Queen Rania of Jordan

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 This article needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (August 2007)
Rania Al-Abdullah
Queen of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
Image:Queenraniacopy8452.jpg
Queen Rania, May of 2006
Titles HM The Queen of Jordan (1999-)
HRH The Crown Princess of Jordan (1999-1999)
HRH Princess Rania al-Abdullah (1993-1999)
Miss Rania Al-Yassin (1970-1993)
Born August 31, 1970 (1970-08-31) (age 37)
Birthplace Kuwait City, Kuwait
Consort February 7, 1999 - present
Consort to Abdullah II of Jordan
Issue Prince Hussein
Princess Iman
Princess Salma
Prince Hashem
Royal House Hashemite
Father Faisal Sedki Al-Yassin
Mother Ilham Yassin

Her Majesty Queen Rania of Jordan (Arabic: رانيا العبدالله) (born Rania Al-Yassin on August 31, 1970), is the queen consort of King Abdullah II of Jordan.

Contents

[edit] Early life

Rania Al-Yassin was born in Kuwait to Palestinian parents from Tulkarm. She attended primary and secondary school at New English School in Kuwait, then earned a degree in Business Administration from the American University in Cairo. After her graduation in 1991, Queen Rania worked at Citibank and Apple Computer. In 1995, She earned a DEA's degree in Management from the HEC School of Management in Paris.

[edit] Marriage and children

She met Jordanian King Abdullah bin Al-Hussein, then Prince, at a dinner party in January 1993. Two months later, they announced their engagement and on June 10, 1993, they were married. They have four children:

[edit] Queen of Jordan

Queen Rania at the 2008 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland
Queen Rania at the 2008 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland

Queen Rania has been an outspoken advocate of women's rights. She was awarded the honorary rank of colonel in the Jordanian Armed Forces by her husband, King Abdullah, on June 9, 2004.

Royal Family of Jordan

*already part of the family but moved to reflect her now married position

She was named the third most beautiful woman in the world in the 2005 top 100 of Harpers & Queen magazine. In addition, she was the youngest queen in the world at the time King Abdullah succeeded to the throne. She makes many public appearances, including a half-hour television interview on The Oprah Winfrey Show on May 17, 2006, where she spoke about misconceptions about Islam and women's role in Islam.[1] In May of 2000, she was named an honorary member of Deerfield Academy's class of 2000 (her husband's alma mater).

Queen Rania is also among the 100 most powerful women of the world (Number 81 on Forbes 100 most powerful women of the world list)[2]

[edit] Philanthropy

Queen Rania is renowned for her philanthropic work. She has pushed for education reform, fighting for better school facilities and mandatory English language training. She is also an enthusiastic supporter of the micro-fund movement which provides financial assistance to would-be entrepreneurs.[3] In 2003, she was elected to the Board of Directors of the International Criminal Court's Trust Fund for Victims.[4]

She has travelled to a great number of countries in representation of Jordan and to contribute to worldwide causes. Some of these are the United States, India, Kuwait, France, South Africa, Greece, The Netherlands, Great Britain, Morocco, Italy, The Vatican.

Queen Rania is involved with organizations including:

  • Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization
  • Jordan River Foundation
  • Arab Women's Summit
  • Arab Academy for Banking and Financial Sciences (AABFS) a pioneering institute in the ME region offering technical and academic training in banking and financial services
  • Jordan Cancer Society
  • National Team for Family Safety
  • National Team for Early Development
  • Dar Al Aman Child Safety Center (center for abused and neglected children, the first of its kind in the Middle East)
  • World Economic Forum (Foundation Board member) In 2004, Queen Rania chaired the nomination committee for the newly-founded Forum of Young Global Leaders, associated with the World Economic Forum.
  • United Nations Foundation
  • UN Children's Fund (particularly the Global Leadership Initiative)
  • The Vaccine Fund (board member since 2002)
  • International Youth Foundation
  • FINCA International (Foundation for International Community Assistance; board member since 2003)
  • International Osteoporosis Foundation
  • Queen Rania Center for Entrepreneurship

[edit] YouTube

On March 30, 2008, she posted a video on YouTube in which she asked people to send her their questions about Islam and the Arab world until August 12, 2008 (International Youth Day). She intends to respond to those questions and explain the truth about various stereotypes about Arabs and Muslims.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Meet the World's Youngest Queen
  2. ^ The 100 Most Powerful Women:#81 Queen Rania Forbes Magazine
  3. ^ http://www.hellomagazine.com/profiles/queenrania/
  4. ^ Amnesty International welcomes the election of a Board of Directors Retrieved on 1 August 2007.

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
Royal titles
Preceded by
Noor al-Hussein		 Queen consort of Jordan
7 February 1999 – present		 Incumbent