Şehzade Mustafa

Born around 1516 to the sultan's concubine Mahidevran Hatun, Mustafa grew up as heir apparent in an empire at its height. He governed Manisa from 1533, then Amasya from 1541 — postings that kept him visible, competent, and far from the capital. On 6 October 1553, summoned to his father's camp, he was strangled by mutes in Suleiman's tent. The charges were sedition and treason. Whether he plotted or was simply too popular, too much the son his father could not afford, the outcome was final.