Thanks to the popular Turkish television series The Magnificent Century, 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. During the overthrow of the Osman dynasty in 1924, its representatives were ordered to urgently leave Turkey. Most of them moved to Europe or the United States. Ertogrul Osman Osmanoglu was among the emigrant proud descendants of Suleiman. It was later called by the Turks themselves “the last Osman”.
Ertogrul Osman: ancestors
This modest shekhzade (Turkish prince) was born in Istanbul in 1912, during the reign of the cousin of the Ottoman Empire, his cousin Mehmed V Reshad. The father of the young man was shekhzade Mehmet Burkhaneddin - the fourth son of Sultan Abdul-Hamid II, who ruled before Mehmed V Reshad.
The mother of Ertogrul Osman was the eldest wife of Mehmed Burkhaneddin - Alie Melek Nazlyar Hanim. Unfortunately, the happy childhood of the young shekhzade quickly ended, since the boy was barely seven years old when his father divorced his mother. The son as an heir, albeit of secondary importance, remained with his father.
Although the boy did not have a chance to become a sultan due to the large number of senior shekhzades of the dynasty, his relatives took care of receiving a worthy European education. It is known that, in addition to his native language, shehzade spoke excellent English, German and French. When Etrogrul Osman grew up, he was sent to study in Vienna.
The overthrow of the Ottoman dynasty
With the beginning of the twentieth century, the situation of the Ottoman Empire became increasingly deplorable. By the beginning of World War I, the Ottoman Empire gradually lost almost all of its European and South African territories. The brutal rule of Sultan Abdul-Hamid II brought the state many problems with other peoples. As a result, this sultan was overthrown during the Young Turks 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, parliament received power. While the new sultan and parliament tried to boost the country's economy, neighboring European powers annexed part of the power’s lands.
Trying to return the territories taken by force, the Ottoman Empire entered the First World War on the side of the Triple Alliance, turning it into a Fourth.
After losing the war, the Ottoman Empire was occupied by the victorious countries, and Mehmed VI Wahideddin became the sultan. The loss of independence rallied the people of the Ottoman Empire, and since 1919 the country began a long war of independence led by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. In 1922, after independence, the sultanate was deposed, and the country turned into a republic, whose head was Ataturk. In 1924, under the threat of the death penalty, all Ottomans 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 ousted dynasty financially supported the young man, and he continued his studies in Vienna. A little later shehzadeh moved to Paris, where he studied at the famous university of the French political elite - the Institute for the Study of Politics.
Life in New York
With the advent of Adolf Hitler and the outbreak of World War II, many representatives of the Ottoman dynasty left Europe and moved to New York. Among them was Ertogrul Osman.
The biography of Shehzade of the New York period is no different. Having no political ambitions, the young man began to try his hand at business. Despite the fact that he did not achieve tremendous success, he and his relatives had enough money to earn a living. Since 1945, shehzade and her father moved to a small cozy apartment above one of the New York restaurants, where the family lived for many years.
It is noteworthy that for all the years of his life in New York, Ertogrul Osman never received American citizenship. Until 2004, shehzadeh did not have citizenship at all.
Homecoming
In 1992, at the invitation of the Government of the Republic of Turkey, shehzade came to his homeland.
Being a modest man, he, as part of an ordinary group of tourists, without betraying anything of his royal origin, visited one of the palaces that once belonged to his ancestors.
In 1994, he headed the noble house of the Ottomans as the oldest representative of the Sultan dynasty, Ertogrul Osman. The empire of his ancestors had already disappeared for more than seventy years, but its rulers finally got the opportunity to visit their homeland. Thus, the Ottoman dynasty continued its existence, even without a state. Since the nineties, the Turkish authorities began to better relate to the descendants of their former rulers and many of them were allowed to return to live in their homeland.
Last years
At the age of ninety-two, Ertogrul Osman finally received Turkish citizenship. Together with his wife, he returned to live in Turkey. Here he spent his last years, during which the "last Osman" exacerbated kidney disease. Because of him, he died peacefully in his sleep in 2009.
The “last Osman” was buried in the mausoleum of Mahmud II next to his grandfather - Sultan Abdul-Hamid II.
The personal life of the "last Osman"
Ertogrul Osman was married twice. Children, unfortunately, were not granted 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, Gould died without giving her husband any heirs.
Only six years later, Ertogrul Osman married again. Most likely, this marriage was political in nature, as the chosen one was the sister of the ruler of Afghanistan - Zeynep Tarzi. Throughout the rest of her life, she was a faithful wife and assistant to her husband, but also could not give him an heir.
Because of the 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 catch the appearance and fall of many regimes. Unlike many of his ambitious ancestors and descendants, he was a humble and dignified man. Perhaps that is why he was given a calm and long life, at the end of which he became a sultan, albeit without an empire.