Hussein Refki Pasha was born in Cairo, Egypt, to an aristocratic Turco-Egyptian family of statesmen and military officers. Refki's grandfather, Mehmet Hafiz Pasha, was an Ottoman military commander who served as Serasker of the army, as Wali (governor) of Bosnia, Diyarbekir Eyalet, Sivas Eyalet, Erzurum Eyalet, Konya, Ionnina, Skopje, Erdine, and Mosul, and as "Sheikh Al-Haram" (civil governor) of Medina. Refki's father, Ahmed Hafez Bey, and Refki's brother, Hassan Hafez Pasha, both served as career officers in the Egyptian Army.