Şehzade Mehmed Ertuğrul Efendi (; 5 November 1912 – 2 July 1944) was an Ottoman prince, the last child and only son of Sultan

Mehmed VI Mehmed VI Vahideddin ( ''Meḥmed-i sâdis'' or ''Vaḥîdü'd-Dîn''; or /; 14 January 1861 – 16 May 1926), also known as ''Şahbaba'' () among the Osmanoğlu family, was the last sultan of the Ottoman Empire and the penultimate Ottoman Cal ...

, the last sultan of the Ottoman Empire. His mother was Mehmed's second consort

Müveddet Kadın Müveddet Kadın (; "''Duration''"; born Şadiye Çıhçı, after 13 June 1949 Müveddet Çiftçi; 12 October 1893 – 20 December 1951) was the third consort of Sultan Mehmed VI of the Ottoman Empire. Early life Müveddet Kadın was born o ...

Early life

Şehzade Mehmed Ertuğrul was born on 5 November 1912 in his father's mansion in Çengelköy. His father was

, son of

Abdulmejid I ʻAbd al-Majīd (ALA-LC romanization of , ), also spelled as Abd ul Majid, Abd ul-Majid, Abd ol Majid, Abd ol-Majid, and Abdolmajid, is a Muslim male given name and, in modern usage, surname. It is built from the Arabic words '' ʻabd'' and ''al-Maj ...

and

Gülistu Kadın Gülistü Kadin, called also Gülüstü Kadin, Gülistu Hanim or Gülüstu Hanim (; ; "''garden'' ''rose''"; born Princess Fatma Chachba; 1830 - 1861) was a consort of Sultan Abdulmejid I, and the mother of Sultan Mehmed VI, the last Sultan of ...

. His mother was

, daughter of Kato Davut Çıhcı and Ayşe Hanım. He was the only son and fourth and last child born to his father and the only child of his mother. Ertuğrul was educated privately. His tutor was Kaymakam Emin Bey, who taught literature in the imperial school.

Life in exile

When his father left

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

on 17 November 1922, he only took Ertuğrul and a small number of Palace officials with him. The other members of the family, including his mother, later joined them in

Sanremo Sanremo, also spelled San Remo in English and formerly in Italian, is a (municipality) on the Mediterranean coast of Liguria, in northwestern Italy. Founded in Roman times, it has a population of 55,000, and is known as a tourist destination ...

in 1924. He and his mother were assigned one floor in his father's villa. After his father's death in 1926, Ertuğrul, who was then fourteen years old, left his mother, and went to live with elder half-sister,

Sabiha Sultan Rukiye Sabiha Sultan (; "''charm''" and "''morning''" or "''beautiful''"; after 1952 Sabiha Osmanoğlu; 19 March 1894 – 26 August 1971) was an Ottoman Empire, Ottoman princess, the third and last daughter of Sultan Mehmed VI and his first wife ...

. His mother meanwhile went to Egypt, married a Turk there, and then taking the advantage of the law allowing the widows of the sultans to return to Turkey, moved back to Istanbul, and settled in the mansion in Çengelköy, which she jointly owned. Ertuğrul always refused to accept his mother's second marriage, and never saw her again. He was then enrolled in a boarding school in

Grasse Grasse (; Provençal dialect, Provençal in classical norm or in Mistralian norm ; traditional ) is the only Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes Departments of France, department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur Re ...

, where he studied for several years.

Death

Ertuğrul died at the age of thirty-one at Cairo, Egypt on 2 July 1944. He had fallen sick during a tennis match, and died few hours later of an unidentified illness. He was buried in the mausoleum of Abbas Hilmi Pasa, Cairo. His death devastated his mother, who fell into depression and never recovered.

Honour

* Order of the House of Osman

Ancestry

References

Sources

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sehzade Mehmed Ertuğrul 1912 births 1944 deaths 20th-century Ottoman royalty Ottoman princes Royalty from Istanbul Sons of sultans Sons of caliphs Disease-related deaths in Egypt