Emetullah Rabia Gülnüş Sultan was Haseki Sultan of Mehmed IV. She was Valide Sultan to their sons Mustafa II and Ahmed III, and likely the mother of Hatice and Fatma Sultan. She accompanied Mehmed, his mother Turhan Hatice, Şehzade Mustafa and Mehmed’s sisters, together with a large entourage, in processions marking the Polish war in 1672 and 1673. In 1683, she joined a similar large entourage in a procession marking the siege of Vienna. Gülnuş became Valide Sultan in 1695, when her elder son Mustafa II ascended the throne. Mustafa kept close contacts with his mother, and is said to have honored her demonstratively whenever there was an occasion. She was very influential during the reigns of her sons and is sometimes referred to as “the last representative of the Sultanate of Women”. Among her projects was a complex of buildings in Üsküdar, which included a mosque, soup kitchen, school, fountain and tomb.

In the privacy of her domain, Marie Antoinette creates a parallel court in her own orbit, with a relaxed etiquette and courtiers chosen by affinity rather than birth. But in keeping the court at a distance, Marie Antoinette is closing herself in. The Petit Trianon and its garden becomes a world in itself.