by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2017

King Abdullah II of Jordan, then Prince Abdullah of Jordan, and Rania al-Yassin were married on June 10, 1993, at the Zahran Palace in Amman, Jordan.

King Abdullah II of Jordan’s Background

King Abdullah II of Jordan was born January 30, 1962, in Amman, Jordan, the eldest son of King Hussein I of Jordan and his second wife, British-born Antoinette Gardiner, known as Princess Muna. Abdullah has eleven siblings from his father’s four marriages. At the time of his birth, Abdullah was Crown Prince and heir-apparent to the Jordanian throne. However, in 1965, due to the political unrest in the region, King Hussein instead named his own brother, Prince Hassan, as Crown Prince. The succession laws in Jordan follow agnatic primogeniture, but King Hussein had the constitution changed to allow the reigning King to override the usual line of succession and appoint someone else in the royal family as his heir.

Abdullah began his education at the Islamic Educational College in Amman, Jordan before attending St Edmund’s School in Hindhead, Surrey, England and the Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts in the United States. He then enrolled in the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, attaining the rank of Second Lieutenant in 1981. He served in the British Army in the 13th/18th Royal Hussars Regiment as a reconnaissance troop leader. He returned to Jordan in 1985 and began serving in the Jordanian Armed Forces. By 1993, he had become Commander of the Jordanian Special Forces, and by 1998, had risen to the rank of Major General.

On February 7, 1999, Abdullah became King of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan upon the death of his father King Hussein. Just two weeks earlier, King Hussein had stripped his brother Prince Hassan of the title of Crown Prince and named Abdullah as his successor.

Unofficial Royalty: King Abdullah II of Jordan

Rania al-Yassin’s Background

Rania al-Yassin was born on August 31, 1970, in Kuwait, to Faisal Sedki Al-Yassin and his wife Ilham. Following her primary and secondary education at the New English School in Jabriya, Kuwait, Rania attended The American University in Cairo, Egypt, earning a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration. She then attended The School of Business Studies in Geneva Switzerland, earning a post-graduate diploma in Business Management. She worked for a while at Citibank, before taking a job with Apple, Inc. in Jordan.

Unofficial Royalty: Queen Rania of Jordan

The Engagement

In January 1993, a friend of Rania took her to a dinner party hosted by Prince Abdullah’s sister. “The minute Rania walked in, I knew it right there and then,” said Abdullah in a 2005 interview with People magazine. “It was love at first sight.” A whirlwind courtship began. Abdullah took Rania on motorbike rides across the desert, waterskiing on the Red Sea and flying in helicopters. After a courtship of just two months, King Hussein himself reportedly drove his son to the home of Rania’s parents so Abdullah could propose. With King Hussein and her family looking on, Rania accepted.

The Wedding

Abdullah and Rania were married on June 10, 1993, at the Zahran Palace in Amman, Jordan. Zahran Palace, built in 1957, has become the headquarters for official events involving the Jordanian Royal Family. The wedding day was a national holiday. At the time, Prince Abdullah was not Jordan’s crown prince. That title was held by King Hussein’s brother, Prince Hassan. Still, as the oldest son of King Hussein’s twelve children, Abdullah’s marriage was a grand state occasion and a glittering affair with royalty flying in from around the world to attend.

Rania chose British designer Bruce Oldfield to make her two wedding gowns. For the traditional Muslim ceremony, Rania wore a modest, short-sleeve gown with exaggerated lapels and a large belt. Inspired by Syrian formal dresses at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, Oldfield added gold detailing to the trim of the gown, matching hair ornament and gloves. The skirt was voluminous and ended in a train at the back. A long veil covered her face during the Muslim ceremony. Her hairdo was so tall that she had difficulty getting in and out of the car.

Prince Abdullah wore his formal military dress uniform adorned with numerous medals and a ceremonial sword.

Queen Rania had five young girls as attendants. They wore dresses with puffed sleeves in a peachy gold color and carried small bouquets of white and yellow flowers tied with yellow bows. Each girl wore a white hairband with flowers fastened at each end. Several young boys, dressed in sailor suits, served as the pages.

The Muslim wedding ceremony is known as a nikah. On the wedding day, the bride and groom are seated in different rooms accompanied by close friends and family. A nikha namah (marriage contract) is presented containing the conditions of the marriage as well as the agreed mahr (mandatory gift promised to the bride by the groom). An imam (Muslim worship leader) or any male knowledgeable in Islam is qualified to perform this ceremony, which involves proposing the wedding match to both parties and announcing their acceptance. Abdullah and Rania’s marriage was performed by King Hussein.

After the marriage, the newlyweds toured the streets of Amman in an open convertible decorated with flowers and bows as they waved at cheering crowds.

For the evening reception, the couple changed into less formal attire. Rania wore a less modest, floor-length white sleeveless gown, also designed by Bruce Oldfield. It featured slender shoulder straps, a V-neck, and a slight plunge in the back. Abdullah wore a short white dinner jacket and dark pants.

The wedding cake, which the newlyweds cut with a sword, was multi-tiered with each tier in the shape of a rectangular room decorated with crowns and lace.

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Works Cited

• “Flashback: The Royal Wedding Of Queen Rania & King Abdullah II Of Jordan”. Manhattan Madness! The-Manhattan.Net’s Blog. N.p., 2017. Web. 15 May 2017.
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• Singh, Gary. “Muslim Wedding Ceremony | Islamic Wedding | Nikah | Guide For Groom”. Entouraaj. N.p., 2017. Web. 15 May 2017.
• “Wedding Wednesday: Rania’s Gown”. Orderofsplendor.blogspot.com. N.p., 2017. Web. 15 May 2017.
• “Zahran Palace”. En.wikipedia.org. N.p., 2017. Web. 15 May 2017.
• “رانيا العبد الله”. Ar.wikipedia.org. N.p., 2017. Web. 15 May 2017.