Queen Rania (Jordan)

[Marnie]

She's my absolute favourite royal...I just love her. I think she's by far the most elegant of all the royal women and I'm impressed by the amount of work she's done to advance the status of women in Jordan. She also looks really good for someone who's had 4 kids!

Does anyone think she was the one who convinced Abdullah to remove his brother from the position of Crown Prince? I'm certain that she helped push for it. My theory is that they found out the latest baby was going to be a boy and then figured that the had an heir and a spare, so decided to dump the King's brother. I think it's almost certain that, at some point, Abdullah will announce his son is the new crown prince.

[Rachel]

I like her a lot, too. Such a nice dresser!

I wouldn't be surprised if she helped nudge Abdullah toward dropping Hamzah - although, I'm guessing a lot of credit can go to Muna. Abdullah is Muna's son, while Hamzah is Noor's...I'm guessing taht Muna didn't want to see the crown end up w/ that branch of the family.

Seriously, though - this should come as no surprise. I mean, Abdullah wasn't the Crown Prince himself, really. Abdullah II had designated Hassan the heir to Hussein (Hassan was Hussein's brother). It was only on his deathbed that that Hussein made Abdullah the heir. There's a history of "switching" in that family. I guess that's what happens when you can make changes like that.

Anyway...is it really that surprising that Abdullah would favour his own son over his half-brother? I'm guessing it's somewhat of a human instinct.

[Minna]

I'm guessing that Rania had something to do w/ Hamzeh's removal - I mean, it's no surprise that she would prefer her own son over Abdullah's half-brother, but I'm guessing that there probably isn't a lot of love loss b/w Hamzeh and Abdullah. I thought that Hussein had really wanted Hamzeh to inherit the throne, but then decided that Hamzeh was too young, so handed it over to Abdullah and stipulated that Hamzeh got it next.

I also agree w/ Rachel - this whole thing has Muna's fingerprints all over it. I doubt she'd want any of Noor's kids to inherit the throne and frankly I doubt Abdullah has much loyalty to them, either.

Re: Rania - I really like her, too. When you consider she wasn't thinking she was going to be Queen when she married Abdullah, I think she's handled herself quite well. She also seems very smart and hard working.

[violante]

The very poor Jordanian population has at least a queen who understands the importance of extreme luxuary. Isn´t her lifestyle a bit challenging in such a country? Or are most of them illiterates who don´t understand anything?

[Jodi]

Couldn't you say the same about the lifestyles of the royal in pretty much any country? These people *all* live high on the hog and, relative to some of the other royal families, the jordanians aren't that bad.

I like Rania...she's done much to advance women's rights in Jordan...especially calling attention to the problem of honour killings. She also seems quite well respected by some of the world leaders - the US seems especailly fond of her; more so than they were of Noor which is interesting b/c Noor's American.

Anyway ... I have an awful lot of respect from Rania - especially in terms of her willingness to take positions that aren't popular amongst some of the men in that country.

[Kara]

I like Rania, but she is a serious clothes horse. She's the queen of a very poor country. She really doesn't need a thousand different Chanel suits. And she does seem to spend money rather recklessly- when she went to Denmark for Fred and Mary's wedding, she ordered $600,000 worth of Royal Copenhagen flatware and dishes. When 30% of your country is far below the poverty line, that just kind of seems out of place to me.
I agree, though, she does some fabulous humanitarian work, especially for women. So hats off to her.

[violante]

Yes, Rania has many assets and she is beautiful and intelligent. But the jordanian people is extremely poor, can´t be compared to the western monarchies in that respect. Rania is a clothes horse who surpasses many queens . Heared that one of her nicknames is "Queen Handbag" because of her innumerable extremely expensive designer handbags. And is it really necessary to order custom-made shoes with precious stones from Italy? Yes it´s good for the jeweller of course, but not for her people. But the big mass is probably to illiterate to read about these things.

[Angie]

This might be stunning to you, but the Jordanians aren't a huge mass or ignorant, illiterate people and it's unfortunate that you would make such insensitive, uninformed comments about them.

As for the Hashemites, considering they're the ruling family and are extremely wealthy, they don't live as lavish a lifestyle as one might expect. Further, Rania is fairly popular amongst them - interestingly, the main complaints about her come from the hardcore conservative muslims who think she is too progressive.

[violante]

Is there anyone who could post some new pictures of her? I really like her style and it´s good that she doesn´t wrap herself up in veils! Wish other muslim women could do the same. It must feel very uncomfortable!

[megan]

Also, has been an effective advocate on behalf of Palestine (she's Palestinian). She's a hot lil' princess.