Queen Rania of Jordan

Rania Yasin was born on August 31, 1970, in Kuwait to Palestinian parents. A doctor’s daughter, she grew up in a comfortable home on the West Bank alongside her two siblings. She received a thoroughly Western education, first at the New English School in Kuwait City and then at the American University in Cairo, where she graduated with a business degree. In 1991 she moved to Amman, where her parents had settled after fleeing Kuwait along with hundreds of thousands of other Palestinians following the 1991 Gulf War. After a brief stint with international company Citibank, Rania took on a marketing position with Apple Computers. Then, a chance outing with a new co-worker to a dinner party hosted by Prince Abdullah’s sister in January 1993 changed Rania’s life forever.

It was there that the future queen first laid eyes on her prince. When their eyes met across the room, it was love at first sight and they were married just five months later.Rania never expected to be queen, however. Although Abdullah II was the late King Hussein’s eldest son, his father changed the line of succession in favour of Abdullah’s uncle when the boy was just three years old. On his deathbed in 1999, however, King Hussein unexpectedly named his son his successor. Despite the unexpected change in her circumstances, the young queen has taken to her role and is now known as much for her progressive social and economic agenda as for her supermodel good looks. She has promoted the creation of child abuse counselling centres “There wasn’t even terminology for child abuse when I got involved,” she says and fought to end the controversial “honour killings”, murders committed by men punishing sisters or daughters who have “dishonoured” their family, often by violating social traditions.

The Queen Rania currently heads the Higher National Committee of the Declaration of Amman the Arab Cultural Capital 2002. She heads the Higher National Committee of the Jordan Song Festival, and also annually lends her patronage to the Jordanian Festival for the Arab Child Song. In tribute to His Majesty the Late King Hussein, and on the first anniversary of his passing away, Queen Rania produced ?The King?s Gift?–a children?s book about the Late King. Proceeds of the book go to the benefit of underprivileged children across Jordan.

She is also Honorary President of the Arab Academy for Banking and Financial Sciences (AABFS), a pioneering institute in the region offering technical and academic training in banking and financial services. And is also Honorary President of the Arab Women Labor Affairs Committee of the Arab Labor Organization. She is President of the Jordan Society for Organ Donation and the Jordan Cancer Society. On July 12, 2001, Queen Rania was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws (LLD) degree from the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom. She is fluent in Arabic and English, and has a working knowledge of French. . She also makes sure there is plenty of quality time with her four children: Prince Hussein, Princess Iman, Princess Salma and Prince Hashem. “I make it a point and find comfort in tucking them into bed at night, reading them their favourite bedtime stories and reciting verses from the Koran to them as they sleep,” says this true woman of the new millennium.