Şehzade Mehmed Ziyaeddin

Şehzade Mehmed Ziyaeddin ( ota, شهزادہ محمد ضیاالدین; 26 August 1873 – 30 January 1938) was an Ottoman prince, eldest son of Sultan Mehmed V and his senior consort Kamures Kadın.

Early life

Şehzade Mehmed Ziyaeddin was born on 26 August 1873 in his father's villa in Ortaköy. His father was Mehmed V, son of Abdulmejid I and Gülcemal Kadın, and his mother was Kamures Kadın. When his father became heir to the throne in 1876, following the accession of his elder brother, Sultan Abdul Hamid II, the family moved to the apartment of the crown prince located in the Dolmabahçe Palace.

His circumcision took place on 17 December 1883, together with Şehzade Mehmed Selim, eldest son of Sultan Abdul Hamid II, Şehzade Ibrahim Tevfik, grandson of Sultan Abdulmejid I, and Abdulmejid II, Şehzade Mehmed Şevket and Şehzade Mehmed Seyfeddin, sons of Sultan Abdulaziz.

Education and career

Between 1911 and 1912, Ziyaeddin attended the Imperial War College. In February 1916, during the First World War he served as the honorary cavalry brigadier in the imperial army. He also served as honorary aide-de-camp to his father, Sultan Reşad.

After the death of Sultan Reşad in 1918, Ziyaeddin enrolled in Imperial Medical School. Safiye Ünüvar, tells in her memois that he used to bring his notebooks to her, and she would copy them out cleanly. He also took algebra lessons from her.

Public life

On 2 September 1909, Ziyaeddin travelled to Bursa with his father, Sultan Reşad, and brothers, Şehzade Mahmud Necmeddin and Şehzade Ömer Hilmi. On 13 June 1910, he and his brothers received Şehzade Yusuf Izzeddin at the Sirkeci railway station, when he came from his first visit to Europe. Between 5 and 26 June 1911, Ziyaeddin travelled to Rumelia with his father and brothers.

On 11 November 1911, he traveled to Egypt to meet the King of United Kingdom George V and his wife Queen Mary of Teck, and stayed there until 29 November 1911. Between 4 and 5 November 1912, during the Balkan Wars, he visited the Çatalca front. Between 10 and 21 April 1917, during the First World War, he visited the German Empire.

On 15 October 1917, he met with the German emperor Wilhelm II, when the latter visited Istanbul in 1917. On 9 May 1918, he also met with the Emperor Charles I of Austria, when the latter visited Istanbul in 1918, with his wife Empress Zita of Bourbon-Parma.

Personal life

Ziyaeddin's first wife was Perniyan Hanım. She was born on 2 January 1880. They married on 5 January 1898, when she was eighteen. In 1900 she gave birth to Behiye Sultan. She was an accomplished calligrapher. When Sultan Reşad happened to notice a work of hers he showed it to one of the calligraphers of that time, who admired it greatly. She hoped to arrange for lessons in calligraphy through Sabit Bey, Sultan Reşad's Master of the Robes, however, court tradition proved an obstacle to her goals, and she had to remain content with having earned the sultan's admiration for her work. Later divorced, Perniyan died in 1947 at aged sixty seven.

Ziyaeddin's second wife was Ünsiyar Hanım. She was born in 1887. Her mother was Firdevs Hanım.
She had one sister, Laverans Hanım. They married on 16 August 1903, when she was sixteen. Some two years later she gave birth to Dürriye Sultan, in 1905, followed by Rukiye Sultan in 1906 and Şehzade Mehmed Nazım in 1910. She was an intelligent and reasonable lady, and took a particular interest in the education of royal women. She died in 1934 in Alexandria, Egypt, aged forty seven.

Ziyaeddin's third wife was Perizad Hanım. She was born in 1889. A certain Vedat Bey was her paternal cousin. They married on 18 January 1907, when she was seventeen. In 1908 she gave birth to Hayriye Sultan, followed in 1910 by Lütfiye Sultan. She was known in the palace for her good nature and discretion. She died in the French Hospital in Alexandria, Egypt, in 1934, at the age of forty five, and was buried in the mausoleum of Prince Omar Tusun Pasha.

Ziyaeddin's fourth wife was Melekseyran Hanım. She was born on 23 September 1890. She had a sister, Sermelek Hanım. They married in 1911. The following year she gave birth to Şehzade Ömer Fevzi. She was beautiful but hadn't been educated well. Later divorced, she died in 1966 at the age of seventy six. Ziyaeddin's fifth wife was Neşemend Hanım. They married in 1920, after Ziyaeddin's divorce from Melekseyran. In 1922 she gave birth to Mihrimah Sultan. She died in 1934, at aged twenty nine, in Egypt, where she was buried at the city of Helwan.

Character

Ziyaeddin was always seen with his eccentric modes of dress, promenading his clothes and colourful shoes bidding goodday with the boldest of gestures to ladies.

He always kept up ties to the poorer classes and never refused them his assistance in any way, expending a part of his small income to help the needy people of Kadıköy and environs as well as Üsküdar. He paid for the burial of indigent persons, financially assisted penniless girls who were to be married, and requested his consorts to help in providing them clothing and other items. At the beginning of each month he would
distribute an allowance to the needy persons in the neighborhood, insofar as he was capable.

Later life and death

Following the death of his father, Sultan Mehmed Reşad, Prince Ziyaeddin and his family moved to his villa located at Ibrahim Pasha Meadows, visiting Yıldız and
Dolmabahçe Palaces only on high holidays and official occasions. The villa included three distinct units, each of three stories, so that each wife and her children could occupy their own quarters. Altogether the entourage of Prince Ziyaeddin and his wives totalled thirty-six persons.

Following the establishment of the Turkish Republic and the abolition of the Ottoman Sultanate and the Ottoman Caliphate, the entire Imperial Ottoman family were forced into exile in March 1924. Ziyaeddin and his family settled in Beirut, Lebanon. In 1926, they went to Alexandria, Egypt. He died at the age of sixty four at Alexandria on 30 January 1938 and was buried in the mausoleum of Khedive Tewfik Pasha, Cairo.

Honours

;Ottoman honours
* Order of Osmanieh, 1st Class, ''1884''; Jeweled, ''26 March 1912''
* Order of the Medjidie, Jeweled, ''1909''
* Liakat Medal, ''17 October 1916''
* Order of Glory, Jeweled, ''2 May 1917''
* Order of the House of Osman
* Hicaz Demiryolu Medal in Gold
* Ottoman War Medal

;Foreign honours
* : Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order, ''21 November 1911''
* : Order of Karađorđe's Star
* : Grand-Cross of the Order of Leopold, ''6 June 1918''

Military appointments

;Honorary military ranks and army appointments
* ''February 1916'': Cavalry Brigadier, Ottoman Army
* Aide-de-camp

Issue

Ancestry

References

Sources

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External links

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Family Tree
descendants of Sultan Mahmud II. Retrieved 2011-02-28.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ziyaeddin, Mehmed
1873 births
1938 deaths
People from Istanbul
Ottoman Army generals
Sons of Ottoman sultans