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Şehzade Ahmed Nihad

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Ahmed Nihad
Head of the House of Osman
Term23 August 1944 – 4 June 1954
PredecessorAbdulmejid II
SuccessorOsman Fuad
Born5 July 1883
Çırağan Palace, Istanbul, Ottoman Empire
Died4 June 1954(1954-06-04) (aged 70)
Beirut, Lebanon
Spouse
Safiru Hanım
​
​
(before 1903)​
Nezihe Hanım
​
​
(div. 1916)​
Nevrestan Hanım
​
​
(m. 1915)​
IssueŞehzade Ali Vâsib
HouseOttoman
FatherŞehzade Mehmed Selaheddin
MotherNaziknaz Hanım

Ahmed Nihad[1][2] (Ottoman Turkish: احمد نيهاد; 5 July 1883 – 4 June 1954), 38th Head of the Imperial House of Osman from 1944 to 1954, was the 38th and second post-imperial head of the Imperial House of Osman.

He succeeded on the death of Abdulmejid II, the last Ottoman Caliph, as Head of the Imperial House of Osman on 23 August 1944, to become the first head of the Ottoman family not to hold the office of Ottoman Caliph since his ancestor Sultan Selim I was granted this title in 1517. Had he been the reigning Sultan he would have been Sultan Ahmed IV.

Early years

Ahmed Nihad was born on 5 July 1883 in the Çırağan Palace. His father was Şehzade Mehmed Selaheddin, and his mother was Naziknaz Hanım.[3] He was the grandson of Sultan Murad V and his consort Reftarıdil Kadın. He spent his entire childhood and early adulthood confined in Çırağan Palace. The Palace served as an enforced residence to his grandfather Sultan Murad, who had been deposed in 1876, and replaced by his brother, Sultan Abdul Hamid II. The restrictions imposed on the former Sultan extended to his entire family, and were not lifted until his death in 1904.[4]

On the death of his grandfather, Ahmed Nihad left his enforced confinement at Çırağan Palace and lived for a few years in the properties rented by his father in the Feneryolu, Kuruçeşme and Ortaköy districts of Istanbul. From 1911 until his exile he lived in the mansion which he had designed himself and had built on Serencebey hill overlooking Beşiktaş and from 1915 he would spend the summer months at the Muradiye Pavilion in Kurbağalıdere. However, he would only enjoy 20 years of freedom in his homeland, as following the establishment of the Republic of Turkey, and the abolition of the Ottoman Sultanate and the Caliphate, the entire Imperial Ottoman family were forced into exile in March 1924.

He was promoted to the rank of Colonel of Infantry of the Ottoman Army.

Personal life

Ahmed Nihad's first wife was Safiru Hanım.[5][6] She was born in 1884.[5] They married in the Çırağan Palace, during the confinement Sulltan Murad's family. She gave birth to the couple's only son Şehzade Ali Vâsib on 3 October 1903, one year before their ordeal in the Çırağan came to an end in 1904.[7] She died in 1975.[5]

His second wife was Nezihe Hanım.[5] She was born in 1890 in Circassia. Her mother was Fatma Şazende Hanım, who was the head kalfa in the harem of Sultan Murad. They divorced in 1916, after Nihad married Nevrestan, her stepsister. She then married Ali Fehmi Doğrusöz, an Ottoman Officer, and had a son Feridun Doğrusöz. In 1934, in accordance to the Surname Law, she took the surname "Doğrusöz" She died on 24 November 1972 in Istanbul.[8][9]

His third wife was Nevrestan Hanım.[5] She was born in 1893 in Adapazarı. Her father was Tahir Bey Atzamba, an Abkhazian Officer in the Ottoman Army, and her mother was Fatma Şazende Hanım. She had one brother, Aziz Bey Atzamba. Fatma Şazende had married twice, and Tahir was her second husband, making Nevrestan Nezihe's stepsister. They married on 10 April 1915. The couple resided in the Beylerbeyi Palace. At the exile of the imperial family in March 1924, they settled in Beirut. When the female members of the Ottoman dynasty were allowed to return to Turkey in 1952, Nevrestan then moved to Serecebey, Istanbul. In accordance to the Surname Law, she took the surname "Osmanoğlu". She died in 1983.[8]

