Personal life

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 HRH Prince Hamzah HRH Princess Basmah HRH Princess Haya HRH Princess Zein HRH Princess Noor HRH Princess Badiya HRH Prince Hashim HRH Princess Fahdah HRH Princess Haalah HRH Princess Rayet HRH Princess Fatima HRH Prince Hussein HRH Princess Iman HRH Princess Raiyah HRH Princess Haya HRH Prince Ali HRH Princess Rym HRH Princess Jalila HRH Prince Abdullah Princess Dina HRH Princess Alia HRH Princess Muna HRH Prince Faisal HRH Princess Zeina HRH Princess Ayah HRH Prince Omar HRH Princess Sara HRH Princess Aisha HRH Prince Abdullah 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 Princess Salsabil HRH Princess Firyal HRH Prince Hassan HRH Princess Sarvath HRH Princess Rahma HRH Princess Sumaya HRH Princess Badiya HRH Prince Rashid HRH Princess Zeina HRH Prince Hassan HRH Prince Talal 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 Noor HRH Princess Salha HRH Princess Nejla HRH Prince Nayef

Rania Al-Yassin was born in Kuwait, to Palestinian parents Faisal Sedki al-Yassin and Ilham Yassin from Tulkarm. She attended the New English School in Jabriya, Kuwait, then received a degree in Business Administration from the American University in Cairo. Upon her graduation from the American University, she worked briefly in marketing for Citibank, followed by a job with Apple Inc. in Amman.

In a September 2008 CNN televised interview with Fareed Zakaria, Queen Rania stated that she is not opposed to women choosing to wear the Islamic veil hijab of their own volition as long as it is not compulsory. She further noted that modern Islamic women must be entitled to wear any veil of their own individual choice and not be "pressured" by a traditionalist interpretation of Islamic law in society. Rania herself has been seen wearing a veil or a styled hat only on televised royal weddings and during private Papal audiences with the Pope in Rome.

She was ranked as the most beautiful consort (or first lady) in the world by Harpers and Queen magazine in 2011.

Areas of work

Since her marriage, Queen Rania has used her position to advocate for various sectors of society in Jordan and beyond.

Domestic agenda

Education

Over the past few years, Queen Rania has launched, championed, and given patronage to several initiatives in education and learning.

In July 2005, in partnership with the Ministry of Education, the King and Queen launched an annual teachers’ award, the Queen Rania Award for Excellence in Education.

The Queen is Chairperson of Jordan's first interactive children's museum. Opened in May 2007, it aims to encourage and nurture lifelong learning for children and their families. In April 2008, the Queen launched “Madrasati” (“My School”), a public-private initiative aimed at refurbishing 500 of Jordan’s public schools over a five-year period. In higher education, the Queen Rania Scholarship Program partners with several universities from around the world. Queen Rania is also Chairperson of the Royal Health Awareness Society (RHAS).

Community empowerment

Queen Rania's first venture was the establishment of the Jordan River Foundation (JRF) in 1995.

The Jordan River Children Program (JRCP) was developed by Queen Rania to place children’s welfare above political agendas and cultural taboos. This led to the launch, in 1998, of JRF’s Child Safety Program, which addresses the immediate needs of children at risk from abuse and initiated a long-term campaign to increase public awareness about violence against children. The deaths of two children in Amman as a result of child abuse in early 2009 led Queen Rania to call for an emergency meeting of government and non-government (including JRF) stakeholders to discuss where the system was failing.

In 2009, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of her husband's accession to the throne, Queen Rania launched a community champion award (Ahel Al Himmeh) in March to highlight the accomplishments of groups and individuals who have helped their local communities.

Youth

Queen Rania has stated that an essential aspect of education is to equip young people with the necessary skills to perform well in the workplace.

She initiated the Al-Aman Fund for the Future of Orphans in 2003, and has partnered with international universities providing scholarships for Jordanian students abroad. She supports INJAZ Al-Arab, which was established by Save the Children in 1999, and later on with Junior Achievement and launched as a Jordanian non-profit organization by the Queen in 2001. In her capacity as Regional Ambassador of INJAZ Al-Arab, she has taught classes, and engaged in dialogue with young people in other countries; she also launched INJAZ Al-Arab's presence elsewhere in the Arab world. She also chaired a discussion with entrepreneurs in celebration of INJAZ Al-Arab's 10th anniversary, showcasing alumni's success stories At the 2008 World Economic Forum in Davos, she launched the "Empowering One Million Arab Youth by 2018" campaign, which was conceived by INJAZ Arabia.

