Şehzade Mehmed Abid

Şehzade Mehmed Abid was born on 17 May 1905 in the Yıldız Palace. His father was Abdul Hamid II, son of Abdulmejid I and Tirimüjgan Kadın. His mother was Saliha Naciye Kadın,{{cite book|first=Jamil|last=Adra|title=Genealogy of the Imperial Ottoman Family 2005|year=2005|pages=29}}{{cite book|author=Yılmaz Öztuna|title=II. Abdülhamîd: zamânı ve şahsiyeti|publisher=Kubbealti Publishing|year=2008

|pages=238–39|isbn=978-97564-446-27}} daughter of Arslan Bey Ankuap.{{cite book|author=Ali Akyıldız|title=Son Dönem Osmanlı Padişahlarının Nikâh Meselesi|year=2018|pages=698}} He was the eighth son born to his father, and the eldest child of his mother. He had a sister, Samiye Sultan three years younger than him, who died in infancy. He was named after Abdul Hamid's decreased brother, died in infancy.

On 27 April 1909, Abdul Hamid was deposed, and sent into exile in Thessaloniki.{{cite book|first=Richard C.|last=Hall|title=War in the Balkans: An Encyclopedic History from the Fall of the Ottoman Empire to the Breakup of Yugoslavia|publisher=ABC-CLIO|date=October 9, 2014|pages=1–2|isbn=978-1-610-69031-7}} Abid and his mother followed Abdul Hamid. There they lived in Alatini Mansion. After Thessaloniki fell to Greece in 1912, Abdul Hamid returned to Istanbul, and settled in the Beylerbeyi Palace.{{cite book|first=Milman|last=Parry|first2=Albert B.|last2=Lord|title=Serbocroatian heroic songs, Volume 1|publisher=Harvard University Press|year=1979|pages=371}} His circumcision took place on 9 October 1913. Abdul Hamid died in 1918, when Abid was thirteen years of age.{{cite web|title=Saraydan Seyyar Satıcılîğa: Şehzâde Âbid Efendi|url=http://www.ekrembugraekinci.com/article/?ID=460|website=www.erkembugraekinci.com|date=19 June 2013|access-date=4 November 2020}}

Abid's early education took place in Galatasaray High School. He was taught painting by Halil Pasha, and his history tutor was Tevfik Bey. After graduating from here, he was enrolled in the Ottoman Military College,{{cite book|title=Monarchies and the Great War|publisher=Springer|year=2018|pages=144|isbn=978-3-319-89515-4}} and went on to become senior lieutenant in the imperial Ottoman Army. He also served aide-de-camp to Sultan Mehmed VI. His mother died in 1923, when he was nineteen years of age.

Between 1918 and 1922, Abid lived in the Yıldız Palace, and between 1922 and 1924, he lived in the Erenköy Palace.

At the exile of the imperial family in March 1924, Abid first asked to go to Egypt but was denied enter, so he settled in Beirut, Lebanon. He used to spend most of the time in Jounieh with his eldest brother Şehzade Mehmed Selim, and the summers in Aley. He then went to Paris, where he stayed with his older sister, Ayşe Sultan. Here he earned his living as a soap seller. On 14 January 1925, he gave the power of attorney to Sami Günzberg, a well-known Turkish Jewish lawyer, authorising him to regain from usurpers buildings, lands, mines, concessions left by Abdul Hamid situated in Turkish territory and elsewhere.{{cite book|first1=Ruth|last1=Kark|first2=Seth J.|last2=Frantzman|title="One of the most spectacular lawsuits ever launched": Abdülhamid's heirs, his lands and the land case in Palestine, 1908-1950|year=2010|pages=138}}

In Paris, he went to the Sorbonne Law School, and the Faculty of Political Sciences from where he graduated in 1936 and 1937 respectively. He received his doctorate in law from Sorbonne. He also went to Ecole Nationale des Langues Orientales Vivantes, where he graduated in Persian Language and Literature. Between 1940 and 1948, he lived for short periods in Toulouse, Nice, Madrid, Lisbon, Cairo, Alexandria and Tirana.

The Japanese emperor considered him a candidate for the throne of Turkistan; Zog I of Albania also thought of making him Crown Prince, as at the moment he had no issue.

Between 1936 and 1939, King Zog I of Albania, appointed him the Albanian Ambassador to France.{{cite book|author=Robert Elsie|title=A Biographical Dictionary of Albanian History|publisher=I.B.Tauris|date=December 24, 2012|pages=506|isbn=978-17807-643-13}}

In 1930, Abid asked Abdulmejid II and Mehisti Hanım's daughter, Dürrüşehvar Sultan's hand in marriage. However, her father refused, on the grounds of Dürrüşehvar being under age. In reality, he had already arranged his marriage with Azam Jah, a very wealthy Indian prince, son of the Nizam of Hyderabad, Mir Osman Ali Khan. The two married in 1931. In 1934, after the death of his first consort, his marriage was arranged to Mihrişah Sultan, daughter of Şehzade Yusuf Izzeddin and Leman Hanım, but she was in love with Şehzade Ömer Faruk, who later became her husband, and then he asked to marry a daughter of Nizam of Hyderabad State, because his two sons was already married to two Ottoman princesses, Dürrüşehvar Sultan and Nilüfer Hanimsultan. However, none of them materialised.