Exile

At the exile of the imperial family in March 1924, Ahmed Nihad, and his two wives, first went to Budapest for a few months, then to Nice, France for twelve years. As the former Ottoman Sultan Mehmed VI had settled in San Remo, many members of the family had congregated to the South of France. In 1937 he moved to Beirut, Lebanon where he lived for the rest of his life. Life in exile was always very difficult since members of the Imperial Ottoman family had no financial means, and all yearned to return to their homeland but for Ahmed Nihad life was made harder after he suffered a stroke which left him handicapped. Ahmed Nihad became the head of the exiled Imperial family in August 1944,[10] but was the first head of the Ottoman family since the early 16th century who did not hold the title of Caliph of Islam. Since many members of the family had settled in the Middle East following their exile, they frequently visited him in Beirut to pay homage, as was the custom of the family. Ahmed Nihad was a pious and dutiful man, who had a talent for architectural design and carpentry. He was also a talented composer and an accomplished musician and painter.

Death

Ahmed Nihad died on 4 June 1954 and was buried in Sultan Selim Mosque, Damascus, Syria.[3]

Honours

Ottoman honours
Foreign honours

Issue

Name Birth Death Notes
By Safiru Hanım (1884 – 1975)
Şehzade Ali Vâsib 13 October 1903[3] 9 December 1983[3] born in Çırağan Palace;[14] married Mukbile Sultan,[14] daughter of Şehzade Ömer Hilmi and Gülnev Hanım; died in Alexandria, Egypt[14]

Ancestry

See also

References

  1. ^ Almanach de Gotha (184th ed.). Almanach de Gotha. 2000. pp. 365, 912–915.
  2. ^ Burke's Royal Families of the World (2 ed.). Burke's Peerage. 1980. p. 247.
  3. ^ a b c d Brookes 2010, p. 286.
  4. ^ Brookes 2010, p. 105-6.
  5. ^ a b c d e Vâsıb, Ali; Osmanoğlu, Osman Selaheddin (2004). Bir şehzadenin hâtırâtı: vatan ve menfâda gördüklerim ve işittiklerim. YKY. pp. 33, 44, 373, 421. ISBN 978-9-750-80878-4.
  6. ^ Brookes 2010, p. 106 n. 77.
  7. ^ Brookes 2010, pp. 105–106.
  8. ^ a b Doğrusöz, Mahan (23 May 2016). "Aile Tarihçesinden İki Osmanlı Kadını: Nezihe Hanım ve Nevrestan Osmanoğlu". mahandogrusoz.net. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
  9. ^ "Nezihe Doğrusöz". Milliyet (in Turkish). 25 November 1972. Retrieved 28 December 2020.
  10. ^ Bardakçı, Murat (2017). Neslishah: The Last Ottoman Princess. Oxford University Press. p. 207. ISBN 978-9-774-16837-6.
  11. ^ a b c Yılmaz Öztuna (1978). Başlangıcından zamanımıza kadar büyük Türkiye tarihi: Türkiye'nin siyasî, medenî, kültür, teşkilât ve san'at tarihi. Ötüken Yayınevi. p. 164.
  12. ^ a b Salnâme-i Devlet-i Âliyye-i Osmanîyye, 1333-1334 Sene-i Maliye, 68. Sene. Hilal Matbaası. 1918. p. 66-67.
  13. ^ Uçan, Lâle (2019). Son Halife Abdülmecid Efendi'nin Hayatı - Şehzâlik, Veliahtlık ve Halifelik Yılları (PDF) (PhD Thesis). Istanbul University Institute of Social Sciences. p. 59.
  14. ^ a b c Brookes 2010, p. 291.

Sources

Şehzade Ahmed Nihad
Born: 6 July 1883 Died: 4 June 1954
Titles in pretence
Preceded by — TITULAR —
Sultan of the Ottoman Empire
23 August 1944 – 4 June 1954
Reason for succession failure:
Empire abolished in 1922 		Succeeded by
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