[1] Abdel-Huda was born in Cairo, Egypt into a family of Turkish diplomats in exile, with long experience of service to the Ottoman Empire.
[1][2][3] Her grandfather was an adviser and astrologer to the last Ottoman Sultan and her father, Tawfik Abu Al-Huda, became Prime Minister of Transjordan.
[1] During the Second World War she was recruited by the British Information Services and was posted to Cairo and then Palestine where she was engaged with the Palestinian cause and began a lifelong friendship with Freya Stark.
[2] Abdel-Huda remained fervently pro-Palestinian freedom throughout her life, and considered the Palestinian people betrayed by the British.
[2] Once the war was over, she studied Art History at the Courtauld Institute under Anthony Blunt, and resided in Chelsea, London.