"If princes were the lifeblood of the Ottoman sultanate, princesses were loved specially. Unlike their brothers, they could never rival their father for popularity and prestige. And like their counterparts around the world, they were useful for the political alliances their marriages consolidated. A vigorous producer of sons, Suleyman may well have wished for more daughters, for only one, Mihrumah, would survive to adulthood. Later in life the sultan seemed to compensate by devoting a great deal of attention to his granddaughters' engagements and weddings...Mihrumah, approaching her eleventh birthday, was the only little princess in the palace. She must have been its darling..." - Empress of the East: How a European Slave Girl Became Queen of the Ottoman Empire, Leslie Peirce