Queen Rania Al-Abdullah of Jordan does not allow an assistant to
answer her door. She opens it herself and, looking stunning in a stylish
leather skirt and stilettos, greets her guests with a friendly smile.
Amazed by her casual manner, I follow her into the sitting room of her
hotel suite in New York City. She is here to attend, among several other
noteworthy functions, the World Economic Forum, and we chat until she
delivers a second shock.
"Has anyone ever told you that you look like Gwyneth Paltrow?" I'm taken aback. But this reaction is exactly wrong. That's not
because I look anything like the actress. Hardly. Instead, it's because I
suddenly realize that the Queen of Jordan might know more about U.S.
culture and that of most countries than do I and many other
Americans.
Rania's Reign
The world's youngest—and arguably most beautiful—queen, Queen Rania is garnering increasing international
acclaim for her modern approach to presiding over a traditional Arab
nation. Most apparent upon first glance, she does not wear the veil that
many might expect to see covering the face of a Muslim woman; she is
quick to point out that this does not diminish the strength of her faith
in Islam.
"Many women in Jordan dress the way I do," she explains. "We, as a
country, give women the right to choose whether they want to wear the
veil or not. From the Western perspective, I think a lot of people
believe the veil symbolizes backwardness. In reality, that's not the
case." This contemporary mind-set, which extends far beyond the absence
of her veil, may stem from her more common upbringing.
Formerly Rania Al-Yasin, she was born in Kuwait to a Jordanian
family of Palestinian origin who certainly did not anticipate her royal
future. In fact, she had already earned her bachelor's degree in business
administration at the American University in Cairo and, was fluent in Arabic
and English, and had begun a career at Citibank when she was introduced to
Abdullah Bin Al-Hussein, the son of Jordan's King Hussein, at a party.
Less than six months later, in June of 1993, the two married. But because
Prince Abdullah was not crown prince, neither he nor his new wife
anticipated inheriting the throne.
"I was lucky, because when I came into the family, I had the
opportunity to get used to a new way of life," Queen Rania now says. "My
husband was just a prince, and I was just a princess, so I could control,
to some extent, the separation of my public duties from my private life."
A year after their wedding the couple had a son, whom they named Hussein,
after his grandfather, and two years later Princess Iman was born. Then,
in 1999, Jordan suffered a tragedy that significantly changed the young
family's way of life.
King Hussein, adored by Jordanians for his commitment to
establishing peace in the Middle East, was dying of cancer. For 33 years,
his younger brother Prince Hassan bin Tallal had been the crown prince.
But just days before his death, King Hussein changed the dynastic
succession by naming Abdullah, then only 37, his heir. After his death,
Abdullah and Rania, now king and queen, were left to grapple with their
grief and the unexpected and daunting task of ruling a country.
For her part, and despite a lack of "job training," the new queen
continued tackling the national concerns she had focused on during her
first six years of marriage. In 1998, for instance, she had launched the
Child Abuse Prevention Project. Prior to this, child abuse was
underreported in Jordan and discussing it was taboo. This endeavor led
her to open Dar Al Aman, or Home of Safety, in 2000. The first
abused-children's home in the Arab world, Dar Al Aman offers specialized
psychological and physical rehabilitation.
The Children
In 2002, the queen's love for children caught the attention of
Jacques-François Martin, president of The Vaccine Fund, who asked
her to join the organization's international board of directors. Founded
in 2000 with the help of a $750 million donation from the Bill and
Melinda Gates Foundation, the Fund works to stop the three million deaths
from vaccine-preventable diseases that occur each year among poor
infants.
Naturally, the queen accepted Martin's offer, and the night after
first meeting her; I attend a Vaccine Fund benefit dinner at New York's
Four Seasons Hotel. The queen, Martin, Bill Gates and several other
well-to-dos preside over the glittery event. As I have come to expect,
the queen looks savvy and sophisticated, and her spike heels prompt one
guest to lean in for comment. "How does she wear those?" she whispers,
shaking her head in awe.
Martin speaks admiringly of Queen Rania as he delivers a few words
of thanks to the dinner crowd and again later, when asked to describe her
work with children. "I believe that her commitment to children is a very
real and tangible part of her daily life," he says. "On the occasions I
have been with her, she has always mentioned how, as a mother, she finds
it heartbreaking that so many children die each year of
vaccine-preventable diseases. It is obviously something she believes in
deeply."
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, there in brief attendance, stops to
embrace Queen Rania before departing. The two first ladies, who appear
genuinely pleased to see each other, have worked together with the U.S.
Agency for International Development (USAID) on securing loans for small
businesses.
