by Scott Mehl © Unofficial Royalty 2014
Queen Rania of Jordan; Credit – Wikipedia
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 Sales Management. She worked for a while at Citibank, before taking a job with Apple, Inc. in Jordan.
Rania and Abdullah on their wedding day; Photo: Order of Sartorial Splendor
In January 1993, Rania met Prince Abdullah of Jordan, the eldest son of King Hussein I of Jordan and his second wife Princess Muna, 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 likely suspected they would become King and Queen of Jordan.
They had four children:
- Crown Prince Hussein (born 1994), married Rajwa Al Saif, had one daughter
- Princess Iman (born 1996), married Jameel Thermiotis, born Dimitrios Alejandro Thermiótis Hernández
- Princess Salma (born 2000)
- Prince Hashem (born 2005)
Just days before King Hussein’s death in February 1999, Prince Abdullah was named his heir and Crown Prince. The following month, King Abdullah II issued a proclamation elevating Rania to the title of Queen. Since then, Queen Rania has used her position to bring attention to important issues domestically and around the world. She is very involved with the promotion of education and community empowerment, through various initiatives that she has started such as the Queen Rania Academy for teachers, several scholarship funds, and a program called ‘My School’, aimed at refurbishing 500 public schools over several years. This program continues to be very dear to Queen Rania’s heart.
Internationally, Queen Rania has been very involved with UNICEF, The Global Campaign for Education, and is one of the founders of 1GOAL. Through the World Economic Forum, she has also launched the Jordan Education Initiative.
Queen Rania has also written several children’s books, with the proceeds all going to charity. These include The Sandwich Swap, which was a New York Times bestseller.
Queen Rania with her family; Photo Credit – Royal Hashemite Court Archives
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Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan Resources at Unofficial Royalty