Fatma Mihrengiz Kadın (, "''sun's/light's daughter''"; 15 October 1869 – 12 December 1938) was the third consort of Sultan

Mehmed V Mehmed V Reşâd (; or ; 2 November 1844 – 3 July 1918) was the penultimate List of sultans of the Ottoman Empire, sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1909 to 1918. Mehmed V reigned as a Constitutional monarchy, constitutional monarch. He had ...

of the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

Early life

Mihrengiz Kadın was born on 15 October 1869. Official records state that she was born in Adapazarı but Harun Açba believes that she was born in Sochi instead and that she had fled to the Ottoman Empire with her family during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878. Her real name was Fatma. In any case, she received a good education in the palace, where she learned to play the piano. Mihrengiz had a brother named Ibrahim Bey, who served as the third chamberlain to the sultan.

Marriage

Mihrengiz married Mehmed as his third consort, when he had been a prince, on 4 April 1887. After Sultan

Abdul Hamid II Abdulhamid II or Abdul Hamid II (; ; 21 September 184210 February 1918) was the 34th sultan of the Ottoman Empire, from 1876 to 1909, and the last sultan to exert effective control over the fracturing state. He oversaw a Decline and modernizati ...

's accession to the throne in 1876, Mehmed became the crown prince, after which they settled in the crown prince's apartments located in the Dolmabahçe Palace. On 2 March 1886, she gave birth to her only child, a son,

Şehzade Ömer Hilmi Şehzade Ömer Hilmi Efendi (; 2 March 1886 – 6 April 1935) was an Ottoman prince, the third son of Sultan Mehmed V, and his consort Mihrengiz Kadın. His great-granddaughter, Ayşe Gülnev Osmanoğlu, is currently an author of historical n ...

. On 27 April 1909, after Mehmed's accession to the throne, she was given the title of "Third Kadın". At the end of 1909, after death of Dürriaden Kadın, she became "Second Kadın".

Safiye Ünüvar Safiye Ünüvar was an Ottoman educator and memoir writer. Life She was educated at Women's Teacher's Training College, Istanbul, and employed as the governess of the Ottoman princesses at the Palace School between 1915 and 1924. She was the f ...

, a teacher at the Palace School, whom she met in 1915, noted in her memoirs that unlike the other wives, Mihrengiz was slim, while the others were quite heavier. This was because she had been suffering from illness from the past few years. On 30 May 1918, Mihrengiz met with the Empress

Zita of Bourbon-Parma Zita of Bourbon-Parma (Zita Maria delle Grazie Adelgonda Micaela Raffaela Gabriella Giuseppina Antonia Luisa Agnese; 9 May 1892 – 14 March 1989) was the wife of Charles I, the last monarch of Austria-Hungary. She was also the last Empress o ...

in the harem of

Yıldız Palace Yıldız Palace (, ) is a vast complex of former imperial Ottoman Empire, Ottoman pavilions and villas in Beşiktaş, Istanbul, Turkey, built in the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was used as a residence by the List of sultans of the Ottoman ...

, when the latter visited Istanbul with her husband Emperor

Charles I of Austria Charles I (, ; 17 August 1887 – 1 April 1922) was Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary (as Charles IV), and the ruler of the other states of the Habsburg monarchy from November 1916 until the monarchy was abolished in November 1918. He was the ...

Philanthropy

In 1912, the "Hilal-i Ahmer Centre for Women" was organized within the "Ottoman Hilal-i Ahmer Association", a foundation established in 1877 to provide medical care in Istanbul and surrounding communities. Mihrengiz was a member of this organization. In May 1915, Mihrengiz visited the soldiers at the Haydarpasha Hospital together with some other women from the imperial harem. During her visit she also addressed the soldiers:

Last years and death

After Mehmed's death, she settled with her son. At the exile of the imperial family in March 1924, Mihrengiz, her son, Ömer Hilmi and his two children,

Emine Mukbile Sultan Emine Mukbile Sultan (, "''benign, trustworthy''" and "''the believer one''"; 17 September 1911 – 21 May 1995) was an Ottoman princess, the daughter of Şehzade Ömer Hilmi, son of Mehmed V. Early life Emine Mukbile Sultan was born on 17 Sept ...

, and

Şehzade Mahmud Namık Şehzade Mahmud Namık Efendi (; 23 December 1913 – 13 November 1963) was an Ottoman prince, the only son of Şehzade Ömer Hilmi, and his third consort Hatice Fidervs Gülnev Hanım. He was the grandson of Sultan Mehmed V Reşad and Mihrengiz ...

, settled firstly in

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

, then in

Nice Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one million France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, and finally settling in Alexandria, Egypt, where Ömer Hilmi died in 1935. She died on 12 December 1938 at

Alexandria Alexandria ( ; ) is the List of cities and towns in Egypt#Largest cities, second largest city in Egypt and the List of coastal settlements of the Mediterranean Sea, largest city on the Mediterranean coast. It lies at the western edge of the Nile ...

at the age of sixty-nine, having outliving her son by three years. She was buried in the mausoleum of Khedive Tewfik Pasha in Cairo.

Issue

References

Sources

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mihrengiz Kadin 1938 deaths 19th-century consorts of Ottoman sultans 20th-century consorts of Ottoman sultans Circassian women