• Oprah Winfrey's Resignation Felt Around World

  NewsMax.com - Found 7 hours ago 'She is an inspiring woman.' Each cited the episode in 2006 when Oprah interviewed Queen Rania of Jordan, a show both women praised for... Oprah's Mom Settles Clothes Call Lawsuit - EOnline.com LKL: Why did Oprah leave - CNN Who is Oprah?s heir apparent in daytime? - MSNBC Bye, Oprah - don't forget Chicago - Chicago Daily Herald Explore All

  EURweb

• Queen Rania backs climate campaign

  Monsters and Critics - Found 19 hours ago Royal Watch News Jordan's Queen Rania and Princess Haya have signed up for a campaign to tackle climate change.

• LeWeb goes back to its roots: tech, startups and Europe

  TechCrunch UK - Found 22 hours ago Here are some highlights they?ve just published: -Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan will speak at noon...

• Queen Youtube: She is just like you and me

  The Angry Arab News Service/????? ????? ?????? ?????? - Found Nov. 22, 2009 "Her Majesty Queen Rania tours Al Bokharyeh and Al Balabseh souks - two of the oldest markets in downtown Amman - on Sunday.

• Arab students share concerns with Queen Rania

  Jordan Times - Found Nov. 21, 2009 ... in coordination with the League of Arab States, was held at the Queen Rania Family and Child Centre (QRFCC). Queen Rania, a staunch defender...

• King PlayStation Brags

  The Angry Arab News Service/????? ????? ?????? ?????? - Found Nov. 19, 2009 "Their Majesties King Abdullah II and Queen Rania Al Abdullah on Monday met a delegation form the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC)

• Queen Rania at the launch of the Ma'an campaign: "violence and ...

  Jordan News Agency - Found Nov. 18, 2009 18(Petra)-- The Ma?an campaign was launched today under the Patronage of Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah by the Ministry of Education in

• Queen Rania chairs the National Alliance Group meeting Petra

  Jordan News Agency - Found Nov. 16, 2009 Petra - Queen Rania chairs the National Alliance Group meeting Tuesday , 17/11/2009 Stamp new Hours (Hours 12) else (Hours 12) (Hours 0) Mins (Mins

• Queen Rania chairs the National Alliance Group meeting

  Jordan News Agency - Found Nov. 16, 2009 The newly formed National Alliance Group presided over by Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah, however, is determined to reverse these...

• No Comparison, whatsoever!

  Hyscience - Found Nov. 11, 2009 But apparently, there are clueles liberal-progressives like Steve Bell of The Guardian , Jordan's Queen Rania at the Huffington Post , and...

Rania Al-Abdullah
Queen Rania in the Yellow Oval Room in the White House Residence.
Queen consort of Jordan
Tenure	7 February 1999 – present
Proclamation	22 March 1999
Spouse	Abdullah II of Jordan
Issue
Hussein, Crown Prince of Jordan Princess Iman Princess Salma Prince Hashem
House	Hashemite
Father	Faisal Sedki Al-Yassin
Mother	Ilham Yassin
Born	31 August 1970 (1970-08-31) (age 39) Kuwait City, Kuwait
Religion	Sunni Muslim

Queen Rania speaking to Columbia University president Lee Bollinger at the 2008 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland

Rania Al-Abdullah (Arabic: رانيا العبدالله‎) (born Rania al Yassin on 31 August 1970), is the wife of King Abdullah II of Jordan and the Queen consort 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 Amman, Jordan.¹

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

• Prince Hussein (born 28 June 1994)
• Princess Iman (born 27 September 1996)
• Princess Salma (born 26 September 2000)
• Prince Hashem (born 30 January 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 1999.² Without proclamation, she would have been a princess consort, just like her mother-in-law, Princess Muna al-Hussein.

Queen Rania has pushed for more rights for women and children in the region and in the world as a whole. She set up the Madrasati initiative aimed at renovating Jordan's most dilapidated public schools and installing new computers.

Queen Rania has launched a "war on child abuse" after a story emerged of the brutal death of a child in Amman, Jordan. She is also an outspoken critic of honor killings.

