Gülüstü Hanım


Gülüstü Hanım was the nineteenth wife of Sultan Abdulmejid I, and the mother of Sultan Mehmed VI, the last Sultan of the Ottoman Empire.

Life

Gülüstü Hanım was born in 1831 in Sukhumi, Abkhazia. Born as Fatma Chachba, she was a member of the Abkhazian princely family, Shervashidze. Her father was Prince Tahir Bey Chachba, and her mother was Afişe Hanım Lakerba. She was the granddaughter of Kelesh Ahmed-Bey Shervashidze, head of state of the Principality of Abkhazia.
Fatma came to Constantinople with her family in 1831, where her father died in 1832. At the age of ten, she was entrusted to the imperial harem, where her name according to the custom of the Ottoman court was changed to Gülüstü. She became the lady-in-waiting to Bezmiâlem Sultan.
Gülüstü married Abdulmejid in August 1854. She was elevated to the title of "Fifth Fortunate". In 1856, she was given the title of "Fourth Fortunate". On 30 July 1856, she gave birth to her first child, a daughter, Mediha Sultan. Five years later on 14 January 1861, she gave birth to her second child, a son, Şehzade Mehmed Vahideddin.

Death

After Abdulmejid's death in 1861, Gülüstü Hanım moved to a waterfront palace located at Eyüp, where she died in 1865, in an outbreak of cholera. She was buried in her own mausoleum located in Fatih Mosque, Fatih, Constantinople, today in Istanbul.
After her death, her daughter Mediha Sultan was entrusted in the care of Verdicenan Kadın, and her son Mehmed was entrusted in the care of Şayeste Hanım.

Issue

Together with Abdulmejid, Gülüstü had two children: