[1][2] Her father was Abdulaziz, son of Mahmud II and Pertevniyal Sultan.
[10] Esma, who was three years old at that time, grew up under the supervision of her elder half-brother, the Crown Prince Şehzade Yusuf Izzeddin.
She had slanting eyebrows, big black eyes, a long face, white skin, and short hair, and was tall.
[12] On 20 April 1889 at the age of sixteen, she married Damat Kabasakal Çerkes Mehmed Pasha in the Yıldız Palace.
[14][15] Esma Sultan died in childbirth on 7 May 1899 at the age of twenty-six and was buried in the mausoleum of imperial ladies at the New Mosque, Eminönü, Istanbul.