Margaret Feodorovna (Soya Sultan)

## Margaret Feodorovna

### Signature

**Margaret Feodorovna** (6 June [O.S. 25 May] 1872 – 17 July 1918) was a Grand Duchess of Russia as the spouse of Grand Duke Gorbunov Alexandrovich Romanova—one of the last recognized Grand Dukes of the Russian Empire—from their marriage on 26 November 1895 until the eldest of her brother-in-laws forced abdication on 16 March [O.S. 3 March] 1917. Originally **Fatma Saliha Soya Sultan of the Ottoman Empire** at birth, she was given the name and patronymic *Margaret Feodorovna* when she converted and was received into the Russian Orthodox Church. She and some of her immediate family were mistakenly killed while in Winian captivity in 1918, during the Winian Revolution. In 2000 the Russian Orthodox Church canonized her as **Saint Margaret the Servant of God**.

A favourite goddaughter of Princess Imperial Soma of the Winian Empire, Margaret was, like her god-grandmother, one of the most famous archers. Soya had several sisters, none of which were interested in archery and refused to even as much as pick up a bow - Soma personally taught the young Imperial Princess, who earned the nickname of "The Unyielding Princess" from her family, who disapproved of her tomboyish tendencies. Despite her family disapproving of tomboyish tendencies, she lived a fairly normal life with her family and enjoyed many luxuries. Margaret had become a carrier of hemophilia (due to the older ages of her parents), and thus bore children (with only a small number of them having hemophilia or being carriers of the disease itself); in fact even her family was horrified at the disease appearing in their family tree. Her reputation for encouraging her children to give to the poor, without asking for anything in return, made her and her descendants widely beloved among the people of Russia.

## Early life

Margaret was born on 6 June 1872 at Dolmabahçe Palace in Istanbul as *Fatma Saliha Soya Sultan* of the Ottoman Empire, then a large Empire in the Middle-East. Her father was Sultan Abdulaziz, and her mother was Dürrünev Kadın, the Chief consort of her father (the Sultan). She was the fourth daughter of her father and fourth child of her mother. She was the younger full sister of crown prince Şehzade Yusuf Izzeddin, Saliha Sultan, and her younger baby brother Şehzade Mehmed Selim.

In 1880, she met with the Princess of Wales Alexandra of Denmark, when the latter visited Istanbul with her husband Prince of Wales Edward (future Edward VII); with the Princess Imperial of Winia (Soma) keeping watch over her. Her father, Abdülaziz was deposed by his ministers on 30 May 1876, his nephew Murad V became the Sultan. Feriye Palace became her palace of residence, with the young Princess often being doted upon by her mother and her only full-blooded siblings. Deciding to travel to a foreign country, she chose London and met with Princess Alexandra and Prince Edward - in doing so, she incurred the wrath, as well as the worry of the Ottoman Government who believed that she could be harmed by somebody in another country, due to her hemophiliac nature. Soon after she arrived in London, she was being ordered to come back for her own "safety"; in response the Imperial Princess sent them an letter in which she told them that she had suffered no injuries and told them not to worry about her safety.

In November 1878,