Mehmed Orhan

Mehmed Orhan (Ottoman Turkish: محمد اور خان‎ 10 November 1909 – 12 March 1994) was the 42nd head of the Ottoman dynasty from 1983 to 1994.[1] He succeeded as head of the Ottoman dynasty on 9 December 1983, following the death of Ali Vâsib. If reigning, he would have been styled as Sultan Orhan II.[2]

Mehmed Orhan
Head of the House of Osman
Term	9 December 1983 – 12 March 1994
Predecessor	Ali Vâsib
Successor	Ertuğrul Osman
Born	10 November 1909 Naime Sultan Palace, Istanbul, Ottoman Empire
Died	12 March 1994 (aged 84) Nice, France
Burial	14 March 1994 East Side Cemetery, Nice, France
Spouse	Nafia Hanım ​ ​ (m. 1932; div. 1933)​ Margareth Fournier ​ ​ (m. 1940; div. 1945)​ Françeska Franketti ​ ​ (unknown)​
Issue	Fatma Necla Sultan Şehzade Mehmed Selim Ayten Sultan
House	Ottoman
Father	Şehzade Mehmed Abdülkadir
Mother	Mihriban Hanım

Early life

Mehmed Orhan was born on 10 November 1909 in Üsküdar.[3] According to Ayşe Sultan he was born in Naime Sultan's palace.[4] His father was Şehzade Mehmed Abdülkadir, son of Sultan Abdul Hamid II and Bidar Kadın, and his mother was Mihriban Hanım,[4] and ethnic Abkhazian.[5] After his parents divorced in 1913, he and his mother went to live in with his uncle.[2] He was then enrolled in Galatasaray High School.[2]

Life in exile

At the exile of the imperial family in March 1924, Mehmed Orhan settled in Budapest, Hungary. He then went to live in with his uncle in Beirut, Lebanon, and then to his aunt Naime Sultan in Nice, France. From here he moved to Buenos Aires, Argentina where he will lived for two and a half years.[2][6]

Mehmed Orhan worked as shipbuilder and picture seller at an art gallery in Sao Paulo Brazil, taxi driver in Beirut and Damascus, French Mandate of Syria and Lebanon, a cemetery attendant in the United States of America and an Advisor of King Zog I of Albania.[7][6]

From 1983, following the death of Ali Vâsib, he served as the head of the imperial house from his home in Nice, France.[8] In a 1990 feature in Life magazine, he said his legacy is "both sacred and laughable," and said, "To be Ottoman is to know how to breathe with time."[9]

Personal life

Mehmed Orhan's first wife was Nafia Hanım. She was the third daughter of Ali Reza Bey of the Yeğen family and wife Nimet Hanım. They married in 1932. She was mother of a daughter, Fatma Necla Sultan, born in 1933. After the two divorced in 1933, she married Prince Abbas Halim of Egypt.[10][11] Her eldest sister, Berkemal Hanım, was married to Mehmed Abdulaziz, 40th head of the Ottoman dynasty from 1973 to 1977, and was the mother of the couple's only daughter, Hürrem Sultan.[10]

His second wife was Margareth Fournier, a French. They married in 1940 in Paris. She was mother of a son, Şehzade Mehmed Selim, born in 1943. The two divorced in 1945.[12] His third wife was Françeska Franketti. She was an Italian baroness. They were married for seven years. The two together had a daughter named Ayten Sultan,[12] born in the 1940s.[13]

Death

Mehmed Orhan died at the age of eighty-four on 12 March 1994 in Nice, France.[2][14] He was buried two days later on 14 March in the East Side Cemetery in Nice.[14] In 2010, Nice Municipality removed the bones from his grave and placed them into the ossuaire number 3 in the same cemetery, citing the fact that the license to use the burial place was not paid for years and the family couldn't be reached.[15]

Issue

Mehemd Orhan had three children:

