Princess Nazli Fazil
Princess Zainab Nazli Hanim (1853 – 28 December 1913) was an Egyptian princess from the dynasty of Muhammad Ali of Egypt and one of the first women to revive the tradition of the literary salon in the Arab world, at her palace in Cairo from the 1880s until her death. Early life. Of Turkish origin, Princess Nazlı Fazıl was born in Constantinople, Ottoman Empire, in 1853, the eldest child of Mustafa Fazıl Pasha, son of Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt and brother of the future Khedive Isma'il Pasha, and his wife Dilazad Hanim. At the age of 13, she  left Egypt for Constantinople upon her father's falling out with his brother, the Khedive, in 1866. In Constantinople, she was highly educated, against prevailing tradition, and entertained foreign visitors. She was a well educated and cultured lady who spoke Turkish, Arabic, French and English. Personal life. In December 1872, she married Turkish ambassador Halil Şerif Paşa (Khalil Bey), and moved briefly to Paris with him on his last post there. It was not a happy marriage, and her one daughter, Hayya Khanum, died in infancy. Upon his death, she moved back to Cairo, Khedivate of Egypt, and settled in  a palace located nearby to the royal Abdeen Palace, named "Villa Henry". Her second husband was Khelil Bouhageb, son of Salem Bouhageb and eventual Prime Minister of Tunisia. They married in 1900. In memoirs of her acquaintances, it is said that she had a quick wit and loved photographs, champagne, cigarettes and her pianola. Influence. In this palace, she began hosting soirees, and was friendly with the intellectual elites of her day, including the Egyptians, Muhammad Abduh, Saad Zaghloul, and Qasim Amin, and the British, Lord Cromer and Herbert Kitchener. She was the individual who encouraged Saad Zaghlul to learn  French. He had attended law school in Cairo and became legal advisor to her. She also arranged his marriage to Safiyya Zaghlul. Additionally, it was at her insistence that Lord Cromer coordinated 'Abduh's return from exile in 1888. Death. She died on 28 December 1913, and was buried in the Fazil Mausoleum, Imam al-Shafi'i, Cairo.