This historical photograph shows members of the exiled Ottoman imperial family gathered in Cairo, Egypt, during the mid-1940s following the 1924 abolition of the Ottoman Caliphate and their expulsion from Turkey….
• Standing (left to right): Princess Hanzade Sultan, followed by male and female family members and Egyptian royal relatives including Prince Abdelmoneim and Prince Muhammed Ali Ibrahim.
• Seated in front (left to right): Princess Sabiha Sultan, Princess Fevziye, Princess Neslişah Sultan, Princess Hümeyra (Okday), Prince Osman Fuad (seated on the floor), and Princess Nilüfer Hanımsultan.
• Seated in the back row: Ceyda Rateb Hanım and Princess Samire.
Following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, many family members relocated to Egypt due to close dynastic and cultural ties with the Muhammad Ali dynasty. Prominent figures like Neslişah Sultan married into the Egyptian royal family, becoming a central figure in Cairo high society until the Egyptian Revolution of 1952 prompted another wave of displacement.
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The Ottoman dynasty ruled for more than 600 years, from around 1299 until 1922, controlling an empire that at its height stretched across parts of Europe, the Middle East and North Africa.
After the empire collapsed in World War I, the new Turkish Republic abolished the sultanate in 1922. The last sultan, Mehmed VI, left Istanbul aboard a British warship. In 1924, the government went further. It abolished the caliphate and expelled every member of the royal family, more than 150 people, many of them given only days to leave.
They scattered across Europe and the Middle East. Many settled in Egypt, which was still ruled by a king, and several Ottoman princesses married into the Egyptian royal family.
That refuge didn’t last. In 1952, a military coup overthrew Egypt’s King Farouk, ending the monarchy there too.
Ottoman women were allowed back into Turkey in 1952, but the men were barred until 1974.
Ertuğrul Osman, who would have been sultan if the empire had survived, spent more than 60 years living quietly in a small apartment in New York City. He didn’t return to Turkey until 1992, and when asked if he wanted the throne back, he said no.
— @histories_arch Nov 14, 2026
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