Princess Nazli Zeinab Fazil (1853 - 28 December 1913) was an Egyptian princess from the dynasty of Muhammad Ali of Egypt

Muhammad Ali of Egypt

Muhammad Ali Pasha al-Mas'ud ibn Agha was a commander in the Ottoman army, who became Wāli, and self-declared Khedive of Egypt and Sudan...

 and is famous for being hostess to the first modern intellectual salon

Salon (gathering)

A salon is a gathering of people under the roof of an inspiring host, held partly to amuse one another and partly to refine taste and increase their knowledge of the participants through conversation. These gatherings often consciously followed Horace's definition of the aims of poetry, "either to...

 in the Arab world

Arab world

The Arab world refers to Arabic-speaking states, territories and populations in North Africa, Western Asia and elsewhere.The standard definition of the Arab world comprises the 22 states and territories of the Arab League stretching from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Arabian Sea in the...

 at her palace in Cairo from the 1880s through her death.

Life

Princess Nazli Fazil was born in Egypt

Egypt

Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

, most likely in Alexandria

Alexandria

Alexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...

, in 1853, the eldest child of Mustafa Fazl Pasha, son of Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt

Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt

Ibrahim Pasha was the eldest son of Muhammad Ali, the Wāli and unrecognised Khedive of Egypt and Sudan. He served as a general in the Egyptian army that his father established during his reign, taking his first command of Egyptian forces was when he was merely a teenager...

 and brother of the future Khedive Isma'il Pasha

Isma'il Pasha

Isma'il Pasha , known as Ismail the Magnificent , was the Khedive of Egypt and Sudan from 1863 to 1879, when he was removed at the behest of the United Kingdom...

, and Dilazad Hanim. At the age of 13, she left Egypt for Istanbul upon her father's falling out with his brother, the Khedive, in 1866. In Istanbul, she was highly educated, against prevailing tradition, and entertained foreign visitors.

In December of 1872, she married Turkish ambassador Halil Şerif Paşa (Khalil Bey), and moved briefly to Paris with him on his last post there. It was not a happy marriage, and her one daughter died in infancy. Upon his death, she moved back to Cairo

Cairo

Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...

, Egypt and settled in a palace located nearby the royal Abdeen Palace

Abdeen Palace

Abdeen Palace is a historic Cairo palace, and one of the official residences and the principal workplace of the President of Egypt, located above Qasr el-Nil Street in eastern Downtown Cairo, Egypt.- Overview :...

.

In this palace, she began hosting soirees, and was friendly with the intellectual elites of her day, including the Egyptians, Muhammad Abduh

Muhammad Abduh

Muhammad Abduh was an Egyptian jurist, religious scholar and liberal reformer, regarded as the founder of Islamic Modernism...

, Saad Zaghlul

Saad Zaghlul

Saad Zaghloul was an Egyptian revolutionary, and statesman. He served as Prime Minister of Egypt from January 26, 1924 to November 24, 1924.-Education, activism and exile:...

, and Qasim Amin

Qasim Amin

Qasim Amin born on 1 December 1863 Alexandria died April 22, 1908 Cairo was an Egyptian jurist and one of the founders of the Egyptian national movement and Cairo University. Qasim Amin was considered by many as the Arab world’s “first feminist”...

, and the British, Lord Cromer and Herbert Kitchener. It is rumored that she was the individual who encouraged Saad Zaghlul to learn French in order to disseminate his writings more widely and also arranged his marriage to Safiyya Zaghlul. Additionally, it was at her insistence that Lord Cromer coordinated 'Abduh's return from exile in 1888.

In memoirs of her acquaintances, it is said that she had a quick wit and loved photographs, champagne, cigarettes and her pianola.

Further reading

Roberts, Mary. Intimate outsiders: the harem in Ottoman and Orientalist art and travel literature. Duke University Press, 2007.

Storrs, Ronald. The memoirs of Sir Ronald Storrs. Ayer Publishing, 1972.

De Guerville, A. B. "New Egypt." E.P. Dutton & Company, New York, 1906.