INDIA-BRITISH-RAJ-L Archives

From: John Feltham <>
Subject: Obit - An Indian Connection
Date: Tue, 14 Feb 2006 23:30:57 +1000

Princess Dürrühsehvar of Berar
(Filed: 11/02/2006)

Her Imperial Highness Princess Dürrühsehvar, Princess of Berar, who
died in London on Tuesday night aged 92, was a member of the Turkish
royal house; after her family had been sent into exile, she married
an Indian prince.

Although statuesque and grand, she was also shy, sensitive and
cultured. Letters from her arrived in perfect calligraphy. She
shunned publicity, and will probably be best remembered for her
striking image in profile taken by Cecil Beaton on his wartime visit
to Bombay in March 1944. The picture captures a handsome and
autocratic-looking lady wearing a white sari, serene on the terrace
of her palace, and was in stark contrast to the normal images of war
that were emerging from elsewhere in India.

Beaton was impressed by her "sensational" looks, the "climate of
restfulness and serenity" she created about her, as well as by her
love for philosophy and literature, her proficiency in many languages
and the "Ottoman perfection of her taste".

He also photographed the Princess when she was in London for the 1937
Coronation, and she happened to be in New York in 1948 at the time of
his affair with Garbo - Beaton and Garbo referred to her as "our
Turkish friend". In the summer of 1949 he reported to Garbo that he
had lunched with the Princess at her London home, Hyderabad House on
Palace Green: "It was like being in Hyderabad again, with a wonderful
Indian meal lasting much too long & everything so delayed that the
afternoon was almost over before we'd finished the Turkish coffee.
The Princess, in European clothes was very shy & giggly but very
charming & interesting when given time & the chance."

The Princess was born at Tchamlidcha-Scutari on March 12 1913 (or
possibly 1914 - the reference books are not clear), the only daughter
of Abdülmecid II and his third wife, Mihisti. Her father was Caliph
of the Faithful, with the additional titles of Successor of the
Prophet Mohammed, Commander of the Faithful and The Shadow of God on
Earth. A cultured man who spoke Turkish, Arabic, French and German,
he composed music and was a highly proficient painter, producing
landscapes and scenes from Ottoman history (which his daughter went
to great lengths to buy when they came up at auctions).

He succeeded as Caliph in 1922, and the family resided in the
Dolmabahçe Palace on the European shore of Istanbul.

In 1924 the Palace was surrounded by troops, and Adnan Adivar,
adviser to Ataturk, warned the Caliph that he was to be deposed by
the National Assembly and that he and his family must go. The family
began their exile in Paris and Nice.

During this time they were supported by Asaf Jah VII, Nizam of
Hyderabad, one of the richest men in the world, who dressed shabbily
but made many charitable benefactions. He gave the Caliph a stipend
of £4,000 a year.

The Caliph led life "apart from the worldly vanities", as he put it,
and was often observed on the beach in Nice wearing bathing trunks
and holding a parasol. During this time Reza Shah Pahlavi (the Shah
of Persia), King Fuad I of Egypt and the Nizam of Hyderabad vied with
each other to secure the princess as bride for their respective
heirs. The Nizam won. It was in Nice that the princess married, on
November 12 1931, Hymayat Ali Khan Azam Jah, Prince of Berar, son and
heir of the Nizam. At the same ceremony her cousin Princess Nilüfer
married another son of the Nizam.

There was none of the normal oriental splendour characteristic of
such occasions; rather it was a simple ceremony of Islam, attended by
members of the two families and friends. The Caliph presided over
both weddings.

The two couples travelled to Hyderabad, where the Nizam broke
protocol to greet them.

There was wild applause and shouts of blessing as the royal party
made its way to the Palace. Both couples settled in the lakeside
palace of Bella Vista, and attended state banquets of welcome, the
guests eating off gold plates.

The Princess of Berar soon adopted Indian ways. She spoke Urdu like a
native and had fluent English. But she was modern in her approach,
believing that women should earn their own livings, and she helped to
remove the habit of purdah in Hyderabad. She and the Prince had two
sons, Prince Mukarram Jah (who married five times and lived variously
in Australia and Turkey) and Prince Mukhaffham Jah, the present de
jure Nizam.

During her time in Hyderabad, the Princess made a considerable
impression. Philip Mason, of the Indian Civil Service, described her
as "a commanding figure, handsome of feature, with a clear fair
complexion and auburn hair… No one could ignore her or slight her.
She was always essentially and indefinably royal, and it seems to me
that if fate had so willed she might have been one of the great
queens of the world."

When Walter Monckton arrived in Hyderabad in 1946 to try to
disillusion the Nizam of the idea that Hyderabad could remain
independent, he judged the princess "a woman tranquil yet resolute,
whose personality dominated any room she entered". The Prince and
Princess of Berar were also well known internationally. In 1937 they
were amongst the relatives of ruling princes who attended the
Coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, and were seated in
the North Choir Gallery of Westminster Abbey.

The Nizam died in 1967 and was succeeded by his grandson. The Prince
of Berar died in 1970. For many years the Princess lived at Hyderabad
House in Kensington Palace Gardens, later moving to an apartment
where all the old-fashioned royal standards were maintained. It was
noted that, even if she arrived in the country in a less than grand
car, the driver still wore the livery of Hyderabad, with knee-boots.

In the 1990s she opened a hospital she had established at Purani
Haveli in India. The crowds were keener to see her than the Chief
Minister of Andhura Pradesh, NT Rama Rao, himself a film star.

There was an occasion when she was lunching with a friend in
Oxfordshire, at which Princess Margaret was also a guest. The weather
was inclement, and both Princesses were invited to plant cedars of
Lebanon. Princess Margaret eventually did so - reluctantly - while
the Princess of Berar performed her duty with her customary quiet
dignity.

Today Princess Margaret's tree struggles, while the Princess of
Berar's thrives.

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