Beyhan Sultan

Beyhan Sultan (; "Leader of the Khan"; 13 January 1766 – 7 November 1824) was an Ottoman princess, the daughter of Sultan Mustafa III and his consort Adilşah Kadın. She was the half sister of Sultan Selim III. Early life Beyhan Sultan was born on 13 January 1766 in the Topkapı Palace. Her father was Sultan Mustafa III, and her mother was Adilşah Kadın. She had a full sister named Hatice Sultan, two years younger than her. The sisters remained very attached throughout their life. After her father's death in 1774, when she was nine years old, she followed her mother and sister to the Old Palace. Due to the isolated environment, both Beyhan and her sister developed symptoms of depression, anxiety, and other troubling behaviors. In particular, Beyhan fainted frequently and had hysterical episodes of screaming and crying. Her mother, Adilşah Kadın, then wrote to the new sultan, Abdülhamid I, half-brother of Mustafa III, to allow her daughters to marry, which would allow them to leave confinement in the Palace. The sultan granted her request and found husbands for the two princesses. Marriage When Beyhan was eighteen, her mother wrote a letter to Sultan Abdul Hamid I requesting him to get her daughters. In 1784, her uncle Sultan Abdul Hamid I arranged her marriage to Silahdar Mustafa Pasha, the governor of Aleppo. The marriage took place on 22 April 1784, after the pasha's return to Istanbul. On 5 May, her trousseau, and the next day, Beyhan Sultan herself were transported from the Topkapı Palace to her palace at Cağaloğlu. She was nineteen years old. The two together had a daughter named Hatice Hanımsultan, born in 1785, she was married in 1799. Beyhan was widowed at her husband's death in March 1799, and like most of the princesses of her generation she didn't remarried. Her brother Selim used to visit her every Wednesday and they went to numerous concerts together. Although her sister Hatice Sultan became the most famous and influential princess of their generation, Beyhan was also active in supporting Selim's reforms and innovation and sharing her interest in Europe, especially art, architecture and design and fashion. She even organized parties for the wives of foreign ambassadors.