On 17 November 1922, the last reigning Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, Mehmed VI, was exiled from Istanbul, marking the end of more than six centuries of Ottoman rule.
Accompanied by the weight of a once-mighty empire's fall, he was escorted aboard a British warship bound for Malta.
His expulsion came as the newly formed Turkish Republic, under Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s leadership, sought to abolish the sultanate and modernise the nation.
As he departed, Mehmed VI's fate was sealed not as a sovereign but as a symbol of a bygone era swept away by the tide of nationalism and reform.
