Ertugrul Osman: biography and photos

Thanks to the popular Turkish TV series "The Magnificent Age", the whole world became interested in the history of this once-great country. Many centuries before the establishment of the republic in Turkey it was ruled by the descendants of the great Sultan Suleiman and the beautiful Ukrainian Roksolana. When the Ottoman dynasty was overthrown in 1924, its representatives were ordered to leave Turkey urgently. Most of them moved to Europe or the USA. Among the emigrated proud descendants of Suleiman was Ertugrul Osman Osmanoglu. Later, the Turks themselves called it "the last Osman."

Ertogrul Osman: ancestors

He was born this modest shehzadeh (Turkish prince) in Istanbul in 1912, during the reign of the Ottoman Empire his cousin Mehmed V Reshad. The father of the young man was Shehzadeh Mehmet Burhaneddin - the fourth son of Sultan Abdul-Hamid II, who ruled until Mehmed V Reshad.

Ertogrul Osman's mother was Mehmed Burhaneddin's elder husband, Alie Melek Nazlyar Khanum. Unfortunately, the happy childhood of the young Shehzadeh ended quickly, as the boy barely turned seven, as his father divorced his mother. The son as an heir, albeit of secondary importance, stayed with his father.

Although the boy did not have a chance to become a sultan because of the large number of senior dynasty shekhzade, relatives took care of getting them a decent European education. It is known that, apart from his native language, he perfectly spoke English, German and French. When Etrogrul Osman grew up - he was sent to study in Vienna.

The overthrow of the Osman dynasty

With the beginning of the twentieth century, the situation of the Ottoman Empire became increasingly deplorable. By the beginning of the First World War, the Osmanian state gradually lost virtually all of its European and South African territories. The cruel government of Sultan Abdul-Hamid II brought the state many problems with other nations. As a result, this sultan was overthrown during the Mladotraz revolution. He was replaced on the throne by his younger brother, Mehmed V Reshad. Also, with the advent of the new sultan in the Ottoman Empire, power was given to the parliament. While the new sultan and parliament tried to raise the country's economy, neighboring European powers annexed part of the country's lands.

Trying to regain territory taken by force, the Ottoman Empire entered the First World War on the side of the Triple Alliance, turning it into the Quadruple.

After the defeat in the war, the Osmanian state was occupied by the victorious countries, and the sultan became Mehmed VI Vahidedin. The loss of independence was rallied by the people of the Ottoman Empire, and since 1919 the country began a long-lasting war of independence under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. In 1922, after independence, the sultanate was deposed, and the country became a republic, headed by Atatürk. In 1924, all Ottomans, under pain of death, were ordered to leave the Republic of Turkey.

During the overthrow of the Osman dynasty, Ertogrul Osman studied and lived in Vienna. The family and supporters of the overthrown dynasty financially supported the young man, and he continued his studies in Vienna. A little later, Shahhzade moved to Paris, where he studied at the famous university of the political elite of France - the Institute for Policy Studies.

Life in New York

With the coming to power of Adolf Hitler and the outbreak of World War II, many representatives of the Osman dynasty left Europe and moved to New York. Among them was Ertugrul Osman.

Biography of the Shekhzadeh of the New York period is nothing special. Not having political ambitions, the young man began to try his hand at business. Despite the fact that he did not achieve huge successes, he had enough money to live for him and his family. Since 1945, Shehzadeh and his father moved to a small cozy apartment over one of the New York restaurants, where the family lived for many years.

It is noteworthy that Ertogrul Osman never received American citizenship in all the years of his life in New York. Until 2004, Shehzadeh had no citizenship at all.

Homecoming

In 1992, Shehzadeh, at the invitation of the Government of the Turkish Republic, came to his homeland. Being a modest man, he, as part of an ordinary group of tourists, without giving out his royalty, visited one of the palaces that once belonged to his ancestors.

In 1994, he headed the nobleman's house of the Osmanians as the most senior representative of the sultan dynasty Ertogrul Osman. The empire of his ancestors had already disappeared for more than seventy years, but her rulers finally had the opportunity to visit their homeland. Thus, the dynasty of the Osmanians continued its existence, even without the state. Since the nineties, the Turkish authorities have become better at treating the descendants of their former rulers and many of them were allowed to return to their homeland.

Last years

At the age of ninety-two years Ertogrul Osman finally got Turkish citizenship. Together with his wife he returned to live in Turkey. Here he spent his last years, during which "the last Osman" got worse kidney disease. Because of him, he died peacefully in a dream in 2009. The "last Osman" was buried in the mausoleum of Mahmud II near his grandfather - Sultan Abdul-Hamid II.

The personal life of the "last Osman"

Married Ertogrul Osman was married. Children, unfortunately, were not given to him by Allah. The first wife was Gulda Tverskaya, whom he married in 1947. Together, the couple lived a little less than forty years. However, in 1985 Gulda died, and did not give her husband heirs.

Only six years later Ertugrul Osman married again. Most likely, this marriage was of a political nature, since the chosen one was the sister of the ruler of Afghanistan, Zeynep Tarzi. For the rest of her life, she was a faithful wife and an assistant to her husband, but could not give him an heir either.

Because of childlessness, after the death of "the last Osman", his nephew, Osman Bayazid Osmanoglu became the head of his house.

During its long life, the "last Osman" managed to survive not only two world wars, but also to find the emergence and fall of many regimes. Unlike many of his ambitious ancestors and descendants, he was a humble and decent person. Perhaps, that is why he was given a quiet and long life, at the end of which he became a sultan, albeit without an empire.