Sad news last week! Princess Fazile Hanımsultan passed away at the age of 83. The stunning Egyptian and Ottoman Princess was once two weeks away from becoming the Queen of Iraq when the King was gruesomely assassinated in 1958, and later married the son of the Turkish Prime Minister.
The daughter of Prince Mehmed Ali Ibrahim of Egypt and Ottoman Princess Zehra Hanzade Sultan, a granddaughter of Caliph Abdülmecid II, Princess Sabiha Fazile Hanımsultan of Egypt was born in Neilly Sur Seine in France in 1941, and was educated at Heathfield College in Ascot. Princess Fazile was the niece of Princess Neslişah and great-niece of Princess Dürrüşehvar Sultan, Princess of Berar.
In 1957, sixteen-year old Princess Fazile got engaged to twenty-two year-old King Faisal II of Iraq, despite initial disapproval from her parents, with the wedding set for July 1958. However two weeks before the wedding, King Faisal was gruesomely assassinated in a coup, which marked the end of the Iraqi Monarchy.
In 1965, Princess Fazile married Hayri Ürgüplü, son of the then Turkish Prime Minister Suat Hayri Ürgüplü. The couple had two sons: Ali Suad Ürgüplü and Mehmed Selim Ürgüplü before their divorce in 1980. Princess Fazile married Jean-Alphonse Bernard in 1983, and continued living in France even after being widowed, and remained close to the Egyptian Royal Family. Princess Fazile has been laid to rest beside her mother, Princess Hanzade Sultan, in Istanbul.
