Fehime Sultan

Fehime Sultan (Ottoman Turkish: فہیمه سلطان‎; 2 August 1875 – 15 September 1929) was an Ottoman princess, the daughter of Sultan Murad V and his fourth wife Meyliservet Kadın.

Fehime Sultan was born on 2 August 1875 in the Dolmabahçe Palace. Her father was Sultan Murad V, and her mother was Meyliservet Kadın. She was the third child, and second daughter born to her father and the only child of her mother. She was the granddaughter of Abdulmejid I and Şevkefza Kadın.

Murad's reign

After Murad's accession the throne on 30 May 1876, after the deposition of his uncle Sultan Abdulaziz, her family settled in the Dolmabahçe Palace. After reigning for three months, he was deposed on 30 August 1876, due to mental instability and was imprisoned in the Çırağan Palace. Fehime and her mother followed him into confinement.

Life in confinement

At the time of her family's confinement, Fehime Sultan was two years old. Receiving her education in the palace, like her father, Fehime was interested in the arts and music, and learned piano and composed songs. Amongst circles her nickname was Kelebek Sultan (Butterfly Princess), because of her outlandish art and expensive clothing styles.

According to Filizten Kalfa, Fehime had too simple personality and she thought herself terribly important. She was not particularly pretty but she fancied herself so and wanted everyone else to think so too. Above all she loved to be praised. She showed little inclination to read books despite the fact that she could read and write both Turkish and French. Instead she spent most of her time gazing into the mirror.

Visit of the German empress

In October 1898, Fehime Sultan and her sister Hatice Sultan met with the German empress Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein, when the latter visited Istanbul with her husband the German emperor Wilhelm II. At that time the two were living at Yıldız Palace. Abdul Hamid realized that if he introduced his own daughters to the Empress but didn't include them they would feel quite hurt, so he had them participate in the ceremony as well.

As years passed, her elder sister Hatice Sultan matured into a fully grown woman, she quite openly longed for a husband. At length, her complaints came to her father's attention, thanks to her mother and the older kalfas. Murad had her complaints sent to Abdul Hamid. The latter consider it his duty to find husbands for Fehime and her sister, but on one condition, that once they leave the palace they may not return.

With that, the princesses were asked what they wished to do. Both preferred to leave Çırağan Palace and get married. Abdul Hamid had the two princesses brought up to Yıldız Palace. He ordered one of the villas at Ortaköy to be completely renovated and another new villa to be built. He had them completely furnished, then ordered photographs taken of them and sent the photographs to Murad.

In 1901, Abdul Hamid arranged her marriage together with her sister Hatice Sultan, and Sultan Abdülaziz's daughter Emine Sultan, to another man of the same station and character as Hatice's husband, who was granted a rank as "Ali Galib Pasha". The marriage took place on 12 September 1901 in the Yıldız Palace. The couple were given one of the palaces of Ortaköy as their residence.

Fehime Sultan and her cousin, Naime Sultan, the daughter of Sultan Abdul Hamid II were active members of the "Mim Mim" intelligence organization, which smuggled arms and people out of Istanbul. Fehime was particularly a valuable source of information to the underground. She had no love for her uncle, Sultan Mehmed VI, who had kept the children of Sultan Murad under close surveillance. She was a passionate constitutionalist and a patriot. In 1911, she had composed a piano sonata, entitled "Pour La Constitution". When she fell in love with the office Mahmud Bey, she forced Sultan Mehmed VI to dissolve her marriage.

At the exile of the imperial family in March 1924, Fehime settled in Nice, France. She died on 15 September 1929 of tuberculosis and was buried in Sultan Selim Mosque, Damascus, Syria.

Dresses attributed to her are preserved in the Topkapı Palace.

In the 2017 TV series Payitaht: Abdülhamid, Fehime Sultan is portrayed by Turkish actress Elif Özkul.

• 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.