Long before Queen Rania and Rajwa Al-Saif, a Pakistani woman married into Jordan’s royal family

Jordan’s Crown Prince Hussein bin Abdullah II got engaged Saudi citizen Rajwa Khaled Al-Saif on Wednesday.

The engagement ceremony was held in the presence of Jordan’s King Abdullah II, Queen Rania and the bride-to-be’s family in Riyadh. Rajwa Al-Saif was born in Riyadh on April 28, 1994, to Saudi businessman Khalid bin Musaed Al-Saif and Azza bint Naif Al-Sudairi.

It is not the first time that a member of the Jordanian royal family is marrying a foreigner. Queen Rania, the mother of the Crown Prince Hussein, was born in Kuwait to Palestinian parents.

She received her bachelor’s degree in business at The American University in Cairo. In 1991, following the Gulf War, she and her family fled to Amman, Jordan, where she met Prince Abdullah of Jordan, the current King of the country.

Before King Abdullah II, his uncle Prince Hassan married a Pakistani woman.

Who is Prince Hassan, the uncle of Jordan’s King Abdullah II ?

Prince Hassan bin Talal is a member of the Jordanian royal family who was previously Crown Prince from 1965 to 1999, being removed just three weeks before King Hussein’s death.

Prince Hassan is the third son of King Talal and Queen Zein, brother of late King Hussein and uncle of incumbent King Abdullah II.

He is married to Pakistan’s Sarvath Ikramullah, the daughter of Pakistani politician and diplomat Mohammed Ikramullah and niece of former Pakistani prime minister Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy.

Born in Calcutta on 24 July 1947, he father was a senior member of the Indian Civil Service in the Government of British India prior to Partition.

He went on to join the Partition Committee of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, later becoming Pakistan’s first Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.

Princess Sarvath married Prince Hassan bin Talal in Karachi, Pakistan on 28 August 1968.

They live in one of the oldest houses in Amman and have four children.