Happy 80th Birthday Babacım, 80. Doğum Günün Kutlu Olsun!

Today is my beloved father’s 80th birthday. If I may, I would like to take this opportunity to publicly wish him a very Happy Birthday.

“Babacım, I love you so much, and hope that you have the most wonderful and special day. You are an inspiration to me, and I am so proud to call you my father. I would like to thank you for all you have done for me and for your grandchildren, and for all you continue to do for us.

I know it was your dream to see my book published, and to have a copy of your own to place in your bookcase at your home in İstanbul. So, in honour of your milestone birthday, the paperback publication of ‘The Gilded Cage on the Bosphorus’ has been launched today. I hope this small gift makes you smile and makes you proud…

I wish I could be with you today. To kiss your hand and embrace you tightly on your birthday, but your grandchildren and I are thinking of you and we send you our endless love.”

Brief Background of my Father’s Life

My father, Osman Selahaddin Efendi, was born in exile in Egypt, in Alexandria on 7th July 1940. He is the only child of Prince Ali Vâsıb Efendi (the great-grandson of Sultan Murad V) and of Princess Emine Mukbile Sultan (the granddaughter of Sultan Mehmed V Reşad). He spent his childhood in Alexandria, before moving to England to further his education in 1958.

Ottoman Imperial Princes were forbidden to return to their homeland of Turkey until 1974. My father decided to settle in England after marrying my mother, and he embarked upon a career as a Chartered Accountant. As a result, my brothers and I were raised in the UK. My father retired in the mid 1990s, and moved to İstanbul, where he still lives today.

He loves to be active and busy! He has spent his retirement writing reference books on Ottoman family genealogy, protocol and history, editing and publishing my grandfather’s papers ‘Memoirs of an Ottoman Prince’, dealing with family affairs in Turkey and travelling extensively throughout Turkey and the former lands of the Ottoman Empire. And, he is currently working on his own memoirs – his energy is boundless! You should see him with his grandchildren!! He is a wonderful grandfather and particularly enjoys playing football, golf and tennis with them all!!

Birthday Celebrations!

We had hoped to celebrate this very special occasion with a small family gathering at Çırağan Palace – once the home of our ancestor Sultan Murad V and his family, and now the luxurious Çırağan Palace Kempinski Hotel. However, with the current uncertainty of the Covid19 pandemic, sadly this has not been possible and our family celebrations have been postponed. Instead my father made a lovely alternative plan…

While growing up in Alexandria, he developed a love and affinity for the seaside. So perhaps it was only natural that he has chosen to spend his birthday at the beach, on the beautiful southern coast of Turkey. Today he is swimming in the warm turquoise waters of the Mediterranean Sea, and of course reading the book I sent him as his birthday gift…!!

‘The Gilded Cage on the Bosphorus’ is now available in paperback from Amazon, published in honour of my father’s 80th Birthday.

I invite you to enter the private world of Sultan Murad V and his family…