[5] All the Kalfas in Esma Sultan's villa behaved toward this child as though she were a daughter of an Ottoman Imperial Princess, and indeed her disposition and manners were so lovely that they became devoted to her.

Perestu was described as a beautiful woman, possessing a petite and slender figure with translucent white skin, blue eyes, golden blonde hair, and truly lovely hands and feet.

[7] One spring day in 1844, Abdulmejid came to visit his aunt and was passing through the harem gardens when he saw Perestu, then fourteen years old.

[11] After Abdulmejid's death in 1861, she settled in her villa in Maçka, Nişantaşı, which had been a gift presented to her by Sultan Abdulaziz.

[12] Perestu had no biological children, but she adopted two of the Abdulmejid's children, a daughter and a son, who was birth by others consorts, when they lost their mothers: After Abdul Hamid II ascended the throne in 1876, she was given the position of Valide Sultan, title due to the mother of the Sultan, by him, and headed the harem.

[14] In 1879 she interceded with Abdul Hamid on behalf of his half-sister Mediha Sultan and her adoptive mother Verdicenan Kadın.

But she did not want to hurt anyone's feelings in the least, did not interfere in the matters, sought justice and equity, and because she was firmly religious she passed a good deal of time in prayers.

Sometimes after the ceremony she would secretly slip out to her villa, but when Abdul Hamid learned of it, he immediately aided set off from the palace with a carriage and brought her back.

The traditional service at which the Prophet's Nativity Poem is recited was held in her memory at the Shaziliya Dervish Convent and at the Yıldız Hamidiye Mosque.