Aimée opened her eyes. She was lying on a narrow bunk in an unfamiliar cabin. Afraid to move, she scanned the small quarters with her eyes, making sure she was alone. She was, indeed. Her hands shook as she ran them over her body to see if her clothing and person were intact. Everything seemed to be in order, except that her heart was pounding madly and she was beginning to panic. She remembered the pirates rushing into the ship’s salon, looking into one of their faces and seeing the devil himself. She must have fainted. How long have I been unconscious—and where am I? - From The Stolen Girl – Book 1 of The Veil and the Crown by Zia Wesley

Aimée Dubuq de Rivery (born 4th December, 1768) was a French aristocrat and cousin to Rose Tascher de la Pagerie (who would later become one of the most important women in France). Aimée was born on the Island of Martinique, and spent much of her childhood on Les Trois-Islets, the sugar plantation owned by her Cousin Rose’s family. While returning home in July of 1788, from a convent school that she was attending in France, the ship she was sailing on was attacked by Algerian corsairs (pirates) who abducted her.

It is at this point where Aimée’s story moves from history to legend, as few hard facts exist. It is known that less than one year later, a young, blonde, and blue-eyed French woman became the favorite of Sultan Abdul Hamid, the aging sultan of the Ottoman Empire. That young woman was given the Turkish name Nakshidil, and gave birth the following year to a son, Mahmud, who would eventually become sultan himself. It is also common knowledge that the sultan who followed Hamid, his handsome young nephew Selim, developed a fascination with all things French, and petitioned King Louis to send French military personnel to train his Turkish troops. The French also helped the Turks build a foundry to manufacture cannon and balls. A few years later, a French newspaper, printed by a French press in Istanbul, appeared along with a French library.

Might Aimée have perished at the hands of the corsairs or did she, as legend says, rise up from the ranks of the Sultan’s harem to become the first figure of European influence in the Ottoman Empire? It is interesting to note that blonde hair and blue eyes continued to appear in the sultans of the Ottoman line right up to the last sultan of the empire in 1924.