Hoshiyar Qadin

[5] Hoshiyar Qadin was a public figure whose doings were continually reported by the press, which referred to her simply as Queen Mother.

Putting aside all personal interests and the fact that he was also a menace to the dynasty, she provided him with money and horses and worked with other ladies of the family at preparing bandages and medicine for the wounded.

[6] When the Sultan Abdulaziz visited Egypt, he made a point of particularly honouring Hoshiar by bestowing on her the Grand Cordon of the Osmaniyeh.

[7] This beautiful and very feminine woman brought up her son with unrelenting discipline and would never allow her motherly feelings to get the better of her sense of duty, to such an extant that when the future Khedive was visiting Europe as a child, he was heard to say about Dowager Empress of Austria, who had been particularly kind, "that no one in his own family had ever shown him as much affection."

Instead she operated through family members and agents, such as the director of estates, the powerful and cruel chief eunuch, Khalil Agha.

She arrived with proposed new heir in question, her grandson Tewfik Pasha, lots of money, and female diplomacy.

[12][13][14] Hoshiyar Qadin died at the Greater Qasar al-Ali Palace, Cairo, on 21 June 1886, and was buried there at the Khedival Mausoleum, Al-Rifa'i Mosque, which was built on her orders.