Şehzade Ömer Hilmi was born in the apartment of the crown prince, Dolmabahçe Palace, Istanbul, on 2 March 1886. His father was Sultan Mehmed V, and his mother was Mihrengiz Kadın. He was the grandson of Sultan Abdulmejid I and Gülcemal Kadın. Between 1911 and 1912, Ömer Hilmi attended the Imperial War College with his eldest brother Şehzade Mehmed Ziyaeddin. In 1916, during the First World War he served as the honory colonel of the infantry in the imperial army. On 2 September 1909, Ömer Hilmi travelled to Bursa with his father, Sultan Reşad, and brothers, Şehzade Ziyaeddin and Şehzade Necmeddin. Between 5 and 26 June 1911, he travelled to Rulmelia with his father and brothers. On 15 October 1917, he met with the German emperorWilhelm II, when the latter visited Istanbul in 1917. On 9 May 1918, he also met with the Emperor Charles I of Austria, when the latter visited Istanbul in 1918, with his wife Empress Zita of Bourbon-Parma. Ömer Hilmi was known to openly support the nationalists, and was against his father's policies.
Personal life
Ömer Hilmi's first wife was Nesimter Hanım. The two divorced in January 1915. His second wife was Gülnev Hanım. She was born on 21 February 1890. They married in October 1910. She gave birth to two children, Mukbile Sultan, born in 1911, followed by Şehzade Mahmud Namık, born in 1913. She died on 31 December 1919, aged twenty nine. His third wife was Bahtıter Hanım. In 1910, Ömer Hilmi came into possession of the villa built by the Egyptian Khedive Isma'il Pasha in the hills above Üsküdar, Istanbul on the Asian side of the Bosphorus. Ömer Hilmi was described as attractive and vigorous man, and the one who shied away from conversation.
Exile and death
At the exile of the imperial family in March 1924, Ömer Hilmi, his mother, and his two children, settled firstly in Beirut, Lebanon, then in Nice, France, and finally settling in Alexandria, Egypt. He died at Alexandria on 6 April 1935, aged forty nine, and was buried there. His remains were later interred in the mausoleum of Khedive Tewfik Pasha in Cairo, Egypt. His mother outlived him by three years, dying in 1938.