Global agenda

Global education

In November 2000, in recognition of her commitment to the cause of children and youth, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) invited Queen Rania to join its Global Leadership Initiative. The Queen worked alongside other world leaders, including former South African President Nelson Mandela, in a global movement seeking to improve the welfare of children. In January 2007, Queen Rania was named UNICEF's first Eminent Advocate for Children. In August 2009, Queen Rania became Honorary Global Chair of the United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative (UNGEI).

As a longtime supporter of the Global Campaign for Education (GCE), Queen Rania met with children and inspirational women in South Africa, both in the cities of Johannesburg and Soweto, in March 2009. Queen Rania and the women took turns reading a short story out of The Big Read to the children, in an effort to encourage literacy. One of the stories in the book, “Maha of the Mountains”, was contributed by Queen Rania. In Soweto, she was the first to write her name in the back of the Big Read, before passing it on to everyone else to write their name.

During her April 2009 US trip, Queen Rania joined leading education advocates Congresswoman Nita Lowey and Counsellor to the Secretary of the Treasury Gene Sperling to launch "The Big Read" as part of Global Campaign for Education's global action week calling for quality basic education for all children. She was also hosted by first lady of the United States, Michelle Obama, during that same trip.

On 20 August 2009, Queen Rania co-founded and led the launch of the "1GOAL: Education for All" campaign alongside Gary Lineker, and with the help of top international footballers at Wembley Stadium, London. Queen Rania is co-founder and global co-chair of the 1GOAL campaign to rally World Cup 2010 fans together during the world’s biggest single sporting event and call on world leaders to give 75 million children out of school an education. On 6 October 2009, Queen Rania was joined by Prime Minister Gordon Brown of the UK, the President of FIFA, Sepp Blatter, President Jacob Zuma of South Africa, and other heads of state, for the Global Launch of 1GOAL, which took place across six locations worldwide. Queen Rania spoke of the need to turn this “tragedy into triumph” and called on political leaders to stand by their aid commitments.

In 2008, Queen Rania participated in YouTube's In My Name campaign. She appeared alongside The 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.

Cross-cultural dialogue

Queen Rania has also been particularly vocal about the importance of cross cultural and interfaith dialogue to foster greater understanding, tolerance and acceptance across the world. She has used her status to correct what she sees as misconceptions in the West about the Arab world. Forbes magazine ranked her as one of the world's 100 most powerful women in 2011.

Queen Rania has played a significant role in reaching out to the global community to foster values of tolerance and acceptance, and increase cross-cultural dialogue. For example, regionally and internationally, Queen Rania has campaigned for a greater understanding between cultures in such high profile forums as the Jeddah Economic Forum, the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and the Skoll Foundation in the UK.

Queen Rania has also used YouTube as a way to promote intercultural dialogue by calling on young people around the world to engage in a global dialogue to dismantle stereotypes of Muslims and the Arab world. She has also made 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 especially women in Islam. For her work in reaching out across cultures she received the North-South Prize from the Council of Europe in March 2009 and the first ever YouTube Visionary Award in November 2008. For her work in cross-cultural peace dialogue Queen Rania accepted the PeaceMaker Award. from the Non-Profit Seeds of Peace.

In May 2009, Queen Rania attended the fifth Young Global Leaders Summit at the Dead Sea, Jordan, to address socio-economic challenges facing the region and had trips organized for the Young Global Leaders in which they visited local Madrasati schools, the Jordan River Foundation, and other affiliated organizations.

When it comes to youth, in early 2002 Queen Rania joined the Board of Directors of the International Youth Foundation, based in Baltimore, Maryland, in the United States. In September 2006, Queen Rania also joined the United Nations Foundation Board of Directors. The UN Foundation builds and implements public-private partnerships to address the world’s most pressing problems, and broadens support for the UN through advocacy and public outreach.

Microfinance

In September 2003, Queen Rania accepted an invitation to join the Board of Directors of the Foundation for International Community Assistance (FINCA), thus formalizing a relationship of support and advocacy which began in 2000.

An emissary for the United Nations’ International Year of Microcredit in 2005, Queen Rania’s belief in microfinance and her partnership with FINCA has generated more Jordanian micro-businesses, with the official opening of FINCA Jordan in February 2008.

