Princess Fawzia was born Her Sultanic Highness Princess Fawzia bint Fuad at Ras el-Tin Palace, Alexandria, the eldest daughter of Sultan Fuad I of Egypt and Sudan (later King Fuad I), and his second wife, Nazli Sabri on 5 November 1921.[3] Princess Fawzia Fuad was of Albanian, Turkish, French and Circassian descent.[4] Princess Fawzia's maternal great-grandfather was Major-General Muhammad Sharif Pasha who was of Turkish origin and served as Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs.[5] One of her great-great-grandfathers was Suleiman Pasha, a French army officer who served under Napoleon, converted to Islam, and oversaw an overhaul of the Egyptian army under her great-great grandfather Mohammad Ali the Great.