Mustafa Fazl Pasha

Who was Mustafa Fazl Pasha?

Mustafa Bahgat 'Ali Fazl Pasha was an Ottoman Egyptian prince belonging to the Muhammad Ali Dynasty founded by his grandfather Muhammad Ali Pasha.

Prince Mustafa was born at Cairo the son of Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt. He was educated at the Egyptian Mission School in Paris. On January 18, 1863 Prince Mustafa became the heir apparent to his brother Isma'il Pasha but on May 28, 1866 the Ottoman authorities changed the law so that the succession became by a direct male line of the reigning Khedive instead of passing from brother to brother. In protest of this decision, Mustafa Fazl Pasha left Egypt for Paris, where he patronized the Young Ottomans opposition against the Sultan Abdülaziz.

After losing his place as first in the line of succession Prince Mustafa was appointed minister for education in 1862, minister for finance in 1864 and 1869, and for minister for justice from 1871 until 1872.

Prince Mustafa had a number of wives and died at Kandilli neighborhood of Istanbul having fathered ten sons and six daughters, the eldest of whom, Princess Nazli Fazl, was a prominent member of Cairo society and hostess to the first literary salon in the Arab world.