It was a hierarchy with its own protocol and etiquette and, as many of the odalisques never even saw the Sultan, they were forced to spend their whole lives inventing ways of passing the time.

Looking round her with curious eyes, Yamina saw how unnatural existence within the harem could be.

All the women lived for the chance of catching the Sultan’s eye. If they failed in this, they were forced to console themselves with over-eating, sweetmeat making, the playing of musical instruments, embroidery or the distraction of strange, unnatural love affairs with each other.

Because the Sultan had concentrated his affections on Mihri, Yamina was not able to see what happened when he paid a State visit to his harem.

But Mihri and the others were only too eager to explain to her what occurred.

First of all a newcomer to the harem had to attend a school which Yamina described to herself as an ‘Academie de l’Amour’, where they were instructed in the art of love.

They must learn to approach ‘Allah’s Shadow on Earth’ with humility, crawling into the Imperial bed from the foot, inching up slowly.

This was their chance, the supreme moment for which they had waited and prayed.

But in the back of their minds there must always have been the memory of many failures and of Sultans like Ibrahim who required twenty-four virgins in as many hours.

Or there was Sultan Selim III, a gentle young Prince, who was so horrified at the custom of strangling every infant born in the Seraglio who was not the child of the reigning Sultan that he decided never to risk becoming a father!

But in contrast to these fears, the history of the Ottoman Empire was a long testimony to the enormous power wielded by women in the harem.

Cruel, cunning, ruthless, ambitious, many of the Kadins enslaved their Lord and Master and ruled not only the Seraglio but also the country.

When they had been taught all they should know, the odalisques had to pass what to all intents and purposes was an examining board, usually presided over by the Sultan’s mother, known as the ‘Sultan Valideh’.

Nothing was left to chance and as Mihri said in a practical tone,

“It saves the ‘Master of Masters’ many disappointments!”

When the newcomer was pronounced perfect in the oldest art in the world, she passed into the ranks of the Ladies-in-Waiting, joining at least two or three hundred more, all voluptuous, jealous and bored, all specialised in the art they could so seldom practise, all waiting for their great chance.

This came when the Sultan paid them a State Visit.

He was announced by the Eunuchs who rang a great golden bell.

This was followed by a feverish rush for the most elaborate and spectacular clothes.

Faces were painted, lips were crimsoned and eyes darkened to look mysterious and alluring.