Emina Ilhamy

Princess Emina Ilhamy was born on 24 May 1858 in Istanbul.[2] She was the eldest daughter of Lieutenant General Prince Ibrahim Ilhami Pasha,[3] and his consort Nasrin Qadin (died 1871).[4] She had two sisters,[5] Princess Zeynab Ilhamy and Princess Tevhide Ilhamy.[6] Princess Zeynab married Mahmud Hamdi Pasha, fifth son of Isma'il Pasha[7] and Jihan Shah Qadin.[8] She was the granddaughter of Abbas I, and Mahivech Hanim.[8]

Tewfik Pasha and Emina Ilhamy after their wedding

Princess Emina Ilhamy (far left) with her husband and children

Princess Emina married her father's cousin Tewfik Pasha on Thursday 16 January 1873. In celebration of the event Khedive Isma'il held a reception at al-Hilmiyya Palace attended by Tewfik, several ministers of state, and the leading religious dignitaries. Cannon were fired, sweet drink were had, and the khedive received the congratulations of hus guests in order of their rank. Poetry was composed and recited for the occasion by al-Sayyid Ali Abu al-Nasr and Muhammad Qadri Bey. These events initiated a week of receptions, banquets, and entertainment, illuminations, and a public procession in which the bride was delivered to the palace of her husband.[9]

The two together had five children, two sons, Prince Abbas Hilmi Pasha, born in 1874 and Prince Mohammed Ali Tewfik Pasha, born in 1875, and three daughters, Princess Nazli Hanim, born in 1877, Princess Fakhr un-nisa Khadija Hanim, born in 1880, and Princess Nimatullah Hanim, born in 1882.[10][2]

After Tewfik's accession to the throne in 1879, Emina took a more prominent public role than women in the khedival family had done previously, partly as a consequence of being his sole consort. She was respectfully referred to in the Arabic press as "the wife of khedive" (haram al-khidiwi), and in French and English as the vice-reine, khédiveh, or "khediva."[9][11] With the death of Tewfik's mother and paternal grandmother in 1884 and 1886, she became the senior woman in the khedival household.[12]

As khediva, she regularly received the wives and daughters of European diplomats and visitors. Her presence at official events was mentioned regularly — attending the opera, moving from one place to another — also were published. When present at state events, Emina and her entourage would sit behind a screen, and on holidays she would receive the greetings of female guests personally, while those of the male guests were conveyed to her by her chief eunuch. The press usually discreetly avoided mentioning her name.[12]

Emina Ilhamy in old age

At the death of her husband Khedive Tewfik of Egypt, her son, Abbas Hilmi Pasha, whilst still attending college in Vienna, assumed the throne with the help of his mother on 7 January 1892. As a result, Emina retained a prominent role as the walida pasha, or mother of the khedive, though English writers often used the French term khédiveh mére.[13] She maintained the seniority as the Walida Pasha, which she had when she was a khediva, and continued to have a diplomatic role.[12]

Princess Emina was as beautiful as she was kind and dignified, and a much revered member of the royal family. In possession of a large personal fortune, Princess Emina gave a great part of it away in donations and charitable institutions, and was surnamed "Umm al-Muhsinin" (Mother of Charity).[14] A girls' school that she founded, whose principal ornament is a heavy, ornate sabil in Turkish baroque style, stands close to the mosque of Ibn Tulun. It is now known by the name of Umm Abbas, 'Mother of Abbas.'[15]

Emina and her son Abbas seem not to have found slavery objectionable in principle, since they kept slaves in their households until the First World War. Even though her husband, Tawfiq, professed opposition to slavery, Amina presided over a harem of slave women, three of whom she gave to Abbas. In spite of breaking with some aspects of traditional harem culture, such as permitting her unveiled portrait to be published in 1923 and later, she continued to conduct herself in accordance with the culture of harem slavery for the rest of her life.[16]

She established an extensive endowment, one of the purposes of which was to pay pensions to sixty former slaves, including ten eunuchs. Most of them were women, a slight majority of whom were married or widows, indicating that they had left Emina's service at some earlier date. Others, like her chief servant Lady Qamar, apparently remained in her service until her death in 1931.[16]

Princess Emina died in exile in her country house on 19 June 1931 at Bebek, Bosphorus, Istanbul,[3] and was buried in Khedive Tawfik Mausoleum, Kait Bey, Cairo.[14]

Together with Tewfik she had five children:

• Abbas Hilmi II Pasha, Khedive of Egypt;
• Prince Mohammed Ali Tewfik (Kubba Palace, Cairo, 9 November 1875 – Lausanne, Switzerland, 18 March 1955, and buried in Khedive Tawfik Mausoleum, Kait Bey, Cairo);
• Princess Nazli Hanim (11 April 1877 – Cairo, c. 1879);
• Princess Fakhr un-nisa Khadija Hanim (Cairo, 21 May 1880 – Helwan, 22 February 1951);
• Princess Nimatullah Hanim (Cairo, 23 October 1882 – Nice, France, c. 1965, and buried there at the cimetière de Caucade).

• Decoration of the Order of Charity, 1st class.
• Decoration of the Order of Distinction.
• Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown of Hawaii (1883).

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Princess Amina Elhami.

• List of consorts of the Muhammad Ali Dynasty

• Cuno, Kenneth M. (April 1, 2015). Modernizing Marriage: Family, Ideology, and Law in Nineteenth- and Early Twentieth-Century Egypt. Syracuse University Press. ISBN 978-0-815-65316-5.
• Doumani, Beshara (2003). Family History in the Middle East: Household, Property, and Gender. SUNY Press. ISBN 978-0-791-48707-5.

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