IT WAS never on the cards for her to be queen. Yes, she was a princess, and yes, her husband’s father was the king – but the line of succession wasn’t meant to come her family’s way.
Then it did.
King Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein of the Hashemite dynasty wasn’t even a crown prince when he met his future wife – his uncle, Hassan, was meant to ascend the throne.
But when Abdullah’s father, King Hussein, fell ill with cancer, he had a change of heart and switched the order of succession from his brother to his son.
Two weeks later Hussein died – and Abdullah was crowned Jordan’s new king on 7 February 1999. Rania, then 28, became the world’s youngest queen.
HUMBLE BEGINNINGS
She was born Rania Al Yassin on 31 August 1970 in Kuwait. Her Palestinian father, Faisal Sedki al-Yassin, was a paediatric doctor and her mother, Ilham Yasmin, was