Necla Sultan

Necla Sultan was born on 15 May 1926 in Nice, France.[1][2][3] Her father was Şehzade Ömer Faruk, and her mother was Sabiha Sultan. She was the third daughter of her parents.[4]She had two full sisters, Neslişah Sultan, five years older than her and Hanzade Sultan, three years older than her. She was the paternal granddaughter of Abdulmejid II and Şehsuvar Hanım, and the maternal granddaughter of Sultan Mehmed VI and Nazikeda Kadın.[2]

Upon her birth news, her grandfather Abdulmejid, named her Hibetullah, whereas her other grandfather Mehmed, send a telegram from Sanremo, Italy he conveyed his blessings and named her Necla, hence her name was 'Necla Hibetullah'.[5][6] Some hours later another telegram arrived from San Remo, which turned the joyous day to unbearable suffering, Sultan Mehmed VI died after some hours after the birth of Necla, hence the day turned sorrowful.[6]

Necla Sultan spend her childhood in France, Behzade Hanım took care of Necla when she was young, as Behzade had cold relations with her grandfather, she did her competence to set her against her grandmother Şehsuvar, but despite this negative side she took care of Necla adroitly.[7] In 1938, Necla and her parents and sisters moved to Egypt.[6]

In 1940, due to World War II Necla and her family was impoverished, as Abdulmejid wasn't able to send them money.[8] The same year, her sisters married Egyptian princes, Neslişah married Prince Muhammad Abdel Moneim,[9] and Hanzade married Prince Muhammad Ali, respectively.[10]

In 1943, Necla married Egyptian prince, Amr Ibrahim in Cairo, Egypt, hence the three sisters were all married into the same dynasty, and were styled as "Egyptian princesses”. [6][2] The couple's only child, a son Prince Osman Rifat was born on 20 May 1951 in Cairo, Egypt.[2] Necla, her husband and son settled in Switzerland in 1953, after the proclamation of Egypt as a republic in 1952.[11]

Necla's father, Ömer Faruk developed an increased interest in his cousin Mihrişah Sultan, the daughter of crown prince Şehzade Yusuf Izzeddin. It was also a public knowledge that things were not going well between Faruk and her mother Sabiha.[12] She and her sisters sided with their mother. Faruk accused Sabiha of turning their daughters against him. But he was already in love with Mihrişah and the issue of the council was just an excuse.[13] In 1948, after twenty-eight years of marriage, Faruk divorced Sabiha, and married Mihrişah,[14] After the revocation of the law of exile for princesses in 1952, her mother moved to Istanbul.[15] Necla was widowed by the death of Amr Ibrahim in 1977.[2]

Necla Sultan died on 6 October 2006, at the age of eighty in Madrid, Spain.[11][6] Her body was taken back, to Istanbul, on 16 October, the funeral took place in Bebek Mosque, and was attended by her eldest sister Neslişah, her son Osman Rifat, and other members of Ottoman dynasty. She was buried beside her mother and elder sister Hanzade in Aşiyan Asri Cemetery, Istanbul.[16][11][6]

• Bardakçı, Murat (2017). Neslishah: The Last Ottoman Princess. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-9-774-16837-6.