by Susan Flantzer © Unofficial Royalty 2017

Photo Credit – Wikipedia

King Talal of Jordan was born on February 26, 1909, in Mecca in the Hejaz, then part of the Ottoman Empire, now part of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. He was the only son and the second of the three children of the first King of Jordan, Abdullah I and his first and senior wife Musbah bint Nasser, the first Queen Consort of Jordan.

Talal had two full sisters:

• Princess Haya (1907 – 1990), married Prince Abdul-Karim Ja’afar Zeid Dhaoui
• Princess Munira (1915 – 1987), unmarried

Talal had two half-siblings from his father’s second wife Suzdil Khanum:

• Prince Nayef (1914 – 1983), Princess Mihrimah Selcuk Sultana, had two sons
• Princess Maqbula (1921 – 2001), married Prince Hussein bin Nasser, Prime Minister of Jordan, had one son and one daughter

Talal’s father had a third wife, Nahda bint Uma, but they had no children.

Talal was educated privately in Amman, Jordan. In 1927, he joined the Arab Legion, the regular army of Transjordan and then Jordan in the early part of the 20th century. From 1928-1929, he studied at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in the United Kingdom. Talal served as an aide to his grandfather Hussein ibn Ali al-Hashim during his exile in Cyprus and then in Amman, Jordan. In 1933, Talal was promoted to the rank of Major in the Arab Legion, followed by promotions to Major-General (1941) and General (1948).

In 1934, Talal married his first cousin Zein Al Sharaf Bint Jamal. The couple had six children:

• King Hussein I of Jordan (1935 – 1999), married (1) Dina bint ‘Abdu’l-Hamid (Queen Dina), divorced 1957, no children (2) Antoinette Avril Gardiner (Princess Muna), divorced 1971, had four children including King Abdullah II of Jordan (3) Alia Baha el-Din Toukan (Queen Alia), died in a helicopter crash, had two children (4) Lisa Halaby (Queen Noor), had four children
• Princess Asma bint Talal (born and died 1937)
• Prince Muhammad bin Talal (1940 – 2021), married (1) Firyal Irshaid, had two sons (2) Taghrid Majali, daughter of the late Hazza’ al-Majali, Prime Minister of Jordan, no children
• Prince Hassan bin Talal (1947 – ), married Sarvath Ikramullah, had one son and three daughters
• Prince Muhsin bin Talal, died young
• Princess Basma bint Talal (1951 – ), married (1) Colonel Timoor Daghistani, had two children (2) Walid al-Kurdi, had two children

Talal’s four surviving children: Hassan, Hussein, Basma, and Muhammad; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

On July 20, 1951, Talal’s father, 69-year-old King Abdullah I of Jordan was assassinated as he entered the Al-Aqsa Mosque in the Old City of Jerusalem, probably because of his moderate attitude towards Israel. The assassin was Mustapha Shukri Usho, a 21-year-old tailor from Jerusalem who belonged to a group that wanted to prevent a permanent division of Palestine by Jordan and Israel. King Abdullah had been accompanied by Talal’s 15-year-old eldest son, the future King Hussein I of Jordan.  Hussein was at his grandfather’s side and was hit too, but a medal that had been pinned to Hussein’s chest at his grandfather’s insistence deflected the bullet and saved his life.

At the time of his father’s death, Talal was in a sanatorium in Switzerland being treated for a nervous breakdown. At first, it was unsure whether Talal would succeed his father due to his mental condition, but on September 5, 1951, he was proclaimed King of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. On June 4, 1952, the Jordanian Cabinet announced that it was necessary to form a Regency Council because Talal’s condition had worsened despite the treatment he was receiving in Switzerland. The Jordanian Parliament declared Talal mentally unfit on August 11, 1952, and proclaimed his eldest son Hussein King of Jordan.

Talal died on July 7, 1972, in Istanbul, Turkey where he had spent the last years of his life in a sanatorium reportedly being treated for schizophrenia. He was buried in a mausoleum at the Royal Cemetery, near Raghadan Palace within the Royal Compound (Al-Maquar) in Amman, Jordan.

Royal Cemetery – Tombs of Kings Talal, Abdullah I, and Hussein I

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Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan Resources at Unofficial Royalty

• Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan Index
• Jordanian Births, Deaths, Marriages
• Jordanian Royal Burial Sites
• Jordanian Royal FAQs
• Jordanian Royal Weddings
• Line of Succession to the Jordanian Throne
• Profiles of the Jordanian Royal Family

Works Cited

• En.wikipedia.org. (2017). Talal of Jordan. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talal_of_Jordan [Accessed 24 Jul. 2017].
• King Hussein I of Jordan. [online] Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/february-7-1999-death-of-king-hussein-of-jordan/ [Accessed 24 Jul. 2017].
• Nytimes.com. (2017). Ex‐King Talal of Jordan Dies; Abdicated in ’52 in Favor of Son. [online] Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/1972/07/09/archives/exig-tat-t-of-jod-di-i-abdiated-in-52-in-favor-of-soni.html [Accessed 24 Jul. 2017].
• Unofficial Royalty. (2017). Jordanian Royal Burial Sites. [online] Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/royal-burial-sites/jordanian-royal-burial-sites/ [Accessed 23 Jul. 2017].