CAIRO: Neslisah Sultan, last in line to the dynasty that once ruled the Ottoman Empire, has died at the age of 91. Once known as Imperial Princess of the Ottoman Empire and Princess of Egypt, Sultan was the granddaughter of the last Ottoman sultan, Mehmed VI. She died on Monday and was to be buried Tuesday in the former Ottoman capital after a religious ceremony. She was the last member of the Ottoman dynasty to be born before the empire was disbanded in 1922 in the wake of World War I and modern Turkey created in its place by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. After the death in 2009 of Ertugrul Osman Osmanoglu, the last pretender to the Ottoman throne, she took the title of “last in line to the Osmanogullari family”, the Ottoman dynasty. Her son, Abbas Hilmi, the grandson of the last khedive and regent of Egypt, retains the title of Egyptian prince. The Ottoman royal family was forced into exile in 1924 and female members were only allowed to return in the 1950s. Males remained barred from the country until 1974. Living in Egypt, Sultan was forced into exile a second time in 1953 after leader Gamal Abdel Nasser abolished the Egyptian monarchy and accused her husband Prince Muhammad Abdel Moneim Beyefendi and herself of plotting against him. She lived for a short time in Europe before returning to her native land. She was to be buried in a family vault after a religious ceremony in the grounds of the former Yildiz imperial palace. Turkish President Abdullah Gul and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan presented a message of condolence to family members.