Online

Queen Rania uses online social-networking tools such as YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

YouTube

On 30 March 2008, Queen Rania launched her own YouTube channel, initially to invite viewers to give their opinions of the Middle East and talk about stereotypes they may have of Arabs and Muslims. Between 30 March and 12 August (International Youth Day), Queen Rania posted videos on YouTube in which she asked people to send her their questions about Islam and the Arab world. She provided responses to those questions and explained her view of the truth about various Arab and Muslim stereotypes. Over five months she posted videos on subjects that included honour killings, terrorism and the rights of Arab women. International personalities such as Dean Obeidallah, Maz Jobrani, and YouTube star Mia Rose also contributed videos to the campaign.

Queen Rania also links some of her recent interviews to her YouTube channel, such as her interview with Wolf Blitzer in CNN’s “Situation Room”, in April 2009. During this two part interview, Queen Rania discussed the importance of education. Queen Rania also uploads other videos on topics close to her heart, such as her appeal to support UNRWA’s work in Gaza following the Israeli assault in late December 2008/early January 2009.

Facebook

Queen Rania is also a member of Facebook, with her own fan page aimed at engaging people to discuss cross-cultural dialogue, education, and more recently, the use of social media to create social change. Along with her YouTube videos that have been uploaded, photos of her personal and public life can be found. As of 11 December 2015, 5,511,671 people have "Liked" her page.

Twitter

To coincide with the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Jordan on Friday, 8 May 2009, Queen Rania started using the micro-blogging website Twitter with the username @QueenRania. On the occasion of the World Economic Forum held at the Dead Sea in Jordan, June 2009, Queen Rania conducted her first Twitter interview, answering five questions from the general public via her Twitter account.

When she joined Twitter, she also gave an interview with TechCrunch on “how Twitter can help change the world”, where she said It’s about using social media for social change: creating a community of advocates who can use their voices on behalf of the voiceless, or leverage their talents, skills, knowledge, and resources to put more children into classrooms, or pressure their elected representatives to get global education top of the agenda.

Her tweets have ranged from the personal, including photos of herself and her family, to more serious topics like the typhoon Ketsana in the Philippines, the 2009 Iranian presidential election protests, peace in the Middle East, and promoting Jordan, global education, and initiatives like 1GOAL. She has been taunted on Twitter for some of her tweets, such as those involving the 2010-2011 Tunisian protests. As of 28 May 2015, Queen Rania has over 3,798,362 followers.

Publications

• As a tribute to King Hussein, and on the first anniversary of his death, Queen Rania produced “The King’s Gift”, a children’s book about King Hussein. Proceeds of the book go to the benefit of underprivileged children across Jordan. (ISBN 1854795724, Michael O'Mara Books, 2000)
• Queen Rania's second book, entitled “Eternal Beauty”, which she wrote in celebration of Mother’s Day 2008 tells the story of a young girl’s conversation with a little sheep as she searches for the most beautiful thing in the world. The book was released as part of the Greater Amman Municipality’s contest - Mama’s Story.
• For the 2009 Big Read event, Queen Rania wrote “Maha of the Mountains”, which tells of a young girl’s determination to get an education and the challenges she faced.
• The Sandwich Swap is a book inspired by an incident in Queen Rania’s childhood. It tells the story of Lily and Salma, two best friends, who argue over the ‘yucky’ taste of their respective peanut butter and jelly and hummus sandwiches. The girls then overcome and embrace their differences. The book was co-authored by Queen Rania and Kelly DiPucchio.(ISBN 1423124847, Hyperion Books, 20 April 2010) In May 2010 the book went to the top of the New York Times Bestseller List for children's books.

Gifts to the Queen's family

The leaders of 36 tribes issued a statement calling on the king "to return to the treasury land and farms given to the Yassin family." The royal court rebutted the claims, stating that the signers of the document "are not leaders of the tribes to which they belong." It also dismissed the claims about the land gifts, stating that a check of the land registry would contradict the claims.

Marriage and family

She met Jordanian Abdullah bin Al-Hussein, who was a prince at that time, at a dinner party in August 1992. Six months later, they announced their engagement. On 10 June 1993, they were married. The couple has four children:

• Crown Prince Hussein (born 28 June 1994).
• Princess Iman (born 27 September 1996).
• Princess Salma (born 26 September 2000).
• Prince Hashem (born 30 January 2005).

Her husband ascended on 7 February 1999, and proclaimed her queen on 22 March 1999. Without the proclamation she would have been a princess consort, like her mother-in-law, Princess Muna al-Hussein.

