Tunku Ibrahim Ismail was born on at 22 November 1958, Sultanah Aminah Hospital, Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaya[2] during the reign of his great grandfather, Sultan Ibrahim. He was the eldest son of Sultan Iskandar by his first wife Josephine Ruby Trevorrow (2 December 1935 – 1 June 2018), an English lady from Torquay,[3][4] whom Sultan Iskandar (then Tunku Mahmud) met while he was studying in England.[5][6] Trevorrow, a proprietor by profession, took on the name of "Kalsom binti Abdullah" for a time following her marriage to Tunku Iskandar.[7] His mother has since remarried and lived in England.[8]