A harem in La Pedrera

On Monday, 28 October 1918, the Egyptian prince Ibrahim Hassan (Cairo, 1879 – Barcelona, 1918) died at his residence in La Pedrera, at Passeig de Gràcia 92. The prince was a nephew of the Sultan of Egypt and a grandson of the Khedive[1] Ismail Pasha, and he had been living in Barcelona for some time.

Educated at the finest schools in Europe, he had lived in Vienna, Paris, and London. Prior to his stay in Barcelona, he served as president of the Cairo Electric Railways & Heliopolis Oases Company. A man of great culture, he was a member of the Société de Géographie d’Égypte, the Royal Geographical Society of the United Kingdom, the Société Royale Belge de Géographie, and the Société Royale de Géographie of Antwerp, among others.

Josep Bayó Font, the builder of La Pedrera, recalled in an interview conducted by Joan Bassegoda on 21 January 1970 that an Indian prince had rented an apartment in La Pedrera. According to his words: “That was a harem; I don’t know if he had twelve or fourteen Black people, women and men. And when he went out, sometimes he dressed as a gentleman, sometimes as an Indian, and he had a huge car, an Alfa Romeo” (Joan Bassegoda Nonell, Josep Bayó Font, Contractista de Gaudí. Barcelona: Edicions UPC, 2003).

In reality, he was an Egyptian prince, not an Indian one, but the story itself is entirely true. In the autumn of 1911, the local press mentioned the presence in Barcelona of an illustrious guest. He was a diplomat and a businessman, and in Barcelona he served as president of the Sociedad del Tranvía Casa Gomis – Rabassada, which provided service to the now-defunct Casino de la Rabassada.

“ILLUSTRIOUS GUEST. Arriving from Paris, Prince Ibrahim Hassan is currently in Barcelona. His Highness has been carefully visiting our beautiful city and its surroundings. One of the attractions that has most powerfully caught his attention is the beautiful panorama visible from the Rabassada terrace, at whose hotel he lunched and dined yesterday, also spending a large part of the evening in those establishments. Prince Ibrahim Hassan, who is also president of the Sociedad del Tranvía Casa Gomis – Rabassada, expressed great pleasure at the sovereign beauty of those landscapes, which autumn cloaks in majestic charm.” (La Vanguardia, 1 October 1911)

The illustrated newspaper L’Esquella de la Torratxa did not miss the opportunity and, with its characteristic irony, commented on the prince’s stay in Barcelona:

“Through a small news item that has discreetly circulated these days throughout the Barcelona press, we have learned that the president of the Ca’n Gomis – Rabassada Tramway Company is none other than a prince; Prince Ibrahim Hassan, first cousin of the sovereign of Egypt.
What twists the world takes!
And what whims History has!
A descendant of the Pharaohs, exploiting electric businesses on the slopes of our Tibidabo!…
Anyone who, reflecting on this fact, remembers the pyramids will immediately say:
—This is pyramidal!”

The only known graphic image of the prince was published in the satirical weekly Cu-cut! on 5 October 1911:

“Portrait of Prince Ibrahim Hassan, first cousin of the Khedive of Egypt, who was not only delighted by the splendid panorama visible from the Rabassada terrace, but was even more surprised by the large workshops of the firm BAGUÑÁ y CORNET, whose building he visited, touring all its sections and facilities. Prince Ibrahim Hassan, who is also president of the Sociedad del Tranvía Casa Gomis – Rabassada, was very satisfied with the splendid engravings produced by the BAGUÑÁ y CORNET factory, to such an extent that, according to his own statement, it is the best in Spain and Egypt.”

A curious episode in his biography is that in April 1911 he married an American actress, Ola Humphrey, in London. The marriage was short-lived, lasting about six months, since, according to statements made by Ola Humphrey to a New Zealand newspaper in December of that same year, the marriage was a mistake. She accused him of keeping her “confined” and treating her as just another member of his harem. The prince arrived in Barcelona in September 1911, and it is possible that the actress accompanied him, although we have no confirmation of this. After the divorce, Ola Humphrey moved to California and in 1915 starred in the film Under the Crescent, based on her brief life as a princess. No copies of this film—directed by Burton L. King, with a screenplay by Nell Shipman and distributed by The Universal Film Manufacturing Company Incorporated—are known to have survived.

This contribution has been made possible thanks to a remarkable lead provided by Anna Buti.

[1] The Khedive was the equivalent of the governor of Egypt and Sudan between 1867 and 1914.