Nazikeda Kadın (Turkish pronunciation: [nazik̟ʰeda kʰadɯn], Ottoman Turkish: نازك ادا قادین; meaning 'one of delicate manners';[1] born Princess Emine Marshania; 9 October 1866 – 4 April 1941),[2] also nicknamed the Last Empress,[3] was the first wife and chief consort of the last sultan, Mehmed VI of the Ottoman Empire.

[15] In 1876, she was brought to Istanbul as a young child, where her father entrusted her to the imperial harem together with her sister Daryal,[16] and wetnurse Babuce Hanım (died 1910).

[17] She was then sent to Cemile Sultan's palace in Kandilli with her sisters and her cousins Amine, Rumeysa, Pakize, Fatma, and Kamile, where her name according to the custom of the Ottoman court was changed to Nazikeda.

[11] Nazikeda was beautiful, tall, and curvy and had honey-coloured eyes, long auburn hair, pale skin, and slender waist.

[21] Around the same time, her sister Daryal renamed Iryale was married to Şehzade Mehmed Selim, son of Sultan Abdul Hamid II.

[26] On 30 May 1918, Nazikeda met with the Empress Zita of Bourbon-Parma in the harem of Yıldız Palace, when the latter visited Istanbul with her husband Emperor Charles I of Austria.

Even though Mehmed's accession to the throne was unlikely, Nazikeda knew well that as a prince, he had to have a male heir and, therefore, accepted his wish to remarry each time.

Since both Mehmed VI's natural and adoptive mothers had died (Gülistu Kadın and Şayeste Hanim), Nazikeda became the most prominent female member of the dynasty and became known in Europe as the last Ottoman empress (usually in Europe this title was reserved for the sultan's mother, while his first consort was considered Queen, and subsequent consorts princesses or ladies).

The groom was Ismail Hakki Bey, the son of last grand vizier of the Ottoman Empire, Ahmed Tevfik Pasha.

Nazikeda allied herself with Şehsuvar Hanim, Faruk's mother, and managed to obtain permission for the wedding, which was held on 29 April.

[35] She, together with other members of his family, was kept under house arrest at the Feriye Palace by order of the new parliament, where she lived through difficult times, often starving, she never complained, though, and always took care of the other women, until 10 March 1924, when they were sent into exile.

[36] During their stay, Mehmed's daily routine was to visit Nazikeda's room, which was on the same floor as his apartment, to drink his morning coffee with her.

[39] In 1940, she attended the wedding of her granddaughter, Neslişah Sultan and Prince Mohamed Abdel Moneim, son of Egypt's last khedive Abbas Hilmi II.

[41] Nazikeda died at Maadi, Cairo, on 4 April 1941[2] at the age of seventy-four and was buried in the mausoleum of Abbas Hilmi Pasha in the Abbasiye Cemetery.