Refia Sultan ( ota, رفیعه سلطان, "''exaltated''"; 15 June 1891 – 1938) was an Ottoman princess, the daughter of Sultan

Abdul Hamid II Abdülhamid or Abdul Hamid II ( ota, عبد الحميد ثانی, Abd ül-Hamid-i Sani; tr, II. Abdülhamid; 21 September 1842 10 February 1918) was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 31 August 1876 to 27 April 1909, and the last sultan to ...

and

Sazkar Hanım ota, سازکار خانم , house = Maan (by birth) Ottoman (by marriage) , father = Recep Bata Maan , mother = Rukiye Havva Hanım , birth_name = Zekiye Maan , birth_date = , birth_place = Kayalar, Adap ...

Early life

Refia Sultan was born on 15 June 1891 in the

Yıldız Palace Yıldız Palace ( tr, Yıldız Sarayı, ) is a vast complex of former imperial Ottoman pavilions and villas in Istanbul, Turkey, built in the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was used as a residence by the sultan and his court in the late 19th ...

. Her father was

, son of

Abdulmejid I Abdulmejid I ( ota, عبد المجيد اول, ʿAbdü'l-Mecîd-i evvel, tr, I. Abdülmecid; 25 April 182325 June 1861) was the 31st Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and succeeded his father Mahmud II on 2 July 1839. His reign was notable for the ...

and

Tirimüjgan Kadın ota, تیر مژکان قادین , birth_name = , birth_date = 16 October 1819 , birth_place = Circassia , death_date = , death_place = Feriye Palace, Constantinople, Ottoman Empire (present day Istanbul, Turkey) , burial_place ...

. Her mother was

, daughter of Recep Bata Maan and Rukiye Havva Mikanba. She was the only child of her mother and her father's youngest daughter to reach adulthood. In her childhood, she learned how to play the piano from Lombardi Bey, a French music teacher who also taught other children of the sultan.

Marriage

Towards the end of Abdul Hamid's reign, he bethrothed Refia Sultan to Ali Fuad Bey, the son of Müşir Ahmed Eyüp Pasha. However, at the overthrew of her father in 1909, the princess followed her parents into exile at

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area, and the capi ...

. The next year she returned to Istanbul. The marriage took place on 3 June 1910 on Dolmabahçe Palace, the same day of wedding of her half-sister

Hamide Ayşe Sultan Hamide is the feminine given name version of the name Hamid. It may refer to: Hamide * Hamide Akbayir (born 1959), German politician of Turkish descent *Hamide Ayşe Sultan (1887–1960), Ottoman princess, daughter of Sultan Abdul Hamid II * Ha ...

. The couple had two daughters, Rabia Hanımsultan born on 13 July 1911, and Ayşe Hamide Hanımsultan born in 1918. At the exile of the imperial family in March 1924, the couple and their daughters settled firstly in

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

where Hamide died at the age of eighteen because an incident in 1936, later the couple settled in

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

. According to Neslişah Sultan, she was by far the worldliest among the daughters of Sultan Abdul Hamid II. She was a gracious lady, and her husband Fuad Bey was an excellent husband.

Death

Cemetery of the Sulaymaniyya Takiyya - Grave of Refia Sultan

Refia Sultan died at the age of forty seven in 1938 in

and was buried in the cemetery of the

Sulaymaniyya Takiyya The Sulaymaniyya Takiyya ( ar, التَّكِيَّة السُّلَيْمَانِيَّة, at-Takiyya as-Sulaymāniyya), known in Turkish as , is a ''takiyya'' ( Ottoman-era Arabic name for a mosque complex which served as a Sufi convent) in Dam ...

Damascus )), is an adjective which means "spacious". , motto = , image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg , image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg , seal_type = Seal , map_caption = , ...

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

. Her mother outlived her by seven years dying in 1945.

Honours

Order of the House of Osman The Order of the House of Osman ( ota, نشانِ خاندانِ آلِ عثمان) was an order of the Ottoman Empire founded on 31 August 1893 by Sultan Abdul Hamid II. It was awarded to senior male and female members of the Imperial family an ...

* Order of the Medjidie, Jeweled * Order of Charity, 1st Class * Liakat Medal in Gold * Iftikhar Sanayi Medal in Gold * Hicaz Demiryolu Medal in Gold

Issue

Ancestry

References

Sources

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Refia Sultan 1891 births 1938 deaths Royalty from Istanbul 19th-century Ottoman princesses 20th-century Ottoman princesses People from the Ottoman Empire of Abkhazian descent Burials in the cemetery of the Sulaymaniyya Takiyya