Emina Ilhamy

Emina Ilhamy (Arabic: امینه الهامی‎; Turkish: Emine İlhami; 24 May 1858 – 19 June 1931), also Amina Ilhami, was an Egyptian princess, and a member of the Muhammad Ali Dynasty. She was the first Khediva of Egypt from 1879 to 1892 as the wife of Khedive Tewfik Pasha, and Walida Pasha to their son Khedive Abbas Hilmi II Pasha from 1892 to 1914.

Emina Ilhamy
امینه الهامی
Nineteenth century photograph
Khediva consort of Egypt
Tenure25 June 1879 – 7 January 1892
PredecessorTitle created
SuccessorIkbal Hanim
Walida Pasha of Egypt
Tenure8 January 1892 – 19 December 1914
PredecessorShafaq Nur Hanim
SuccessorNur Felek Qadin
Born(1858-05-24)24 May 1858
Istanbul, Ottoman Empire
Died19 June 1931(1931-06-19) (aged 73)
Bebek, Bosphorus, Istanbul, Turkey
Burial
Qubbat Afandina, Khedive Tawfik Mausoleum, Kait Bey, Cairo, Egypt
SpouseTewfik Pasha
IssueAbbas Hilmi II Pasha
Mohammed Ali Tewfik
Princess Nazli Hanim
Princess Fakhr un-nisa Khadija Hanim
Princess Nimatullah Hanim
HouseHouse of Muhammad Ali
FatherPrince Ibrahim Ilhamy
MotherParlanta Qadin
ReligionSunni Islam

Early life

Princess Emina Ilhamy was born on 24 May 1858 in Istanbul.[1] She was the eldest daughter of Lieutenant General Prince Ibrahim Ilhamy Pasha,[2] and his consort Parlanta Qadin (died 1892).[3][4] She had one sister named Princess Zaynab Hanim, who married Mahmud Hamdi Pasha, fifth son of Isma'il Pasha[5] and Jihan Shah Qadin.[3] She was the granddaughter of Abbas Hilmi I, and Mahvish Hanim.

Marriage
Tewfik Pasha and Emina Ilhamy after their wedding
Princess Emina Ilhamy (far left) with her husband and children

Princess Emina married her father's cousin Tewfik Pasha on Thursday 16 January 1873. In celebration of the event Khedive Isma'il held a reception at al-Hilmiyya Palace attended by Tewfik, several ministers of state, and the leading religious dignitaries. Cannon were fired, sweet drink were had, and the khedive received the congratulations of hus guests in order of their rank. Poetry was composed and recited for the occasion by al-Sayyid Ali Abu al-Nasr and Muhammad Qadri Bey. These events initiated a week of receptions, banquets, and entertainment, illuminations, and a public procession in which the bride was delivered to the palace of her husband.[6]

The two together had five children, two sons, Prince Abbas Hilmi Pasha, born in 1874 and Prince Mohammed Ali Tewfik Pasha, born in 1875, and three daughters, Princess Nazli Hanim, born in 1877, Princess Fakhr un-nisa Khadija Hanim, born in 1880, and Princess Nimatullah Hanim, born in 1882.[7][1]

After Tewfik's accession to the throne in 1879, Emina took a more prominent public role than women in the khedival family had done previously, partly as a consequence of being his sole consort. She was respectfully referred to in the Arabic press as "the wife of khedive" (haram al-khidiwi), and in French and English as the vice-reine, khédiveh, or "khediva."[6][8] With the death of Tewfik's mother and paternal grandmother in 1884 and 1886, she became the senior woman in the khedival household.[9]

As khediva, she regularly received the wives and daughters of European diplomats and visitors. Her presence at official events was mentioned regularly — attending the opera, moving from one place to another — also were published. When present at state events, Emina and her entourage would sit behind a screen, and on holidays she would receive the greetings of female guests personally, while those of the male guests were conveyed to her by her chief eunuch. The press usually discreetly avoided mentioning her name.[9]

