 Other regal visitors to the palace included the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.The palace was the last place of captivity of the deposed sultan Abdulhamid II from 1912 until his death there in 1918.Designed in the Second Empire style by Sarkis Balyan, Beylerbeyi Palace seems fairly restrained compared to the excesses of the earlier Dolmabahçe or Küçüksu palaces.