, Egypt.

Children

Together with Said, Melekber had two sons:

• Prince Mahmud Bey (died young, at Alexandria, 1846);
• HH Prince Muhammad Tusun Pasha (30 April 1853 - Alexandria, 6 January 1898).