As Walida Pasha
Emina Ilhamy in old age

At the death of her husband Khedive Tewfik of Egypt, her son, Abbas Hilmi Pasha, whilst still attending college in Vienna, assumed the throne with the help of his mother on 7 January 1892. As a result, Emina retained a prominent role as the walida pasha, or mother of the khedive, though English writers often used the French term khédiveh mére.[10] She maintained the seniority as the Walida Pasha, which she had when she was a khediva, and continued to have a diplomatic role.[9]

Princess Emina was as beautiful as she was kind and dignified, and a much revered member of the royal family. In possession of a large personal fortune, Princess Emina gave a great part of it away in donations and charitable institutions, and was surnamed "Umm al-Muhsinin" (Mother of Charity).[11] A girls' school that she founded, whose principal ornament is a heavy, ornate sabil in Turkish baroque style, stands close to the mosque of Ibn Tulun. It is now known by the name of Umm Abbas, 'Mother of Abbas.'[12]

Emina and her son Abbas seem not to have found slavery objectionable in principle, since they kept slaves in their households until the First World War. Even though her husband, Tawfiq, professed opposition to slavery, Amina presided over a harem of slave women, three of whom she gave to Abbas. In spite of breaking with some aspects of traditional harem culture, such as permitting her unveiled portrait to be published in 1923 and later, she continued to conduct herself in accordance with the culture of harem slavery for the rest of her life.[13]

She established an extensive endowment, one of the purposes of which was to pay pensions to sixty former slaves, including ten eunuchs. Most of them were women, a slight majority of whom were married or widows, indicating that they had left Emina's service at some earlier date. Others, like her chief servant Lady Qamar, apparently remained in her service until her death in 1931.[13]

Death

Princess Emina died in exile in her country house on 19 June 1931 at Bebek, Bosphorus, Istanbul,[2] and was buried in Khedive Tawfik Mausoleum, Kait Bey, Cairo.[11]

Issue

Together with Tewfik she had five children:

Honours

Ancestry
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See also

References
  1. "His Highness Hidiv Mehmet Tevfik Paşa, Hidiv of Misir (Egypt), Sudan and Taşoz". Retrieved 23 May 2019.
  2. Houtsma, Martijn Theodoor (1993). E. J. Brill's First Encyclopaedia of Islam: 1913–1936. Brill Publishers. p. 1118. ISBN 978-9-00-409796-4.
  3. Doumani 2003, p. 270.
  4. Cuno 2015, p. 50, 231.
  5. Cuno 2015, p. 37.
  6. Cuno 2015, p. 19-20.
  7. Cuno 2015, p. 40.
  8. Doumani 2012, p. 248.
  9. Doumani 2012, p. 262.
  10. Cuno 2015, p. 20.
  11. Williams, Caroline (2008). Islamic Monuments in Cairo: The Practical Guide. American University in Cairo Press. p. 247. ISBN 978-9-77-416205-3.
  12. Hassan, Hassan (2000). In the House of Muhammad Ali: A Family Album, 1805–1952. American University in Cairo Press. pp. 101. ISBN 978-977-424-554-1. OCLC 45016821.
  13. Doumani 2012, p. 263.

Sources
  • Cuno, Kenneth M. (April 1, 2015). Modernizing Marriage: Family, Ideology, and Law in Nineteenth- and Early Twentieth-Century Egypt. Syracuse University Press. ISBN 978-0-815-65316-5.
  • Doumani, Beshara (February 1, 2012). Family History in the Middle East: Household, Property, and Gender. SUNY Press. ISBN 978-0-791-48707-5.
Egyptian royalty
New title
Title created
 Khediva consort of Egypt
25 June 1879 – 7 January 1892		 Vacant
Title next held by
Ikbal Hanim
Preceded by
Shafaq Nur Hanim		 Walida Pasha of Egypt
8 January 1892 – 19 December 1914		 Succeeded by
Nur Felek Qadin
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