International roles and positions

• In November 2000, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) invited Queen Rania to join its Global Leadership Initiative.
• At the World Economic Forum in Davos in January 2007, Rania was named UNICEF's first Eminent Advocate for Children.
• In August 2009, Queen Rania was named Co-Founder and Global Co-Chair of 1GOAL.
• July 2009, the United Nations made Queen Rania Honorary Chairperson for the United Nations Girls' Education Initiative (UNGEI).
• For their Global Action Week in April 2009, the Global Campaign for Education named Queen Rania their Honorary Chairperson.
• In early 2002, Queen Rania joined the Board of Directors of the International Youth Foundation, based in Baltimore, Maryland, in the United States.
• In September 2002, Queen Rania became a member of the World Economic Forum (WEF) Foundation Board. She is also on the Foundation Board of the Forum of Young Global Leaders (YGL) and has been the Chairperson for the Nominations and Selection Committee since July 2004, when the forum was established.
• In September 2006, Queen Rania joined the United Nations Foundation Board of Directors.
• Rania is a member of the Every Child Council for the GAVI Alliance.
• Rania is an Honorary Member of the International Advisory Council for the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW).
• Queen Rania is Co-Chair of the Arab Open University.
• She is Honorary Chairperson of the Jordanian Chapter of Operation Smile.

Titles, honours and awards

Titles

Rania is styled as "Her Majesty The Queen of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan". From her marriage on 10 June 1993 until her husband's ascension on 22 March 1999 she was styled as "Her Royal Highness Princess Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan".

National decorations

• Jordan: Knight Grand Cordon with Collar of the Order of al-Hussein bin Ali (9.6.1999)

Foreign decorations

• Bahrain : Member 1st Class of the Order of al-Khalifa (4.11.1999)
• Belgium: Dame Grand Cordon of the Order of Leopold (18.5.2016)
• Brunei: Dame Grand Cross of the Royal Family Order of Brunei, 1st Class (DK, 13.5.2008)
• Germany: Dame Grand Cross Special Class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic (21.10.2002)
• Italy: Dame Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (19.10.2009)
• Japan: Dame Grand Cordon of the Order of the Precious Crown (30.11.1999)
• Netherlands: Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the Netherlands Lion (30.10.2006)
• Norway: Dame Grand Cross of the Order of St. Olav (4.4.2000)
• Portugal: Dame Grand Cross of the Order of Prince Henry (5.3.2008)
• Portugal: Grand Cross of the Order of Saint James of the Sword (16.3.2009)
• Spain: Dame Grand Cross of the Order of Charles III (21.4.2006)
• Spain: Dame Grand Cross of the Royal Order of Isabella the Catholic (18.10.1999)
• Sweden: Member Grand Cross of the Royal Order of the Seraphim (7.10.2003)

Awards

• 2001: Life Achievement Award of International Osteoporosis Foundation, Italy
• 2002: Ambrogino D’Oro Award from the Municipality of Milan, Italy
• 2002: Gold Medal of the President of the Italian Republic from Pio Manz International Research Center, Italy
• 2003: German Media Award from Deutscher Medienpreis, Germany
• 2005: Golden Plate Award by Achievement Summit, USA
• 2005: Sesame Workshop Award from Sesame Workshop, USA
• 2007: Mediterranean Prize for Social Solidarity from the Mediterranean Foundation in Italy
• 2007: Global Humanitarian Action Award from UNSA-USA and the Business Council of the UN, USA
• 2007: Bambi Award for Attention Based Charity by Hubert Burda Media, Germany
• 2007: John Wallach Humanitarian Award from Seeds of Peace, USA
• 2008: World Savers Award from Conde Nast Traveler, USA
• 2008: David Rockefeller Bridging Leadership Award from Synergos University, USA
• 2009: The Marisa Bellisario International Award from the Fondazione Bellisario, Italy
• 2009: North South Prize by the North South Prize, Portugal
• 2009: FIFA Presidential Award, Switzerland
• 2010: Arab Knight of Giving Award from Arab Giving Forum, UAE
• 2010: The Leadership Award from White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood, USA
• 2010: James C. Morgan Global Humanitarian Award from Tech Awards, USA
• 2010: Glamour’s 2010 Woman of the Year, USA
• 2013: Atlantic Council’s Global Citizen Award, USA
• 2015: Walther Rathenau Award from Walther Rathenau Institut, Germany
• 2015: World Childhood Award from Queen Silvia’s World Childhood Foundation, USA
• Laurea Honoris Causa, honorary Master's degree in International Cooperation and Development from the University of Rome La Sapienza

[ Source: Wikipedia ]