Behice Sultan
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Behice Sultan ( ota, بهيجه سلطان; "''Happy''"; 6 August 1848 – 30 November 1876) was an Ottoman princess, daughter of Sultan
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 r ...
and
Nesrin Hanım Nesrin Hanım ( ota, نسرین خانم; "''wild rose''", 1826 - 2 January 1853) was a consort of Sultan Abdulmejid I of the Ottoman Empire. She was Georgian, daughter of the noble Manuçar Bey Asemiani and his wife Mahra Hanim, and was chosen ...
. She was the half-sister of Sultans
Murad V Murad V ( ota, مراد خامس, translit=Murâd-ı ḫâmis; tr, V. Murad; 21 September 1840 – 29 August 1904) was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire who reigned from 30 May to 31 August 1876. The son of Abdulmejid I, he supported the ...
, Abdul Hamid II,
Mehmed V Mehmed V Reşâd ( ota, محمد خامس, Meḥmed-i ḫâmis; tr, V. Mehmed or ; 2 November 1844 – 3 July 1918) reigned as the 35th and penultimate Ottoman Sultan (). He was the son of Sultan Abdulmejid I. He succeeded his half-brother ...
, and Mehmed VI.


Early life

Behice Sultan was born on 6 August 1848 in the
Çırağan Palace Çırağan Palace ( tr, Çırağan Sarayı), a former Ottoman Empire, Ottoman palace, is now a five-star hotel in the Kempinski, Kempinski Hotels chain. It is located on the European shore of the Bosporus, between Beşiktaş and Ortaköy in Istan ...
. Her father was Sultan
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 r ...
, and her mother was
Nesrin Hanım Nesrin Hanım ( ota, نسرین خانم; "''wild rose''", 1826 - 2 January 1853) was a consort of Sultan Abdulmejid I of the Ottoman Empire. She was Georgian, daughter of the noble Manuçar Bey Asemiani and his wife Mahra Hanim, and was chosen ...
. She was the second child of her mother. She had three brothers, Şehzade Mehmed Ziyaeddin, two years elder then her, and two twin brothers Şehzade Mehmed Nizameddin and Şehzade Mehmed Bahaeddin, two years younger than her. After her mother's death in 1853, when Behice was five, she was adopted by one other Abdülmejid's consort, Şayan Kadın, who no had child for her own. In 1860, at twelve, she lost her adoptive mother too.


Marriage


Engagement

Behice contracted tuberculosis as a child and lived all her life in isolation and supervised by foreign doctors. Her family, in particular her half-sisters Refia Sultan and
Seniha Sultan Seniha Sultan ( ota, سنیحه سلطان; "''Pearl''"; 5 December 1851 – 15 September 1931) was an Ottoman princess, the daughter of Sultan Abdulmejid I and Nalandil Hanım. She was the half-sister of Sultans Murad V, Abdul Hamid II, Mehmed ...
often wrote her letters to cheer her up. Behice was frustrated by her isolation and envied the freedom and health of her sisters. She was ever very sensibile and delicate. Her greatest wish was to get married. Her father prepared her dowry and chose a groom to make her happy, but he always delayed the wedding because he didn't think she was healthy enough. When her uncle Abdülaziz ascended the throne, she also asked him, who finally said yes and arranged an engagement for her. He chose Halil Hamid Bey, the son of Mehmed Nurullah Bey, and the grandson of
Halil Hamid Pasha Halil Hamid Pasha, also Halil Hamit Paşa (1736–1785) was the grand vizier of the Ottoman Empire from 31 December 1782 to 30 April 1785. He was of Bosnian origin. He was especially instrumental in inviting foreign experts, especially French ...
, and six years younger than her. In 1875, her uncle, Sultan Abdulaziz betrothed her to him. On that occasion, Refia wrote to Behice that she had seen her fiancée through the window and that he had seemed handsome, polite and well dressed.


Illness

Tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, i ...
took its victims in the palace as elsewhere in the nineteenth century. Among them was Behice Sultan. There is extant a touching letter to her from one Feleksu Kalfa, herself sick with
malaria Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. S ...
. The time of Behice's marriage was approaching, and Feleksu was happy for her that she would be going to her own palace, but at the same time, she was worried about her health. "You will be going to the country," she wrote, "where Pertev Kalfa knows many medicines." Behice was thought to be well enough to be married.


Wedding

Abdulaziz had ordered her trousseaux; however, he died in June 1876, and was thus completely unable to address any more issues regarding her wedding, which, in turn, got further delayed because of the death of her younger half-brother
Şehzade Mehmed Burhaneddin ''Şehzade'' ( fa, شهزاده) is the Ottoman form of the Persian title '' Shahzadeh'', and refers to the male descendants of an Ottoman sovereign in the male line. This title is equivalent to " prince of the blood imperial" in English. Origi ...
in November 1876. Finally, the wedding took place on 16 November 1876, during the reign of her elder half-brother Sultan Abdul Hamid II. The couple was given a palace at Kuruçeşme, on the Bosphorus.


Death

Behice Sultan died of tuberculosis a mere two weeks after her wedding, on 30 November 1876, at the age of twenty-eight, the same of her natural mother. She was buried in the mausoleum of Nakşidil Sultan located at
Fatih Mosque The large Fatih Mosque ( tr, Fatih Camii, "Conqueror's Mosque" in English) is an Ottoman mosque off Fevzi Paşa Caddesi in the Fatih district of Istanbul, Turkey. The original mosque was constructed between 1463 and 1470 on the site of the Ch ...
,
Istanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_i ...
. Her possessions were partly distributed to his sisters, in particular Naile Sultan and
Mediha Sultan Mediha Sultan ( ota, مدیحه سطان; "''the praised one''"; 30 July 1856 – 9 November 1928) was an Ottoman princess, the daughter of Sultan Abdulmejid I and Gülistü Kadin. She was the full sister of Sultan Mehmed VI and the half-si ...
, and partly sold.


See also

*
List of Ottoman princesses ''Sultan'' (Ottoman Turkish:سلطان) and ''Hatun'' ( Mongolian: ᠬᠠᠲᠤᠨ хатан; Old Turkic: 𐰴𐰍𐰣, romanized: ''katun''; Ottoman Turkish: خاتون, romanized: ''hatun'' or قادین romanized: ''kadın''; Persian: خاتو ...


Ancestry


References


Sources

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Behice Sultan 1848 births 1876 deaths 19th-century Ottoman princesses