by Scott Mehl © Unofficial Royalty 2014
photo credit: AP Photo/Yousef Allan, Jordanian Royal Palace
King Abdullah II of Jordan
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 Antoinette Gardiner (Princess Muna).
Abdullah has three younger siblings:
- Prince Feisal (born 1963), married (1) Alia Tabbaa, had four children, divorced (2) Sara Bassam Qabbani, no children, divorced (3) Zeina Lubbadeh, had two children
- Princess Aisha (born 1968), married (1) Zeid Saadedine Juma, had two children, divorced (2) Ashraf Banayoti, divorced
- Princess Zein (born 1968), married Majdi Farid Al-Saleh, had three children
Abdullah has a number of half-siblings from his father’s other three marriages.
From his father’s first marriage to Sharifa Dina bint ‘Abdu’l-Hamid (Queen Dina):
- Princess Alia (born 1956), married (1) Lieutenant-Colonel Nasser Wasfi Mirza, had one child, divorced (2) Sayyid Mohammed Al-Saleh, had two children
From his father’s third marriage to Alia Baha ad-Din Toukan (Queen Alia):
- Princess Haya (born 1974), married Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Emir of Dubai, Vice President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates, had two children, divorced
- Prince Ali (born 1975), married Rym Brahimi, a former CNN journalist, had two children
- Abir Muhaisen (born 1972, adopted in 1976), Abir had been orphaned when her mother was killed in a plane crash at a Palestinian refugee camp in Jordan.
From his father’s fourth marriage to Lisa Najeeb Halaby (Queen Noor):
- Hamzah bin Al Hussein, formerly Prince Hamzah of Jordan (born 1980), married (1) Princess Noor bint Asem bin Nayef, had one daughter, divorced (2) Basmah Bani Ahmad, had five children
- Prince Hashim (born 1981), married Fahdah Mohammed Abunayyan, had five children
- Princess Iman (born 1983), married Zaid Azmi Mirza, had one son, divorced
- Princess Raiyah (born 1986), married Ned Donovan
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, before attending St Edmund’s School, in Hindhead, Surrey, and the Deerfield Academy, in Massachusetts. 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.
photo: Order of Sartorial Splendor
In January 1993, Prince Abdullah met Rania al-Yassin at a dinner party hosted by mutual friends. Quickly smitten, he proposed just two months later and the couple was married on June 10, 1993. At the time, neither one likely suspected that they would one day become King and Queen of Jordan.
They have four children:
- Crown Prince Hussein (born 1994), married Rajwa Al Saif
- Princess Iman (born 1996), married Jameel Thermiotis, born Dimitrios Alejandro Thermiótis Hernández
- Princess Salma (born 2000)
- Prince Hashem (born 2005)
photo: Order of Sartorial Splendor
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. A formal accession ceremony took place in June of the same year. In accordance with King Hussein’s wishes, Abdullah named his younger half-brother, Prince Hamzah (eldest son of King Hussein and Queen Noor) as his heir and Crown Prince. However, in 2004 he stripped Hamzah of the title. Without naming a successor, the normal line of succession applied, making Abdullah’s eldest son, Prince Hussein, heir to the throne. Finally, in 2009, King Abdullah formally named Prince Hussein as Crown Prince of Jordan.
The King Abdullah II has continued his father’s legacy, working toward peace in the region and making “the welfare of the Jordanian people the cornerstones of his policies for national development, regional peace, and global existence.” (source: kingabdullah.jo)
In his free time, the King enjoys various sporting activities, sharing his father’s passion for motorcycles. He is also a huge science fiction fan, and in 1996, he appeared in a non-speaking role in an episode of Star Trek: Voyager. See Unofficial Royalty: Beam Me Up…Abdullah? In addition, he was the driving force and primary investor behind a large Star Trek theme park built as part of a huge resort complex – The Red Sea Astrarium – in Aqaba, Jordan.
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Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan Resources at Unofficial Royalty