Queen Rania, First Lady of Jordan

Queen Rania, First Lady of Jordan

Rania Al Abdullah (Arabic: الملكة رانيا العبد الله‎ Rānyā al-‘abdu l-Lāh; born Rania al Yassin on 31 August 1970) is the current Queen consort of Jordan as the wife of King Abdullah II of Jordan.

As a global figure, and considered by some to be one of the world’s most powerful women, Queen Rania has focused her energy, at home and abroad, on a variety of causes, notably education.

In Jordan, her work focuses on the calibre and quality of education for Jordanian children, while abroad she advocates for global education and for world leaders to fulfill their commitments towards the second Millennium Development Goals, Universal Primary Education.

Rania Al-Yassin was born in Kuwait to Palestinian refugee parents from Tulkarm. She attended school at New English School in Hawalli Kuwait, then earned a degree in Business Administration from the American University in Cairo. Upon her graduation from university, Queen Rania returned to Jordan and pursued a career in banking, working at Citibank, followed by a brief career in the field of Information Technology, at Apple Computer in Amman.

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 10 June 1993, they were married. They have four children:

Crown Prince Hussein (born 28 June 1994)
Princess Iman (born 27 September 1996)
Princess Salma (born 26 September 2000)
Prince Hashem (born 30 January 2005)

Although her husband ascended on 7 February 1999, Rania did not become Queen immediately. She was proclaimed Queen of Jordan by her husband on 22 March 1999. Without proclamation, she would have been a princess consort, just like her mother-in-law, Princess Muna al-Hussein.