Naile Sultan

Naile Sultan (Ottoman Turkish: نائله سلطان‎; 9 February 1884 – 25 October 1957) was an Ottoman princess, the daughter of Sultan Abdul Hamid II and Dilpesend Kadın.

Naime Sultan was born on 9 February 1884 in the Yıldız Palace. Her father was Sultan Abdul Hamid II, and her mother was Dilpesend Kadın, the daughter of Maksud Giray Bey. She was the sixth child, and fourth daughter of her father and the only child of her mother. She had been taught to play piano, harm, and cello by Lombardi Bey. She was the granddaughter of Abdulmejid I and Tirimüjgan Kadın.

In 1901, Abdul Hamid betrothed her to Cemaleddin Bey, third son of Gazi Osman Pasha, whose elder sons, Nureddin Pasha and Kemaleddin Pasha had been married to Naile's elder sisters, princessess Zekiye Sultan and Naime Sultan respectively. However, in 1904, following Kemaleddin Pasha's affair with her cousin Princess Hatice Sultan, the daughter of Sultan Murad V, the engagement was broken off.

In 1905, Abdul Hamid arranged Naile's marriage to Arif Hikmet Pasha, the son of grand vizier Abdurrahman Nurettin Pasha. The marriage took place on 27 February 1905 in the Kuruçeşme Palace. No children came of this marriage. Her husband was also a very kind and noble person.They never worked with a sense of greed and interest, they lived a very happy life.

Exile

At the exile of the imperial family in March 1924, the couple settled in Beirut, Lebanon. Here, Naile Sultan lived in a truly oriental manner. Both she and her husband were wealthy, and had managed to lead the same kind of life they had in Istanbul. They lived a very comfortable life in their home, which was divided into a harem and a selamlik.

The pasha would use his office as a selamlik, where he would welcomed his guests. On the other hand, Naile Sultan would not leave the harem, and would not receive any male visitors. The only man that ever entered the harem was the husband of her sister princess Refia Sultan.

Arif Hikmet Pasha died in 1944, and in 1952, Naile Sultan returned to Istanbul after the revocation of the law of exile for princesses. Here she settled in Erenköy, and died on 25 October 1957. She was buried in Yahya Efendi Cemetery, Istanbul.

• 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.