Queen Rania of Jordan

Infobox Jordanian Royalty|queen|consort
name =Rania Al-Abdullah
Arabic name =رانيا العبدالله
title =Queen consort of Jordan

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imgw =250
caption =Queen Rania - World Economic Forum Annual Meeting Davos 2008
reign =7 February 1999–present
spouse =Abdullah II
issue =Prince Hussein
Princess Iman
Princess Salma
Prince Hashem
royal house =Hashemite
titles ="HM" The Queen
"HRH" The Crown Princess
"HRH" Princess Rania of Jordan
"Miss" Rania Al-Yassin
father =Faisal Sedki Al-Yassin
mother =Ilham Yassin
date of birth =birth date and age|1970|8|31
place of birth =Kuwait City, Kuwait
date of death =
place of death =|

Rania, Queen of Jordan ( _ar. رانيا العبدالله) (born Rania Al-Yassin on 31 August 1970), is the spouse of King Abdullah II of Jordan.

Biography

Early life

Rania Al-Yassin was born in Kuwait to Palestinian parents from Tulkarm. She attended primary and secondary school at New English School in Kuwait, then earned a degree in Business Administration from the American University in Cairo. After her graduation in 1991, Queen Rania worked at Citibank and Apple Computer in Cairo, Egypt. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/1632614.stm "Profile: Jordan's Queen Rania"] , BBC November 7, 2001.]

Marriage and children

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 June 10, 1993, they were married. They have four children:
* Prince Hussein (born June 28, 1994)
* Princess Iman (born September 27, 1996)
* Princess Salma (born September 26, 2000)
* Prince Hashem (born January 30, 2005)

Queen of Jordan

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. [ [http://www.jordanembassyus.org/032299002.htm King proclaims Rania Queen] ] Without proclamation, she would have been a mere princess consort, just like her mother-in-law, Princess Muna al-Hussein.

Queen Rania has been an outspoken advocate of women's rights. She was awarded the honorary rank of colonel in the Jordanian Armed Forces by her husband, King Abdullah, on June 9, 2004.

She was named the third most beautiful woman in the world in the 2005 top 100 of Harpers & Queen magazine. In addition, she was the youngest queen in the world at the time King Abdullah succeeded to the throne. She has made many public appearances, including a half-hour television interview on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" on May 17, 2006, where she spoke about misconceptions about Islam and women's role in Islam. [ [http://www.oprah.com/tows/pastshows/200605/tows_past_20060517.jhtml Meet the World's Youngest Queen] ] In May 2000, she was named an honorary member of Deerfield Academy's class of 2000 (her husband's alma mater).

Queen Rania was ranked 81st on the Forbes 100 most powerful women of the world list. [ [http://www.forbes.com/lists/2005/11/VZPS.html The 100 Most Powerful Women:#81 Queen Rania] Forbes Magazine]

Philanthropy

Queen Rania is renowned for her philanthropic work. She has pushed for education reform, fighting for better school facilities and mandatory English language training. She is also an enthusiastic supporter of the micro-fund movement which provides financial assistance to would-be entrepreneurs. [ [http://www.hellomagazine.com/profiles/queenrania/ An in-depth look at your favourite celebrity personalities - hellomagazine.com, HELLO! ] ] In 2003, she was elected to the Board of Directors of the International Criminal Court's Trust Fund for Victims. [ [http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGIOR300072003?open&of=ENG-391 Amnesty International welcomes the election of a Board of Directors] Retrieved on 1 August 2007.]

She has travelled to a great number of countries in representation of Jordan and to contribute to worldwide causes. Some of these are the United States, India, Kuwait, France, South Africa, Greece, The Netherlands, Great Britain, Morocco, Italy, The Vatican.

Queen Rania is involved with organizations including:
* Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization
* Jordan River Foundation
* Arab Women's Summit
** National Team for Family Safety
* National Team for Early Development
* Dar Al Aman Child Safety Center (center for abused and neglected children, the first of its kind in the Middle East)
* World Economic Forum (Foundation Board member) In 2004, Queen Rania chaired the nomination committee for the newly-founded Forum of Young Global Leaders, associated with the World Economic Forum.
* United Nations Foundation
* UN Children's Fund (named the first Eminent Advocate for Children)
* International Youth Foundation
* FINCA International (Foundation for International Community Assistance; board member since 2003)
* International Osteoporosis Foundation
* Queen Rania Center for Entrepreneurship
* Clinton Foundation as part of the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI)

YouTube

On March 30 2008, she posted a video on YouTube in which she asked people to send her their questions about Islam and the Arab world until August 12 2008 (International Youth Day). She intends to respond to those questions and explain the truth about various stereotypes about Arabs and Muslims. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7524933.stm "Queen Rania takes on stereotypes"] , BBC, July 25, 2008]

According to the Associated Press, over the five month conversation, her YouTube site had more than 2 million visitors. She posted daily videos on subjects that including honor killings, terrorism and the rights of Arab women. [ [http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-jordan-queen-rania-youtube,0,4539787.story "Jordan's Queen Rania says YouTube project challenging Arab stereotypes has sparked change"] , Associated Press, August 11, 2008]

International personalities like Dean Obeidallah, [ [http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/postglobal/vivian_salama/2008/07/queen_comedians_use_youtube_to.html "Queen, Comedians Use YouTube To Fight Stereotypes"] , Washington Post, July 31, 2008] Maz Jobrani and Mia Rose all contributed to creating videos for the campaign.

Queen Rania also was one of many leaders, entertainers, and activists to appear on a video on YouTube as part of YouTube's [http://www.inmyname.com In My Name] campaign. [ [http://www.timesunion.com/ASPStories/story.asp?StoryID=723899 "Celebs launch YouTube poverty campaign at UN"] , The Associated Press, September 26, 2008] The video, " [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRyMxSS-KI0 End Poverty - Be the Generation] ," urges world leaders to keep the promises they made in 2000 at the United Nations Millennium Summit with the Millennium Development Goals, a set of time-bound and measurable goals for combating poverty, hunger, disease, illiteracy, environmental degradation and discrimination against women.

References

External links

* [http://www.queenrania.jo Official site]
* [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1619564,00.html Ten Questions for Queen Rania on Time.com]
* [http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2007/10/26/blitzer.intv.queen.rania.cnn?iref=videosearch Wolf Blitzer interviews Jordan's Queen Rania, CNN, October 26, 2007]
* [http://youtube.com/QueenRania Queen Rania on YouTube]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRyMxSS-KI0 Queen Rania on YouTube's "End Poverty - Be the Generation" video]

s-ttl|title=Queen consort of Jordan
years=22 March 1999 - present
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