Queen Rania of Jordan

In January 1993, she went to a dinner party thrown by the sister of Prince Abdullah of Jordan, where she and the prince fell in love almost instantly. They married on June 10, 1993, less than six months after their first encounter.

The couple is blessed with four children; two sons, Prince Hussein and Prince Hashem, and two daughters, Princess Iman and Princess Salma. Their eldest son, Crown Prince Hussein, is the heir apparent to the throne of the Kingdom of Jordan.

She was born as Rania Al Yassin, on August 31, 1970 in Kuwait, to Faisal Sedki Al Yassin, a physician from Tulkarm and his wife, Ilham Yassin. Her parents were of Palestinian descent and she was raised along with her two siblings, Dina and Magdi, in Tulkarm.

She received her early education from the New English School in Jabriya, Kuwait City. Later she got enrolled at the American University in Cairo and earned a graduate degree in Business Administration in 1991.

In 1991, during the first Gulf War, her family fled from Kuwait along with thousands of other Palestinian families. The family resettled in Jordan, where she joined them after completing her university studies.

In Jordan, she started her career in the fields of banking and information technology. She worked briefly in marketing for Citibank, followed by another marketing job with Apple Corporations in Amman.

In 1999, she was proclaimed the ‘Queen consort’ of Jordon after her husband became the King of Jordan. Since then she has used her position for the betterment of the people and served as a powerful advocate for various causes such as women rights, reforms in education and public health, and youth empowerment across the globe.

In 2003, she initiated the ‘Al-Aman Fund for the Future of Orphans’.

In 2007, she was named UNICEF's first Eminent Advocate for Children. The following year, she launched “Madrasati” (“My School”), a public-private initiative aimed at refurbishing 500 of Jordan’s public schools over a five-year period

For a greater understanding between cultures, she conducted campaigns in high profile forums such as the ‘Jeddah Economic Forum’, ‘The Kennedy School of Government’ at Harvard University, and ‘The Skoll Foundation’ in the UK.

In 1999, she was decorated as Member 1st Class of the ‘Order of al-Khalifa’ of Bahrain. The same year, she was also awarded the Dame Grand Cordon of the ‘Order of the Precious Crown’ of Japan.

In 2002, she was honored with the Dame Grand Cross Special Class of the ‘Order of Merit of the Federal Republic’ of Germany.

In 2009, she was awarded the ‘North-South Prize’ from the Council of Europe for her work in reaching out across cultures. She also received the ‘PeaceMaker Award’ for her work in cross-cultural peace dialogue.

In 2009, she was presented the Dame Grand Cross of the ‘Order of Merit of the Italian Republic’ and Dame Grand Cross of the ‘Order of Saint James of the Sword’.

She was also awarded the ‘FIFA Presidential Award’ for her commitment shown to the 1GOAL, an ‘Education for All’ initiative, in 2009.