Ömer Hilmi

Ömer Hilmi
Colonel of Inf. Ottoman Army
Born 2 March 1886
Veliahd Palace, the Crown Prince’s Palace, İstanbul, Ottoman Empire
Died 6 April 1935(1935-04-06) (aged 49)
Alexandria, Egypt
Spouse Nesimter Hanımefendi
Gülnev Hanımefendi
Faika Hanımefendi
Bahtıter Hanımefendi
Mediha Hanımefendi
Issue Prince Mahmud Namık
Princess Emine Mükbile
House Imperial House of Osman
Father Sultan Mehmed V Reşad
Mother Mihrengiz Kadın Efendi
Religion Islam

Ömer Hilmi, Colonel of Infantry of the Ottoman Army Omer Hilmi,[1] Prince (Şehzade) Ömer Hilmi Efendi[2] was born at the Veliahd Palace (the Crown Prince’s Palace), Ortaköy, Istanbul on 2 March 1886, as the third son of Mehmed V, by his third wife Mihrengiz Kadın Efendi.[3] He was educated privately. He received the Collar of the Hanedan-i-Ali-Osman and the Nişan-ı-Ali-Imtiyaz, GC of the Order of Leopold of Austria (1917).

Imperial Ottoman Dynasty
Country Ottoman Empire
Founded 1299
Founder Osman I
Dissolution 1922
Prince Omer Hilmi in exile with his family, his mother, son and daughter
Prince Omer Hilmi in exile with his family, his mother, son and daughter

Early years

Ömer Hilmi Efendi lived most of his life in İstanbul in the restrictive surroundings of Dolmabahçe Palace. He was born in the apartments reserved for the Veliahd, the Crown Prince, and then moved into the main palace once his father had become the Ottoman Sultan on 27 April 1909. Together with his brother, he tried to support his father during the difficult years of the First World War. On the death of his father on 4 July 1918, just before the end of the war, he and his family left Dolmabahçe Palace and moved to a Konak at Nişantaşı during the winter months and to one in Bağlarbaşı, above Beylerbeyi, for the summer.

Exile

Following the establishment of the Turkish Republic and the aboliton of the Ottoman Sultanate and the Ottoman Caliphate, the entire Imperial Ottoman family were forced into exile in March 1924. Aged 38, Ömer Hilmi Efendi, left Turkey never to return, since he died before the decree of exile was lifted. He went into exile with his mother, Mihrengiz Kadınefendi, who had been the wife of Sultan Mehmed V, and with his two young children, Mahmud Namık Efendi and Princess Emine Mükbile Sultan. Like all other members of the Imperial family, they left İstanbul from Sirkeci Train Station and first went to Budapest. They lived here for a few months, then moved to Vienna, then Paris, before settling in Nice, France. As the former Ottoman Sultan, Sultan Mehmed VI, had settled in San Remo, many members of the family had congregated in the South of France. After living in Switzerland for a short time, his cousin, the last Caliph of Islam Prince Abdulmecid, also moved to Nice. Ömer Hilmi Efendi spent the next 11 years of his life in Nice, struggling to adapt to life in exile, before moving to Alexandria, Egypt in January 1935 with his family. Life in exile was always very difficult since members of the Imperial Ottoman family had no financial means, and all yearned to return to their homeland.

Illness and Death

His daughter, Princess Emine Mükbile Sultan, who had married her distant cousin Prince Ali Vasib Efendi in 1931, cared for him, her grandmother and brother during all this time. Ömer Hilmi Efendi suffered from a stroke and died soon after settling in Alexandria. He died age 49 at Alexandria, on 6 April 1935, and was buried in Khedive Tawfik Mausoleum, Cairo, Egypt.

Personal life

First Marriage

He married firstly (divorced on 7 January 1915) Nesimter Hanımefendi (? - ?), without issue.[4]

Second marriage and issue

He married secondly at the Yıldız Palace, on 3 October 1910 Gülnev Hanımefendi (Gence, Aegean, 21 February 1890 - died aged 29 Nişantaşı, 31 December 1919, from Spanish influenza, following an epidemic of the disease, buried in Sultan Reşad Maus, Eyüb), aliad Firdevs, née Hatice, daughter of Fırat Bey by his wife Ayşe Hanım, recognized by her father-in-law, Sultan Mehmed V, for her dedication to charitable causes and was awarded The Imperial Order of Appreciation – First Class. She had issue, one son and one daughter:

Third marriage

He married thirdly at Çamlıca Palace, Üsküdar, and divorced to Faika Hanımefendi, without issue. In 1934 she took the surname 'Hunca'.

Fourth marriage

He married fourthly at Çamlıca Palace, Üsküdar, 16 June 1914 (div. 1921), to Bahtıter Hanımefendi (Izmir, 12 October 1897 - 1984), without issue.

Fifth marriage

He married fifthly at Nişantaşı Palace, on 12 July 1921 (div. at Üsküdar, 16 September 1921), to Mediha Hanımefendi, (Alexandria, 4 November 1903 - Cairo, Egypt, 1971), eldest daughter of Menliki Ahmed Paşa, by his wife, Princess Zübeyda, eldest daughter of Lieutenant General Prince Muhammad Ali Paşa of Egypt, without issue.

Family Tree

Showing the line of descent from the founder of the Ottoman dynasty to present day through Sultan Mehmed V Reşad's youngest son Prince Ömer Hilmi Efendi

References

  1. ↑ Hugh Montgomery-Massingberd, Burke's Royal Families of the World, Africa & the Middle East, Burke's Peerage, 1980, p. 247.
  2. ↑ Almanach de Gotha (184th ed.). Almanach de Gotha. 2000. pp. 365, 912–915.
  3. ↑ Ali Vâsıb, Bir Şehzadenin Hâtırâtı: Vatan ve Menfâda Gördüklerim ve İşittiklerim, Yapı Kredi Kültür Yayınları, 2004, ISBN 978-975-08-0878-4, p. 205
  4. ↑

Bibliography

External links

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