 Her father was Sultan Abdulmejid I, and her mother was Gülcemal Kadın, a Bosnian.She was the second child and eldest daughter born to her father, and the eldest daughter born to her mother, hence the full sister of her younger siblings Refia Sultan and Sultan Mehmed V. After her mother's death in 1851, she and her siblings were adopted by Abdulmejid's first wife, Servetseza Kadın.In accordance with the custom, Fatma Sultan began to take lessons in the Quran in 1847, together with her sisters Refia Sultan, and Cemile Sultan, and brothers Murad V and Abdul Hamid II.