Ottoman Princesses in India (3)
Princess Durru Shehvar, daughter of the last Caliph
By far the most impressive of the three Ottoman princesses who made India their home was the regal Durru Shehvar. Born Hatice Hayriye Ayşe Dürrüşehvar Sultan, she was the daughter of Abdulmejid II, the last heir apparent to the Ottoman Imperial throne and the last Caliph of the Ottoman Caliphate.
Uncertain times
The dawn of the 20th century was a very turbulent time for Europe. Think of the Russian Revolution, the First World War, and the infamous 1918 “Spanish Flu” pandemic.
Turkey, too, was going through all kinds of upheavals in those days, culminating in the ratification of a new Turkish Constitution in 1924, which spelled the end of the Ottoman dynasty as well as its Caliphate. The entire imperial family was forced to leave the country at less than a day’s notice.
The Ottoman rulers had established themselves as Caliphs by the beginning of the 14th century. Where earlier Sunni Caliphs had been elected successors to the prophet Muhammad, serving as spiritual and secular leaders to an informal union of Muslim nations, the ambitious Ottomans set out from…
