Jordan’s Crown Prince weds Saudi architect with ties to royal family

By Agence France-Presse: Jordan’s Crown Prince Hussein bin Abdullah married Saudi architect Rajwa Al Saif on Thursday in a wedding attended by royals from all through the globe.

The ceremony took place inside the mid-century Zahran Palace inside the capital Amman — the scene of various key Hashemite kingdom weddings along with that of King Abdullah II to Queen Rania and likewise that of the monarch’s father, the late King Hussein bin Talal.

The king’s eldest son and Al Saif, every aged 28, tied the knot at a ceremony attended by their households and 140 mates, along with US First Lady Jill Biden and Britain’s Prince and Princess of Wales, who made a shock look.

Thousands celebrated inside the streets of Jordan right now as Crown Prince Hussein married Saudi architect Rajwa Alseif.

AP’s Isabel Debre explains what it was choose to witness the nation’s first principal royal wedding ceremony in years.https://t.co/eus8e1UFwa pic.twitter.com/uowHK1Ic6Z
— The Associated Press (@AP) June 1, 2023

King Abdullah II, aged 61 and on the throne since 1999, has prolonged groomed his eldest son to succeed him, bringing him on important visits and to conferences, former knowledge minister Samih Maaytah beforehand suggested AFP.

Prince Hussein grew to turn into heir to the throne in 2009 after his father eradicated the title from his half brother Hamzah in 2004.

Hamzah would later be positioned beneath house arrest after being accused of making an attempt to stage a royal coup in 2021 that despatched shock waves by the use of the royal establishment.

That yr Bassem Awadallah, an adviser to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was convicted of conspiring to topple King Abdullah II.

In April 2022, Hamzah renounced his royal title, saying that his private values not aligned with these of “our institutions”.

The newly titled Princess Rajwa was born in Riyadh. She descends from the Al Sudayri family of Najd in what grew to turn into modern-day Saudi Arabia, recognized to be rigorously linked to the Saudi royal family.

Wedding motorcade

Other notable mates on Thursday included the Netherlands’ King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima, along with Belgium’s King Philippe and Crown Princess Elisabeth and Danish Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary.

The extraordinarily anticipated nuptials had been met by celebrations all through Jordan, with 1000’s gathering to witness the procession in Amman in streets embellished for the occasion with footage of the couple and banners.

A royal purple motorcade, reserved for explicit occasions, crossed the capital from Zahran Palace inside the centre to Husseiniya Palace inside the west.
Jordan’s Crown Prince Hussein and his partner Saudi Rajwa al-Seif depart in a convoy following their royal wedding ceremony ceremony in Amman (AFP {photograph})

“We are certainly very happy with the crown prince’s wedding. This is the joy of all of Jordan,” acknowledged Sawsan Rifaia, 26, clad in a white shirt with a picture of the newly weds and a purple Jordanian keffiyeh wrapped over her white scarf.

Jordan enjoys relative stability compared with its Middle East neighbours, nonetheless has seen protests in latest instances as a result of it struggles with monetary woes.

The World Bank says Jordan is carefully in debt and faces spherical 23 % unemployment.

The nation relies upon extensively on abroad help.

The Jordanian king has wide-ranging political powers in a nation of 11 million people, a parliamentary monarchy, and he is moreover supreme chief of the armed forces.

Hussein adopted in his father’s footsteps by attending Britain’s Royal Military Academy Sandhurst after which studied historic previous at Washington’s Georgetown University.

His bride was born and raised in conservative Saudi Arabia nonetheless will also be Western-educated, having studied construction at Syracuse University in New York.