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 9 June 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 17 May 2006, where she spoke about misconceptions about Islam and women's role in Islam.³ 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 in the Forbes 2005 100 most powerful women of the world list.⁴ In 2009, she was ranked 75th.⁵

In 2008, she was awarded the North-South Prize of the Council of Europe.

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.⁶ In 2003, she was elected to the Board of Directors of the International Criminal Court's Trust Fund for Victims.⁷

Michelle Obama & Queen Rania of Jordan in the Yellow Oval Room, White House 23 April 2009

March 6th, 2007, visiting Washington, D.C. with Queen Rania

Gordon Brown, Queen Rania - World Economic Forum 2008

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 of America, India, Kuwait, France, South Africa, Greece, The Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Spain, Morocco, Italy, and 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 30 March 2008, Queen Rania launched her own channel on YouTube with a video in which she asked people to send her their questions about Islam and the Arab world until 12 August 2008 (International Youth Day).⁸ She provided responses to those questions and explained the truth about various Arab and Muslim stereotypes. Over five months she posted daily videos on subjects that included honor killings, terrorism and the rights of Arab women.⁹ International personalities such as Dean Obeidallah,¹⁰ Maz Jobrani,¹¹ and Mia Rose also contributed videos to the campaign.¹² As of November 2008, Queen Rania's YouTube channel had been viewed by three million people.¹³

Queen Rania was honored with the inaugural YouTube Visionary Award at YouTube Live on 22 November 2008 in recognition for her use of the video-sharing website as a platform for positive social change.¹³ She accepted the award via a taped message in which she spoofed the Top Ten List segment from the American television show Late Show with David Letterman.¹⁴

In 2008, Queen Rania also participated in YouTube's In My Name campaign. She appeared alongside Black Eyed Peas member will.i.am in the video, "End Poverty - Be the Generation," which urged world leaders to keep the promises they made in 2000 at the United Nations Millennium Summit.¹⁵

Twitter

In 2009, she confirmed her reputation as one of the most modern of royals when she used the microblogging website Twitter to announce the Pope's arrival on Friday, 8 May 2009.¹⁶ Queen Rania currently has over one million followers on Twitter.⁵

References

Jordanian Royal Family

HM The King HM The Queen HRH The Crown Prince HRH Princess Iman HRH Princess Salma HRH Prince Hashem HM Queen Noor Extended royal family HRH Prince Hamzah HRH Princess Noor* HRH Princess Haya HRH Prince Hashim HRH Princess Fahdah HRH Princess Haalah HRH Princess Rayet Al Noor HRH Princess Iman HRH Princess Raiyah HRH Princess Haya HRH Prince Ali HRH Princess Rym HRH Princess Jalilah HRH Prince Abdullah Miss Abir Muhaisen HRH Princess Dina HRH Princess Alia HRH Princess Muna HRH Prince Faisal HRH Princess Alia HRH Princess Ayah HRH Prince Omar HRH Princess Sara HRH Princess Aisha HRH Princess Aisha HRH Princess Zein HRH Prince Muhammad HRH Princess Taghrid HRH Prince Talal HRH Princess Ghida HRH Prince Hussein HRH Prince Muhammad HRH Princess Rajaa HRH Prince Ghazi HRH Princess Areej HRH Princess Tasneem HRH Prince Abdullah HRH Princess Jennah HRH Prince El Hassan HRH Princess Sarvath HRH Princess Rahma HRH Princess Sumaya HRH Princess Badiya HRH Prince Rashid HRH Princess Basma HRH Prince Ali HRH Princess Reema HRH Prince Muhammad HRH Princess Sima HRH Prince Hamzah HRH Princess Rania HRH Princess Karma HRH Princess Na'afa HRH Princess Rajwa HRH Princess Basma Fatima HRH Prince Asem HRH Princess Sana HRH Princess Yasmine HRH Princess Sarah HRH Princess Salha HRH Princess Nejla HRH Prince Nayef *already part of the family but moved to reflect her now married position

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Queen Rania of Jordan

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Queen Rania of Jordan

• Official site
• Queen Rania on YouTube
• Queen Rania on Twitter
• Ten Questions for Queen Rania on Time.com
• Wolf Blitzer interviews Jordan's Queen Rania, CNN, October 26, 2007
• Queen Rania on YouTube's "End Poverty - Be the Generation" video