Aimee Dubucq de Rivery was a young French girl who became the mother of the Ottoman Sultan Mahmoud II. She navigated the danger and intrigue of the Turkish harem, or Seraglio, to become the Sultan Valideh, the mother of the Sultan, the most powerful woman in the Ottoman Empire. She also influenced her son to reform and westernize the empire, and he became known as Mahmoud the Reformer.
There is some evidence that Aimee Dubucq de Rivery was not Sultan Mahmoud II’s mother. But the legendary story of this girl is very interesting, and shows what life was like in the usually veiled world of the Turkish palace.
Aimee Dubucq de Rivery’s Early Life
Aimee Dubucq de Rivery was born in Pointe Royale, Martinique, in 1763, and came from a good French family. Although orphaned at a young age, she was cared for by her big family. As a child her favorite cousin was Josephine Tascher de la Pagerie, who later became Josephine Bonaparte upon her famous marriage to Napoleon Bonaparte.
In 1776, Aimee was sent to the convent of the Dames de la Visitation in Nantes, France. She stayed there until 1784, when she was twenty-one years old. When returning to Martinique, however, her ship was attacked by Algerian pirates and she was kidnapped. The pirates were struck by her beauty and she was ultimately taken to the Ottoman Sultan as a gift for his harem.
The Seraglio, the Sultan’s Harem
Aimee Dubucq de Rivery’s life changed when she was taken to the Seraglio, the palace where the Sultan’s harem was kept. The Seraglio could be a dangerous place, with odalisques vying for position and power for themselves and their children, but it was also a place where Aimee learned enough to be able to survive and flourish in the Ottoman Empire.
The custom was that the Sultan could not have relations with his own subjects, so all of his odalisques were either captured or recruited from neighboring lands. This meant that every Sultan was at least half-foreign, because his mother would have been one of these foreign-born odalisques.
The goal of all odalisques was to capture the Sultan’s favor and the possibility of becoming one of his wives, or Kadines, which she would become upon bearing him a child. Women who bore the Sultan a son were granted the highest ranks and also the opportunity to become the Sultan Valideh, the mother of the Sultan, the most powerful woman in the Ottoman Empire. When Aimee was brought to the Seraglio she was given the title Naksh, “The Beautiful One,” and soon caught the Sultan’s eye.
The Struggle to Be the Sultan’s Successor
Royal succession in the Ottoman Empire didn’t necessarily go from father to son, but rather the next Sultan was the oldest male relative of the previous Sultan. Therefore, there were instances of murders in the palace as potential heirs and their mothers tried to make the way clear for their own succession. Therefore, Kadines tended to fight amongst each other and they worried about their son being killed.
When Aimee Dubucq de Rivery was brought to the Seraglio, the ruler was Sultan Abdul Hamid I. In 1785, Aimee bore him a son, Mahmoud, who was in line to the throne after two older male members of the Osmanli dynasty. These two were Selim, the son of the previous Sultan and his Circassian Kadine, and Mustapha, the son of the present Sultan and his power-hungry first Kadine. Aimee and the Circassian Kadine got along well, and were able to work together to protect their sons.
In 1789, Sultan Abdul Hamid I died and was succeeded by Sultan Selim III. He was good friends with Aimee and loved her son, and tried to make some good reforms in Turkey. But he was eventually assassinated by Mustapha, who became Sultan Mustapha IV, who tried to assassinate Mahmoud. But Sultan Mustapha IV was eventually deposed and later killed, replaced by Sultan Mahmoud II.
Aimee Dubucq de Rivery Becomes the French Sultana
As the Sultan Valideh, the mother of the Sultan, Aimee Dubucq de Rivery heavily influenced her son to westernize the Ottoman Empire, and Sultan Mahmoud II was eventually known as Mahmoud the Reformer. His reforms were not always popular with the upper and privileged classes. One of his most lasting actions was getting rid of the Janissaries, the Sultan’s personal bodyguards, who were actually very corrupt and a threat to him. Aimee, a Catholic, also influenced his religious toleration.
Aimee Dubucq de Rivery, the French girl who became the Sultan Valideh, died in 1817. Even if her story is more legend than fact, it shows what life was like in the Sultan’s harem, his Seraglio, and how difficult and dangerous life was for the Kadines. A Western, French Sultana also helps explain the revolutionary reforms that Sultan Mahmoud II implemented.
A movie was made about Aimee Dubucq de Rivery in 1989 called Intimate Power, a.k.a. The Favorite. It starred Amber O’Shea, F. Murray Abraham, and Maud Adams.
Source:
Blanch, Lesley. “Aimee DuBucq de Rivery: Message from a Ghost” in The Wilder Shores of Love. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1954.
Emily Chauviere - Emily Chauviere earned Bachelor of Arts degrees in history and theology and a concentration in International Studies from the University ...
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