Hafsa Sultan
The year is 1517. Midnight under a full moon. Brilliant light bathes Manisa Palace. Hafsa Sultana, her rosy lips whispering prayers, kneels under the low beam of the hallway, blue light reflecting on her radiant face from the turquoise wall-tiles.
She despairs more with every passing day that she will ever be reunited with her beloved husband, the fearless Yavuz, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire. He is in Ridaniye running from one victory to another, with no chance of ever returning alive. She has only one hope left for happiness: her son Süleyman. She prays for the day he will assume Yavuz’s throne and allow her to supplement her beauty with the advantages of being the Sultan’s mother.
The rose-faced Sultana, suffering for years her husband's wars, shouted in tears: "I am but a wretched slave, weak and unworthy of your beneficence, my Sultan. I am but the soil on which your steed rides you into glory. My only hope is that Allah will grant the grace Prince Süleyman needs to achieve the throne and finally bring peace and some sort of happiness to an unfortunate mother.” When this came to pass, and Süleyman became Sultan, Hafsa Sultana settled into her dream of building mosques and madrasas and hospitals inside the walls of Manisa Palace, illuminated by the now-famous lighthouse that is dedicated to the new Sultan.
