Everything about Hussein Of Jordan totally explained
Hussein bin Talal, King of Jordan (
Ḥusayn bin Ṭalāl) (
November 14,
1935 –
February 7,
1999) was the ruler of
Jordan from the abdication of his father,
King Talal, in
1952, until his death. Hussein guided his country in the context of the
Cold War, and through four decades of
Arab-Israeli conflict, balancing the pressures of
Arab nationalism and the allure of Western-style development against the stark reality of Jordan's geographic location.
Hussein's family claims a line of descent from the Islamic prophet
Muhammad. "We are the family of the prophet and we're the oldest tribe in the Arab world," the king once said of his Hashemite ancestry. King Talal's son, Crown Prince Hussein, was proclaimed King of the
Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan on
August 11,
1952, at the age of 16; because this was under the legal age, he was enthroned a year later, on May 2, 1953.
Black September
The king ordered the forcible expulsion of the
Palestine Liberation Organization, which had been attempting to foment a civil war, from the country.
The Gulf War
The country also defied the West and the other allied leaders by refusing to side against
Saddam Hussein in the
Gulf War — allegedly done for internal political reasons after the Ma'an uprising in 1988 that threatened the throne of the King — which alienated the kingdom from most of the
Arab world.
Peace with Israel
In
1994 King Hussein concluded negotiations to end the official state of war with
Israel resulting in the
Israel-Jordan Treaty of Peace which he'd begun negotiating in secret with the Israelis in the 1970s.
King Hussein developed strong ties of friendship with Israeli Prime Minister
Yitzhak Rabin, with whom he'd negotiated the peace treaty. King Hussein gave a powerful speech at the funeral of Yitzhak Rabin:
» :
My sister, Mrs. Leah Rabin, my friends, I'd never thought that the moment would come like this when I'd grieve the loss of a brother, a colleague and a friend - a man, a soldier who met us on the opposite side of a divide whom we respected as he respected us. A man I came to know because I realized, as he did, that we've to cross over the divide, establish a dialogue, get to know each other and strive to leave for those who follow us a legacy that's worthy of them. And so we did. And so we became brethren and friends.
Books
The king wrote three books:
Uneasy Lies the Head (
1962), about his childhood and early years as king;
My War With Israel (
1969); and
Mon Métier de Roi.
Death
He died of complications related to
non-Hodgkin's lymphoma on
February 7,
1999. The King had been suffering from the disease for many years and had been treated at the
Mayo Clinic in
Rochester, Minnesota,
United States on a fairly regular basis.
Just before his death, he made a constitutionally-allowable change to his will, disinheriting the heir-apparent of several decades, his brother
Hassan, in favor of his eldest son
Abdullah. Then, with a recurrent fever, he abruptly returned to the U.S. clinic January 25 for further treatment. He underwent a
bone marrow transplant earlier that week, but the transplant failed, and the king returned home to die. The King was, at the time of his death, one of the longest-serving leaders in international politics.
Personal life
King Hussein was married four times, although he was never married to more than one woman at the same time: his four wives were
- Sharifa Dina bint 'Abdu'l-Hamid, an Egyptian-born third cousin of King Hussein's father, King Talal, on April 18, 1955. A graduate of Cambridge University and a former lecturer in English literature at Cairo University, the bride was 26 to the groom's 19. They separated in 1956 and were divorced in 1957, at which time Queen Dina became known as Her Royal Highness Princess Dina Abdul-Hamid of Jordan. She became an Egyptian citizen in 1963, and in October 1970, Princess Dina of Jordan married Asad Sulayman Abd al-Qadir, alias Salah Taamari, a Palestinian guerrilla commando who became a high-ranking official in the Palestine Liberation Organization.
- Daughter: H.R.H.Princess Alia bint Al Hussein (born 1956). Married first to Sayyid Nasser Mirza, they've one child together a son Hussein. They divorced in 1987. She remarried in 1988 to Sayyid Mohammed Al-Saleh, they've two sons Talal and Abdul.
- Antoinette Avril Gardiner ('Toni Gardiner'), (born Chelmondiston, England, 1941, styled HRH Princess Muna al-Hussein from May 25, 1961). An award-winning field hockey player, former typist, and daughter of a British army officer turned innkeeper, Lieutenant-Colonel Walter Percy Gardiner, she was given the title Her Royal Highness Princess Muna al-Hussein and retained this title after they divorced in 1972.
It is known that Princess Muna al-Hussein converted to Islam. The Jordanian Constitution at Chapter VI Part I Article 28e specifically requires that every person with rights of succession to the Jordainan throne be born of a legitimate wife who is Muslim. The fact that the current King (Abdullah II) is the son of Princess Muna al-Hussein and that Prince Faisal and Prince Omar hold rights of succession is clear evidence of this.
King Hussein was an avid
amateur radio operator (callsign JY1). He also loved to fly airplanes (prop and jet) as well as helicopters.
According to actor and comedian
Mike Myers in an appearance on
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, King Hussein was a great fan of the
Austin Powers movie series, and would do impressions of
Dr. Evil at meetings with defense contractors and high-ranking officers of the U.S military.
King Hussein was succeeded as king by his eldest son
Abdullah II of Jordan.
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