The Prince and Princess of Wales are in Jordan to attend the wedding of Crown Prince Al Hussein and Miss Rajwa Khalid this afternoon.
The royal couple were spotted in a five-star luxury hotel in the country’s capital on Wednesday night.
The Crown Prince, 28, is marrying the Saudi architect, 29, at Zahran Palace in Amman, which was also host to his father and grandfather’s weddings.
The Princess of Wales is believed to have become close to the groom’s mother, Queen Rania of Jordan.
US first lady Jill Biden and several members of royal families from around the world are expected to attend the nuptials, including the King and Queen of the Netherlands.
Jordan holds special memories for the Princess, as the Middleton family spent three years there during the early 80s, when she was just two years old, after her father was relocated there for work.
In 2021, the Walses’s took their three children to the ancient city of Petra in Jordan for a holiday, later releasing a photograph of the family there for their Christmas card.
The Jordanian royal family has shared a longtime close connection with the British royals, and King Abdullah and Queen Rania were among the 2,300 guests at the King’s Coronation in May, as well as for the late Queen’s funeral last year.
On Thursday morning, Saudi wedding guests and tourists — the men wearing white dishdasha robes and the women in brightly colored abayas — filtered through the sleek marbled lobby of the Four Seasons Hotel in Amman.
Excitement over the nuptials — Jordan’s biggest royal event in years — has been building in the capital of Amman, where congratulatory banners of Crown Prince Hussein and his bride adorn buses and hang from houses.
The country’s 11 million citizens have watched the young Crown Prince rise in prominence in recent years, as he increasingly joined his father, King Abdullah II, in public appearances.
The Crown Prince was formally named heir to the throne in 2009 at the age of 15. He graduated from Georgetown University with a degree in international history in 2016 before joining the British Royal Military Academy in Sandhurst the following year.
He holds the rank of captain in the Jordanian military and gained some global recognition speaking at the UN General Assembly.
His bride, meanwhile, has a degree in architecture from Syracuse University in New York and has previously lived and worked in Los Angeles.
There has been some speculation that the high-profile wedding could be aimed at distracting Jordanians from a bitter public rift between the King of Jordan and his half-brother, who was implicated in a failed coup attempt two years ago.
In May last year, King Abdullah II explained that he had placed his half brother, Prince Hamzah bin al-Hussein, under house arrest due to his “erratic behaviour and aspirations” in a public letter that was unprecedented in its candour.
The move came in the wake of a 2021 alleged coup attempt that Jordanian leaders claimed to have foiled by arresting 19 people, including Prince Hamzah and a number of political allies and officials.
The royal furore not only caused shock in Jordan but damaged the country’s regional relations, especially after a former Jordanian deputy prime minister claimed that Israel had orchestrated the plot.
It is hoped that Thursday’s lavish ceremony, which will be the first major royal wedding in Jordan in years, will be a joyful distraction for the royal family.
Details surrounding the courtship and how the couple met have not been disclosed, though the pair were officially engaged at a Muslim ceremony in Riyadh in August 2022.
Their marriage could also prove to be symbolic of a wider, deeper partnership between Jordan and Saud Arabia, as the latter state seeks greater influence in the region following the Biden Administration’s decision to reduce its involvement in Middle East affairs.
The bride’s father is a founder of one of Saudi Arabia’s largest engineering firms and her mother is a relative of Saudi King Salman.
Saudi Arabia has already led diplomatic efforts to return Syria, a key trading partner with Jordan, to the regional fold, with dictator Bashar al-Assad addressing the Arab League for the first time in a decade in May.
Saudi Arabia is also said to be exploring a potential normalisation treaty with Israel, which cooperates very closely with Jordan on security affairs, that could be signed as soon as this year.
Ahead of the wedding ceremony, Thursday has been declared a public holiday in Jordan so that crowds of people could gather after the service to wave at the couple’s motorcade of red Land Rover jeeps.
The tradition is a nod to the historical procession of horse riders clad in red coats during the reign of the country’s founder, King Abdullah I.
Tens of thousands of well-wishers are expected to flock to free concerts and cultural events throughout the day and big screens have also been set up nationwide for crowds to watch the occasion unfold.
After the ceremony, the wedding party will move to Al Husseiniya Palace for a reception, entertainment and a state banquet. The couple are expected to greet more than 1,700 guests at the reception.
https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMibmh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LnRlbGVncmFwaC5jby51ay9yb3lhbC1mYW1pbHkvMjAyMy8wNi8wMS9wcmluY2Utd2FsZXMtcHJpbmNlc3Mtam9yZGFuLWNyb3duLXByaW5jZS1odXNzZWluLXdlZGRpbmcv0gEA?oc=5
2023-06-01 08:39:00Z
2057400190
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