Gevheri Sultan


Gevheri Sultan was an Ottoman princess, musician, and composer. She was the daughter of Şehzade Mehmed Seyfeddin, son of Sultan Abdulaziz.

Early life

Gevheri Sultan was born on 30 November 1904 in Çamlıca Palace. Her father was Şehzade Mehmed Seyfeddin, and her mother was Nervaliter Hanım. She was the third child, and only daughter born to her father and the second child of her mother. She had a twin brother, Şehzade Ahmed Tevhid. She also had an elder full brother, Şehzade Mahmud Şevket, one year older than her. She was the granddaughter of Sultan Abdulaziz and Gevheri Kadın.

Exile and marriage

At the exile of the imperial family in March 1924, Gevheri and her family moved to Nice, France, where they settled in a villa at Cimiez, her father died in 1927. After her father's death, her family was scattered here and there. She was still living there and was striving to make ends meet. Abdulmejid II, her uncle who was also living in Nice, brought her to his home when he heard of her financial difficulties with the intention of marrying her.
Gevheri lived with her uncle's family for a few years, then became engaged to the son of a minor raja from India, but a short time before her wedding it was discovered that she was having an affair with someone else, so the engagement was canceled. Her uncle was so angry that he send her to stay with her mother, who barely had anything to live on.
In 1930, she married Prince Ahmed of Egypt, and moved to Cairo, Egypt. She was widowed at his death in 1948.

As musician

Gevheri Sultan learned to play several instruments from her father. Among these were the oud, the tanbur, and the lavta. She played the tanbur, kemençe, ud, lavta and piano. She composed vocal and instrumental pieces in various makams. Though she did not continue her studies of Turkish music until her return to her country, she became very skilled on the tanbur in later life. Her work is preserved in recordings made by Turkish radio and TV.
Her father Mehmed Seyfeddin was known as great composer after Selim III. He was a great composer. He used to play piano, fiddle, drums and composed them with a good tune. Her half-brother Mehmed Abdulaziz, and brothers Şehzade Mahmud Şevket and Şehzade Ahmed Tevhid were master drummers.

Later years and death

In 1952, Gevheri returned to Istanbul after the revocation of the law of exile for princesses. She spent her last years with her cousin Mihrişah Sultan, daughter of her uncle crown prince Şehzade Yusuf Izzeddin, in a spacious apartment in Taksim Square. She died on 10 December 1980 at the age of seventy-six, and was buried in the mausoleum of her great-grandfather Sultan Mahmud II, Divanyolu, Istanbul.

Ancestry