Tawhida Hanim (Arabic: توحيدة هانم; Turkish: Tevhide Hanım; "the believe one"; 2 August 1850 – 3 October 1888) was an Egyptian princess and a member of the Muhammad Ali dynasty.
[1] She was the eldest daughter of Khedive Isma'il Pasha, and his first wife Shehret Feza Hanim.
[2] Her father and her grandmother Hoshiyar Qadin launched a propaganda campaign in Istanbul, with the proposed new heir in question, her half-brother Tewfik Pasha.
[5] However, Grand Vizier Mehmed Fuad Pasha opposed the match because Isma'il then would have easier access to the sultan.
[6] Fuad's objection was written on piece of paper, and given to the head chamberlain, who instead of reading it to Abdulaziz, handed it to him.
These youthful efforts were submitted for criticism to a friend's elder brother, Mansur Yeghen Pasha, who returned them accompanied by notes written in perfect prose.
When the matter reached her father, he summoned her, and told her that both his family and his position were eminently suitable, apart from the great age difference.
Tawhida persisted, and enlisted the help of her father's third wife, Jeshm Afet Hanim, with whom she was on more intimate terms than with her own mother.