Leyla Açba

Leyla Gülefşan Achba (10 August 1898 – 6 November 1931) was an Abkhazian princess. She was a lady-in-waiting to Nazikeda Kadın, wife of Mehmed VI, the last Sultan of the Ottoman Empire. She is known for writing memoirs, which give details of the sultan's court life and was the first Ottoman court lady to write memoirs.

Life Leyla Achba was born on 10 August 1898 in Achba Mansion, Horhor, Istanbul. She was a member of the Abkhazian princely family, Anchabadze, which had emigrated to Istanbul during the Russo-Turkish War (1877–78). Her father was Prince Mehmed Refik Bey Achba, and her mother was Princess Mahşeref Hanım Emkhaa, daughter of Prince Osman Bey Emukhvari and Princess Hesna Hanım Çaabalurhva.

She had three elder siblings, two brothers, Ahmed Bey, and Rifat Kemaleddin Bey, and a sister, Emine Nurbanu Hanım, and a younger sister, Feride Hanım. She was a paternal great-grandniece of Verdicenan Kadın, a wife of Sultan Abdulmejid I. She was also a maternal niece of Peyveste Hanım, and a paternal cousin of Fatma Pesend Hanım, both wives of Sultan Abdul Hamid II. Her paternal grandmother Ayşe Kemalifer Dziapş-Ipa was the sister of Dürrünev Kadın who was the Senior Consort of Sultan Abdulaziz. Her sister, Nurbanu renamed Hidayet Hanım married Şehzade Mehmed Burhaneddin, son of Sultan Abdülhamid II. Her cousin Nazikeda Kadın was the wife of Sultan Mehmed VI and another cousin Iryale Hanım was a consort of Şehzade Mehmed Selim, son of Sultan Abdülhamid II. Her cousin Princess Mihri Müşfik Hanım was the first female artist in Turkey. Princess Achba was the first Ottoman court lady who wrote memoirs. She intended her memoirs to be reckoning, an account which would bring to light the harsh treatment her family received from the victorious republic.

Ancestry