Princess Saliha Ibrahim ISMAIL (1878-1953)

Egypt6
royalark.net›Egypt/egypt6.htm https://www.royalark.net/Egypt/egypt6.htm

The above obituary mentions that Ismail de Yorke was “born of an Egyptian lady of the Royal House and a Russian father”. To be more exact, his parents were the Egyptian princess Saliha Hilmi (1878–1953) and Serge Yourkevitch (d. 1936) who was a Russian count and diplomat from St. Petersburg. His acceptance of Islam and their Islamic nikah was described by Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din in his report from the Woking Mission dated 24 December 1913. He wrote:

“In some previous letter I had mentioned Princess Saliha of Egypt, whose husband, a Russian, accepted Islam in Woking at my hand. Events which came to light yesterday shows that this happened by the great grace of God, and this Russian count’s change of religion saved the honour of a high Muslim family, removing from that family, by my hand, the disgrace they had been suffering for the past five years. Princess Saliha is in fact the paternal grand-daughter of Prince Ismail Khedive, during whose rule European powers obtained concessions in Egypt, gaining a foothold in that country. Princess Saliha first married Prince Ibrahim who died in 1906. … In 1907 the princess married a Russian count who was a protestant Christian. This marriage caused uproar in Egypt, as a result of which the princess and her husband had to leave Egypt. They lived in various European countries, and have been living in England for the past few months.

It was by the will of God that they met me. I started preaching Islam to them, as a result of which the husband came to Woking three weeks ago to become a Muslim at my hand, out of his own accord. I did not consider this sufficient, and on 12th December, in the presence of fifty to sixty Muslims for Friday prayer at Lindsey Hall [Notting Hill gate], I accepted the affirmation of Islam again from the Russian count. I then advised them both to enter into an Islamic nikah. Consequently, two days ago, that is, last Sunday, I conducted their nikah in the Islamic form at the Woking Mosque, the mahr being 2,000 Pounds, in the presence of fifty Muslims from India, Egypt, Turkey and Iran. Apart from these, I had also invited some European gentlemen and ladies. Lord Headley was present with his four sons. After the wedding, there were arrangements to have plentiful refreshments.”

— Ahmadiyya newspaper Paigham Sulh, Lahore, 13 January 1914, p. 3. (More from this report, whcih also conatins a further note about this couple, is at this link.)