Safiye Sultan

Fourteen year-old Signorina Baffa, daughter of Baffa, the Governor of
Corfu, stands tall on a hill overlooking the sea, her wheat-coloured hair
tousled by the wind her hazel eyes wistful. She is a rosebud. A pearl that is
fit for a Sultan: she’s to travel to the harem this day. She’s anxious and
afraid but secretly, despite herself, excited. Her excitement lasted for
three years as they taught her how to read and how to speak and all else
there was to learn. It was vigorous training, but she proved talented and
clear-minded and soon mastered all she was taught. She wanted to succeed,
because she knew that one day she’d be queen. When she was seventeen and
deemed ready, she was presented to the palace of Prince Şehzade Murad, the
favourite grandson of Süleyman the Magnificent. For the occasion they renamed
her “Safiye” and dressed her in embroidered satin and pearls and brought her
to a room that was inlaid with ivory and lapis lazuli and the finest silk
rugs on the floor. She felt as if she was entering a fairy tale where all her
wishes would come true. She craved power and was eager of glory. She set her
mind on marrying Murad to achieve her ambitions, to become the first lady of
the Ottoman Empire. And one magical evening, beautiful Safiye prepared
herself for the visit of the young and handsome Murad. Bejeweled and
alluring, she smiled at Murad and gazed with love into his fiery black eyes.
She enchanted him and he fell in love. His first love, and a love that would
endure and nourish both of them for the rest of their lives. In the year 1597
Safiye Sultana, by now the powerful wife of Ottoman Emperor Sultan Murad III,
laid the cornerstone of Yeni Camii (New Mosque) on the shore of the
Bosphorus. This architectural masterpiece of the early Ottoman Era that was
destined to become one of Istanbul’s most famous landmarks, prims on the
silhouette of the City to this day. Safiye did not live long enough to see it
completed.