King Abdullah II of Jordan

by Scott Mehl  © Unofficial Royalty 2014

photo credit: AP Photo/Yousef Allan, Jordanian Royal Palace

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):

From his father’s fourth marriage to Lisa Najeeb Halaby (Queen Noor):

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.

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:

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