Nazira Jumblatt

Nazira Jumblatt (18901951) was a Druze leader and the mother of Lebanese politician and Kamal Jumblatt. She was styled sitt (lady in Arabic).

Biography

Nazira was born in 1890, and her parents were Faris and Afrida Said Jumblatt. Her maternal grandfather, Said, died in prison of tuberculosis on 11 May 1861. She was educated at home by her grandmother and private teachers, learning both English and French. Nazira took on the political role and the leadership of the Jumblatt family upon the assassination of her husband Fouad Jumblatt in 1921. She ran the family affairs until 1943 when her son Kamal took the reins of political and family leadership into his own hands. Nazira died on 27 March 1951.

Legacy French novelist Pierre Benoit used Al-Sitt Nazira as the model for the heroine of his 1924 novel La Châtelaine du Liban (the Châtelaine of Lebanon). Sitt Nazira was also the main subject of the 2003 Lebanese documentary Lady of the Palace.