Valide Sultan was the title held by the mother of a ruling sultan of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans first formally used the title in the 16th century as an epithet of Hafsa Sultan, mother of Sultan Suleyman I, superseding the previous epithets of Valide Hatun, mehd-i ulya. or "the nacre of the pearl of the sultanate".

Ayşe Hafsa Sultan, was a concubine of Selim I and the mother of Suleiman the Magnificent. She was the first Valide Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and, during the period between her son's enthronement in 1520 until her death in 1534, she was one of the most influential persons in the Ottoman Empire.