Hatice Sultan (daughter of Murad V)


Hatice Sultan was an Ottoman princess, the eldest daughter of Sultan Murad V and his third wife Şayan Kadın.

Early life

Hatice Sultan was born in her father's villa in Kurbağalıdere on 5 April 1870. Her father was Sultan Murad V, and her mother was Şayan Kadın, the daughter of Batır Zan. She was the second child, and eldest daughter of her father and the only child of her mother. She was the granddaughter of Abdulmejid I and Şevkefza Kadın. She was brought up concealed in the villa until Murad ascended the throne.

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. Hatice and her mother followed him into confinement.

Life in confinement

At the time of her family's confinement, Hatice Sultan was six years old. By the time she was ten, she was already a happy, laughing, joyful girl. She loved stories and would even make up her own endings to stories while listening to them, proving both that she possessed a vivid imagination and that she was quite advanced for her age.
As she grew older her sentiments quickly became more apparent. She took up novels as soon as she learned to read. She would surreptitiously pick out the novels from among her father's books, now and then staying up all night reading them. Most of these novels were the works of French authors, since she had been taught French by Gevherriz Kalfa as well as by her father.
According to Filizten Kalfa, Hatice Sultan was a bit too romantic by nature. She was so beautiful, that she could have been called "the star of the Princesses" of that day. She was sensitive, fiery, and exuberant woman.

Visit of the German empress

In October 1898, Hatice Sultan and her sister Fehime 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.

First marriage

As years passed and 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 her 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.
Abdul Hamid decided to get Hatice married to Kabasakal Çerkes Mehmed Pasha, widower of princesses Naile Sultan, daughter of Abdulmejid I and Esma Sultan, daughter of Abdulaziz. However, the marriage didn't materialized.

Wedding

Finally in 1901, Abdul Hamid arranged her marriage together with her sister Fehime Sultan, and Sultan Abdulaziz's daughter Emine Sultan to one of her father's table servants who was given the title "Ali Vasıf Pasha, Code Scribe". 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. The two together had one daughter, Ayşe Hanımsultan born in 1902.

Affair with Kemaleddin Pasha

, the daughter of Sultan Abdul Hamid II had been a neighbour in the adjoining villa. Hatice Sultan had been having an affair for three months with her husband, Mehmed Kemaleddin Pasha. According to Filizten Kalfa, they decided to have Naime Sultan, murdered so they could get married. This episode occurred in early 1904.
The resulting scandal angered Abdul Hamid. First he had Naime Sultan divorce her husband. Then he stripped Kemaleddin Pasha of all his military honors and exiled him to Bursa. Hatice's father, Murad, was a diabetic and when he heard of the affair, the shock of his distress brought on his death a short time later.
Many of the sources reveal the same idea about how this love between Kemaleddin Pasha and Hatice Sultan emerged. According to this idea, this love story consists of a trap set by Hatice Sultan. Thus, she want to take revenge from Sultan Abdul Hamid, who has imprisoned her father in Çırağan Palace for years, left her single until the age of thirty and caused her to marry someone she never loved. The perfect way to take revenge was to ruin the marriage of Sultan favourite’s daughter.
Lovers occasionally sent some gifts to each other. Kemaleddin Pasha gave Hatice Sultan four bottles of Cognac that he brought from Europe. Likewise, he sent a medicine that he said was good for coughs and colds. We learn from Kemaleddin Pasha's letters that he wrote a book on love. He sent the chapters of this book to Hatice Sultan and asked for criticism.
Semih Mümtaz, whose father, the Governor of Bursa, was charged with guarding Kemaleddin Pasha in his internal exile, mentions nothing whatsoever about a plot to poison Naime, but rather claims that the affair between Hatice Sultan and Kemaleddin Pasha consisted of the exchange of love letters tossed over the garden wall, heated love letters on the part of the impulsive Kemaleddin Pasha. He claims Hatice Sultan had the Pasha's letters stolen and revealed to Abdul Hamid on purpose, in revenge for the poor husband the Sultan had chosen for her.
The Western press reported only that the Sultan's son-in-law had been arrested and sent into exile as a result of the secret correspondence between him and Hatice Sultan.
This relationship could not continue secretly for a long time, and the letters of Kemaleddin Pasha were taken over by Abdul Hamid. It is not known exactly how the letters reached the Sultan. However, it was said that this was a plan of Hatice Sultan. It is stated that Hatice Sultan sent the letters to Sultan Abdul Hamid herself. Thus, he will both be avenged and attained freedom.

Divorce

Hatice and her husband divorced soon after. Although she had to divorce her husband, and Kemaleddin Pasha was sent into internal exile, Abdul Hamid later forgave her and she was invited again to Yıldız Palace.

Second marriage

After Hatice Sultan divorced Ali Vasıf Pasha, she married Rauf Hayreddin, son of Hayri Bey, on 1 May 1909 in the Ortaköy Palace. The two together had three children, Sultanzade Osman Bey born in 1910 and died on 31 January 1911, Sultanzade Hayri Bey born on 12 June 1912, and Selma Hanımsultan born on 13 April 1913. The two divorced in 1918, during the First World War.

Exile and death

At the exile of the imperial family in March 1924, Hatice Sultan and her children settled in Beirut, Lebanon, where she died on 12 March 1938, at the age of sixty seven. She was buried at the Sultan Selim Mosque in Damascus, Syria. Her mother outlived her by seven
years dying in 1945.

Descendants

Hatice Sultan had four children:
In the 2012 movie The Sultan's Women Hatice Sultan is portrayed by Turkish actress Melike Günal Kurtulmuş.
In the 2017 TV series , Hatice Sultan is portrayed by Turkish actress Gözde Kaya.

Ancestry