Şehzade Ömer Hilmi

Şehzade Ömer Hilmi^[2] (2 March 1886 – 6 April 1935) was the third son of Mehmed V, by his third wife Mihrengiz Kadın.^[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).

Early years

Ömer Hilmi lived most of his life in Istanbul 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 abolition of the Ottoman Empire and the Ottoman Caliphate, the entire Ottoman Imperial family were forced into exile in March 1924. Aged 38, Ömer Hilmi, left Turkey never to return, since he died before the decree of exile was lifted. He went into exile with his mother, Mihrengiz Kadın, who had been the wife of Sultan Mehmed V, and with his two young children, Mahmud Namık and Emine Mükbile. Like all other members of the Imperial family, they left Istanbul 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 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, Emine Mükbile, who had married her distant cousin Ali Vasib in 1931, cared for him, her grandmother and brother during all this time. Ömer Hilmi suffered from a stroke and died soon after settling in Alexandria. He died aged 49 at Alexandria, on 6 April 1935, and was buried in Khedive Tawfik Mausoleum, Cairo, Egypt.

Personal life

• Nesimter Hanım, married at Istanbul, Yıldız Palace, and divorced at Istanbul, Dolmabahçe Palace, in January 1915, without issue.^[4]
• Gülnev Hanım (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 Mausoleum, Eyüb), married at Istanbul, Yıldız Palace on 3 October 1910, alias 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:
  • Şehzade Mahmud Namık (Dolmabahçe Palace, 23 December 1913 – Cairo, Egypt, 13 November 1963, buried in Khedive Tawfik Mausoleum, Cairo, transferred to Sultan Mahmud II Mausoleum Istanbul in 1987), Received the Collar of the Hanedan-ı-Ali-Osman, Businessman, married in August 1939 (div. at Alexandria, 1947) Şaharazade Hanım (Alexandria, 1922 – 1993), only daughter of Ismail Ratib Bey, by his wife Princess Emine Bihruz Hanım, younger daughter of Prince Ibrahim Raşid Fazıl Pasha, of Egypt. He had issue, an only son:
    • Şehzade Ömer Abdülmecid Osmanoğlu (Alexandria, 4 June 1941), educated at the Stowe school, Buckinghamshire, England, and a degree in business administration from London University, married Beulah Hanım (8 April 1943), née Banbury. He has issue, an only son:
      • Şehzade Mahmud Namık Osmanoğlu (London, 27 April 1975) educated MFA in Design and Technology from Parsons The New School for Design, New York City, USA. He is a co-founder and director of an online health channel, he lives in England, married Inci Hanım, née Genevieve Robson: He has issue, two sons
        • Şehzade Ziyaeddin Reşad (London, 6 June 2012)
        • Şehzade Cem Ömer (London, 5 August 2015)
  • Emine Mükbile Sultan (Dolmabahçe Palace, 17 September 1911 – Istanbul, 21 May 1995, buried in Sultan Reşad Mausoleum, Eyüb), Received the Collar of the Hanedan-ı-Ali-Osman and the Nişan-ı-Şefkat 1st class, married at Nice, France, on 24 April 1931, Şehzade Ali Vasib, 41st Head of the Imperial House of Osman (Çırağan Palace, 13 October 1903 – Alexandria, 9 December 1983), only son of Şehzade Ahmed Nihad, 38th Head of the Imperial House of Osman, by his first wife, Safru Hanım. She had issue, an only son:
    • Şehzade Osman Selaheddin Osmanoğlu (Alexandria, Egypt 7 July 1940), educated at the Victoria College, Alexandria, then London to become a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, married in London, on 27 August 1966 (div.), Athena Joy Hanım (born London, 9 March 1944), née, Christoforides. He has issue, three sons and one daughter:
      • Şehzade Orhan Murad Osmanoğlu (Henley-on-Thames, England, 26 December 1972, educated Degree in Busıness Studies at Kingston University, London, has had a career in the IT industry and now works for a Property Holding Company, married on 17 February 2000, Emine Hanım née, Patricia Iotti. He has issue, two sons:
        • Şehzade Turan Cem (born High Wycombe, England, 7 January 2004)
        • Şehzade Tamer Nihad (born High Wycombe, England, 15 April 2006)
      • Şehzade Nihad Rashid (Marlowe, 17 September 1978 - Woking, Surrey, 19 December 1978)
      • Şehzade Selim Süleyman Osmanoğlu (High Wycombe, England, 15 December 1979) educ. Degree in Business Studies at Kingston Univ., London and Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Insurance, a Chartered Insurance Broker and a Member of the Institute of Risk Management, married at İstanbul, on 22 June 2003, to Alev Hanım, née, Öcal. educated at the Boğaziçi University, İstanbul. He has issue, one son and one daughter:
        • Şehzade Batu Bayezid Efendi (born Sidcup, England, 23 April 2008)
        • Esma Emira Sultan (born 19 June 2015)
      • Ayşe Gülnev Osmanoğlu Sultan (born Henley-on-Thames, England, 17 January 1971), educucated in History and Politics at Exeter University and a master's degree in Ottoman history at S.O.A.S. London, married on 27 August 1994, to Damad Nicholas Nelson Sutton (born 18 August 1969), educated at the Exeter University and Chartered Accountant, Dir. Property Holding Company. She has issue, four sons and one daughter:
        • (Sultanzade) Maximilian Ali Sutton (London, 15 January 2000)
        • (Sultanzade) Cosmo Tarik Sutton (London, 10 September 2001)
        • (Sultanzade) Lysander Cengiz Sutton (London, 12 April 2003)
        • Tatyana Aliye (Hanımsultan) Sutton (Sussex, England, 25 March 2005)
        • (Sultanzade) Ferdinand Ziya Sutton (Sussex, England, 26 July 2006)
• Faika Hanım, married at Istanbul, Üsküdar, Çamlıca Palace, without issue. The couple later divorced. In 1934 she took the surname 'Hunca'.
• Bahtıter Hanım (Izmir, 12 October 1897 – 1984), married at Istanbul, Üsküdar, Çamlıca Palace, 16 June 1914, without issue.
• Mediha Hanım (Alexandria, 4 November 1903 – Cairo, Egypt, 1971), married at Istanbul, Nişantaşı Palace, on 12 July 1921, 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

Bibliography

• Osmanoğlu, Osman Selaheddin (2003). Bir Şehzadenin Hâtırâtı. Turkey: Yapı Kredi Yayınları. ISBN 975-08-0878-9. OCLC 469568294. Retrieved 20 July 2011. 

External links

• "Ottoman Family". Official website of the immediate living descendants of the Ottoman Dynasty. Retrieved 14 February 2010. 
• "Genealogy of the Ottoman Family". Retrieved 19 August 2008. 
• Family Tree, descendants of Sultan Mahmud II. Retrieved 2011-02-28.