Abid's first wife was Pınardil Fahriye Hanım. She died in 1934 in Nice, France, and was buried in Muslim Bobigny Cemetery.{{cite web|title=Fransa'daki Şehzade Kabirlerinin Durumu İçler Acısı|url=https://www.haberler.com/fransa-daki-sehzade-kabirlerinin-durumu-icler-5712519-haberi/|website=haberler.com|date=2014-02-25|access-date=2020-11-13}} His second wife was Princess Senije Zogu, daughter of Xhemal Pasha Zogu and Sadije Toptani, and sister of King Zog I. They were betrothed on 9 January 1936{{cite book | title=Great Britain and the East | issue=v. 36 | year=1946| page=105}} in Tirana, and were married on 13 January 1936.{{cite web | title=KING ZOG'S SISTER WED TO PRINCE ABID; Princess Senije of Albania Is Bride of Son of the Last Sultan of Turkey. | website=The New York Times | date=1936-01-14 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1936/01/14/archives/king-zogs-sister-wed-to-prince-abid-princess-senije-of-albania-is.html | access-date=2022-01-27}} They divorced in 1949.

File:Damascus Sulaymaniyya Takiyya tombs 7889.jpg

In 1966, Mehmed Abid settled in Beirut, where he died of heart attack on 8 December 1973 and was buried in the cemetery of the Sulaymaniyya Takiyya, Damascus, Syria.

Abid was very smart, cultured and interested in history. In his last days he used to spend his time in libraries and bookstores. He could speak Turkish and French, and knew Arabic and Persian  He received many offers to write down his memories about his father. However, he turned down those offers. He would generally refuse the journalists requests to meet him. He was handsome, and would dress comely and cleanly. He spoke very little and was too modest.

{{Infobox royal styles

|royal name = Şehzade Mehmed Abid

|image = 50px

|dipstyle = His Imperial Highness

|offstyle = Your Imperial Highness

}}

;Foreign honours

• {{Flag|Albania}}: Grand Cross of the Order of Fidelity of the Kingdom of Albania, 1936[http://www.albanianroyalcourt.al/pages/royal%20decorations Albanian Royal Court]

• Senior Lieutenant, Ottoman Army

• Aide-de-Camp to the Sultan

• Şehzade Mehmed Abid is a character in Tim Symonds' historical novel Sherlock Holmes and The Sword of Osman (2015).{{cite book|first=Tim|last=Symonds|title=Sherlock Holmes and The Sword of Osman|publisher=Andrews UK Limited|date=October 14, 2015|isbn=978-1-780-92756-5}}

{{ahnentafel

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|boxstyle_2=background-color: #fb9;

|boxstyle_3=background-color: #ffc;

|boxstyle_4=background-color: #bfc;

| 1 = 1. Şehzade Mehmed Abid

| 2 = 2. Abdul Hamid II

| 3 = 3. Saliha Naciye Kadın

| 4 = 4. Abdulmejid I

| 5 = 5. Tirimüjgan Kadın

| 6 = 6. Arslan Ankuap

| 7 =

| 8 = 8. Mahmud II

| 9 = 9. Bezmiâlem Sultan

| 10 = 10. Bekhan Bey

| 11 = 11. Almaş Hanım

| 12 =

| 13 =

| 14 =

| 15 =

}}

{{reflist|2}}

• {{cite web

| title = Ottoman Family

| publisher = Official website of the immediate living descendants of the Ottoman Dynasty

| url = http://www.ottomanfamily.com/

| access-date = 14 February 2010}}

• {{cite web

| title = Genealogy of the Ottoman Family

| url = http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~royalty/turkey/persons.html

| access-date = 19 August 2008}}

• [http://tarihvemedeniyet.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/Hanedan-bu-g%C3%BCnk%C3%BC-Osmanoglu-ailesii.png Family Tree], descendants of Sultan Mahmud II. Retrieved 2011-02-28.

{{Sons of the Ottoman Sultans}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sehzade Mehmed Abid}}

Category:1905 births

Category:1973 deaths

Category:Abdul Hamid II

Category:Ottoman princes

Category:People from the Ottoman Empire of Abkhazian descent

Category:Burials in the cemetery of the Sulaymaniyya Takiyya

Category:Sons of sultans

Category:Sons of caliphs