Sultan Abdülmecid Efendi II. (b. 29. May 1868 in İstanbul; d. 23. August 1944 in Paris)

Work by Abdülmecid Efendi text of celi sülüs script in Fatih Cami (Mosque) Istanbul.

Biography: Abdülmecid II; in Arabic عبد المجيد الثانى ) (lived May 29, 1868 – August 23, 1944; reigned November 19, 1922 – March 3, 1924) was the last Caliph of the Ottoman Dynasty, the 101st Caliph in line from Caliph Abu Bakr and nominally the 37th Head of the Ottoman Imperial House.

On May 29, 1868 he was born at Dolmabahçe Palace of Istanbul (formerly Constantinople) to then Sultan Abdülaziz. He was educated privately. On July 4, 1918 his first cousin Mehmed VI became Sultan and Abdul Mejid was named Crown Prince. Following the deposition of his cousin on November 1, 1922 the Sultanate was abolished. But on November 19, 1922 the Crown Prince was elected Caliph by the Turkish National Assembly at Ankara. He established himself in Istanbul, on November 24, 1922. On March 3, 1924 he was deposed and expelled from the shores of Turkey with the rest of his family. He was given the title of General of Ottoman Army and served as Chairman of the Ottoman Artist's Society. A painter and a calligrapher himself, his paintings of the Harem, showing a modern musical gathering, and of a woman reading Goethe's Faust were displayed at an exhibition of Ottoman paintings in Vienna in 1918. His personal self-portrait can be seen at Istanbul Modern. On August 23, 1944 Abdulmecid Efendi II died at his house in the Boulevard Suchet, Paris XVIe, France. He was buried at Haram-i-Sharif, Medina, Saudi Arabia.

Photograph ©HAT SAN'ATI Tarihçe, Malzeme ve Örnekler, Istanbul. http://ismek.ibb.gov.tr/portal/yayinlarimiz.asp