𝐌𝐚𝐡𝐛𝐮𝐛𝐚 [ 𝐁𝐈𝐋𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐄] — 𝐎𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐨 slave girl who won the heart of a 𝐆𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞.

She was born in 1820 in 𝐆𝐮𝐦𝐚, a 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞 of 𝐄𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐚. Her parents named her “𝐁𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐞” which literally means 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥-𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐝 or 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐲. But she later came to be known as 𝐌𝐚𝐡𝐛𝐮𝐛𝐚 which means ‘𝐌𝐲 𝐁𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝’ in 𝐀𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐜.

In 1835/36, when she was 15, a civil war broke out around 𝐆𝐮𝐦𝐚 and she 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐭 her 𝐟𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 and 𝐬𝐢𝐱 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬. As her village was burned to the ground, invading captors grabbed her, her sister and her mother and dragged them away as slaves.

Mahbuba was first taken north to 𝐆𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐫, then soon after to 𝐊𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐨𝐮𝐦. After that, in 1837, slave traders took her to 𝐂𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐨. There they hoped to 𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐥 her to the 𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐛𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐫 among the rich sheiks and princes that happened to be in town.

it so happened that, in 1837, 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐧 𝐅𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐕𝐨𝐨𝐧 𝐏𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐥𝐞𝐫-𝐌𝐮𝐬𝐤𝐚𝐮 of Germany was traveling thru 𝐍𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐀𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚. While in 𝐂𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐨, he went to the slave market, a popular venue for tourists. There he saw and was instantly struck by the 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐠 𝐄𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐚𝐧 ‘𝐒𝐥𝐚𝐯𝐞’ 𝐠𝐢𝐫𝐥 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐞. He immediately bought her, disguised her as his 𝐌𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐥𝐮𝐤𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐲, and took her with him on his travels.

The prince became completely besotted by 𝐌𝐚𝐡𝐛𝐮𝐛𝐚 as they continued their travels together through 𝐏𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐞, 𝐒𝐲𝐫𝐢𝐚 and 𝐈𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐛𝐮𝐥. He was [𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐲 𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐝] by her 𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐞, and eagerness to learn Western ways. For her part, 𝐌𝐚𝐡𝐛𝐮𝐛𝐚 appeared to enjoy the 𝐧𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐭𝐲 of her new and totally un-imagined life.

When they arrived in Europe, they stayed in Budapest for a while; and there, Mahbuba received 𝐇𝐨𝐥𝐲 𝐁𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐦. The Prince sent her for a time to the 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐥 𝐢𝐧 𝐕𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐧𝐚, where he asked the nuns to teach her European ways. But to their surprise, she soon delighted them all 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐞 and 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞. It was said that Mahbuba could light up any room she entered with her 𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐞. It also quickly became clear that she had an aptitude for languages as it took her no time at all to be 𝐟𝐥𝐮𝐞𝐧𝐭 in 𝐈𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐧 and 𝐆𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐧. She was delightful company, and 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐝 as well. High Society was enthusiastic to entertain the Prince and his ‘princess’, and to be 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐌𝐚𝐡𝐛𝐮𝐛𝐚’𝐬 𝐞𝐱𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐲. She was the 𝐭𝐨𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐕𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐧𝐚, written about in the 𝐧𝐞𝐰𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬, and always the subject of enthusiastic conversation. When she was presented to the Emperor and his royal court, she was applauded. 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐫.

Sadly, it was soon discovered that Mahbuba could not get 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐝 to the 𝐝𝐚𝐦𝐩 and 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐄𝐮𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐚 𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞. At some point, 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐠𝐧𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐮𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐬, and her health started to decline. As the Prince had to urgently go on a brief business mission to Berlin, he instructed their doctor to give Mahbuba the best of care.

𝐓𝐰𝐨 𝐝𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 the 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞’𝐬 𝐝𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞, on 𝐎𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐛𝐞𝐫 27, 1840, a servant drew back the curtains in 𝐌𝐚𝐡𝐛𝐮𝐛𝐚’𝐬 room and found her 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐝. 𝐒𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐞, a 𝐬𝐥𝐢𝐦 𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐲 𝐟𝐢𝐠𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐝.

𝐌𝐚𝐡𝐛𝐮𝐛𝐚 was buried in the 𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐲, 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐝 by a 𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐞-𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐨𝐩𝐡𝐚𝐠𝐮𝐬, with a single word: ‘𝐌𝐚𝐡𝐛𝐮𝐛𝐚’. The 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐞-𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐞 is visited by 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 of 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫.

“𝐈 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐭 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐈 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐦𝐲𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐟,” the 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧 to a 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝,“ [𝐇𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡] 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙢𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙢𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙨𝙚 𝙥𝙖𝙞𝙣