The poet's mother, Charikleia Cavafy (née Fotiadi), was born in Istanbul (Turkey) in 1834. She was the oldest child of the family. She had six sisters and a brother. In 1848 she got married to Peter J. Cavafy and had nine children (eight sons and only one daughter who died in her infancy). The family moved to England (London and Liverpool) in 1852, and in 1854-1855 they settled in Alexandria (Egypt). After the death of the father in 1870, the family moved back to England (1872) but in 1877 they returned to Alexandria. After the 1882 turmoil, Charikleia and her three younger boys moved Istanbul, only to return to Alexandria three years later. She died in Alexandria in 1899.
