Zekiye Sultan

Zekiye Sultan (; 12 January 1872 – 13 July 1950) was an Ottoman princess, the daughter of Sultan Abdul Hamid II and Bedrifelek Kadın.

Early life and education

Zekiye Sultan was born on 12 January 1872 in the Dolmabahçe Palace. Her father was Abdul Hamid II, son of Abdulmejid I and Tirimüjgan Kadın. She was the third child, and second daughter of her father and the second child of her mother. She had two brothers, Şehzade Mehmed Selim, two years older than her, and Şehzade Ahmed Nuri, six years younger than her. She was one of Abdülhamid's favorite daughters, with Naime Sultan and Ayşe Sultan.

After Abdul Hamid's accession to the throne on 31 August 1876, the imperial family remained in the Dolmabahçe Palace. In 1877, Zekiye and other members of the imperial family settled in the Yıldız Palace, after Abdul Hamid moved there on 7 April 1877.

Zekiye began her education in 1879, age seven, at the Ihlamur Pavilion together with her brother Şehzade Mehmed Selim, and Sultan Abdul Aziz's children, Şehzade Mehmed Şevket, Esma Sultan and Şehzade Mehmed Seyfeddin. She studied geography, the Quran, and Turkish language. She also read English and French books. She was also taught music, first by Lombardi Bey, and following her marriage by Madame Avisnad Bavis, a French woman. She learnt both Turkish and European music.

Marriage In 1887, Zekiye was engaged to Ali Nureddin Pasha, the eldest son of Gazi Osman Pasha and Zatıgül Hanım, a lady formerly in the harem of Sultan Abdulaziz, In 1889, aged seventeen, her father arranged her trousseaux and marriage together with three of Sultan Abdulaziz's daughters, princesses Saliha Sultan, Nazime Sultan, and Esma Sultan. The marriage contract was signed on 15 March 1889 in the Yıldız Palace. Zekiye's deputy was Mehmed Yavar Agha, and witness was Mehmed Cevher Agha. Ali Nureddin's deputy was Grand Vizier Mehmed Kamil Pasha. The wedding took place 20 April 1889 in the Yıldız Palace. Her husband became Damat through marriage.

Ottoman princesses were traditionally allocated palaces on their marriage. She was allocated the Ortaköy Palace. This palace once belonged to her aunt Mediha Sultan, half-sister of her father, where she resided with her first husband. Zekiye moved to Ortaköy Palace, on the second day after the marriage, where 80 men and 80 women were in their service. In 1898, Ali Nureddin's younger brother, Mehmed Kemaleddin Pasha, married her younger half-sister Naime Sultan. Her palace was constructed next to Zekiye's, and the two buildings used to be called "The Twin Mansions".

The two together had two daughters, Ulviye Şükriye Hanımsultan born in 1890, who died at the age of about three on 23 February 1893, and Fatma Aliye Hanımsultan, born in 1891.

Zekiye Sultan died on 13 July 1950 in Pau, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, France at the age of seventy-eight, and was buried there. Her husband outlived her by two years, dying in 1952.

Honours Order of the House of Osman Order of the Medjidie, Jeweled

Ancestry