• Fatma Necla Sultan[16] "Germann" (born Cairo, 14 September 1933 – Zurich, 2010),[15] married and had two sons:
  • Mehmed Erol Germann (born 1952);[13]
  • Osman Cem Germann (born 1963);[13]
• Şehzade Mehmed Selim[16] "Osmanoğlu" (born Paris, 3 October 1943), married and had one daughter:[12]
  • Claris Sultan "Osmanoğlu" (born 1971);[13]
• Ayten Sultan[16] "Osmanoğlu" (born 1940s);[13]

Ancestry

Ancestors of Mehmed Orhan
16. Mahmud II 8. Abdulmejid I 17. Bezmiâlem Sultan 4. Abdul Hamid II 18. Bekhan Bey 9. Tirimüjgan Kadın 19. Almaş Hanım 2. Şehzade Mehmed Abdülkadir 10. Prince Ibrahim Bey Talhosten 5. Princess Bidar Kadın, née Talhosten 11. Princess Şahika İffet Hanım Lortkipanidze 1. Şehzade Mehmed Orhan 3. Mihriban Hanım

See also

• Line of succession to the former Ottoman throne

References

1. Kessler, P L (24 April 1915). "Kingdoms of Anatolia". Ottoman Empire. Retrieved 6 February 2021.
2. Ekinci, Ekrem. "PADİŞAH OLACAKTI, MEZARI BİLE YOK: ŞEHZÂDE ORHAN EFENDİ". Ekrem Buğra Ekinci (in Turkish). Retrieved 6 February 2021.
3. Bardakçı 2008, p. 13.
4. Osmanoğlu, Ayşe (2000). Babam Sultan Abdülhamid. Mona Kitap Yayinlari. p. 267. ISBN 978-6-050-81202-2.
5. Kırpık, Cevdet (2011). Şehzade Evliliklerinde Değişim Changes in the Marriage of Ottoman Princes. p. 171.
6. "Mehmet Orhan Osmanoğlu Kimdir? Bir Sürgün Öyküsü". NetNedir (in Turkish). 25 August 2018. Retrieved 6 February 2021.
7. Pope, From Hugh (21 July 1992). "Oldest Ottoman to come home at last". The Independent. Retrieved 6 February 2021.
8. Brookes, Douglas Scott (2010). The Concubine, the Princess, and the Teacher: Voices from the Ottoman Harem. University of Texas Press. p. 287. ISBN 978-0-292-78335-5.
9. "Kings in the Wings." Life. March 1990: 45.
10. Vâsıb, Ali; Osmanoğlu, Osman Selaheddin (2004). Bir şehzadenin hâtırâtı: vatan ve menfâda gördüklerim ve işittiklerim. YKY. pp. 239–240. ISBN 978-9-750-80878-4.
11. Bardakçı 2008, p. 21.
12. Bardakçı 2008, p. 23.
13. Murat Bardakçı (2008). Son Osmanlılar: Osmanlı hanedanı'nın sürgün ve miras öyküsü. İnkılâp. p. 315. ISBN 978-975-10-2616-3.
14. "Osmanlı şehzadesine büyük saygısızlık". Sabah (in Turkish). 8 December 2014. Retrieved 6 February 2021.
15. PAZAN, İbrahim (18 December 2014). "HANEDAN NEREDE ÖLDÜ NEREYE GÖMÜLDÜ?". ibrahimpazan.com (in Turkish). Retrieved 6 February 2021.
16. Eğrikar, Özge; EĞRİKAR/İSTANBUL, Özge (21 May 2019). "Sultan 2. Abdülhamid'in miras davasında ilk tanık". hurriyet.com.tr (in Turkish). Retrieved 6 February 2021.

Sources

• Bardakçı, Murat (2008). Son Osmanlılar: Osmanlı Hanedanı'nın Sürgün ve Mira Öyküsü. İnkılâp. ISBN 978-9-751-02616-3.