Interviews, Speeches and TV appearances of the King and Queen


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Jae143 said:
CBC Canada Interview I've never seen before, don't know if it's been posted, i enjoyed this one, I find her to be much more relaxed than usual and see a little more of rania the person rather than rania the queen
CBC.ca Video

and an article from the same source, thinking this is where I should post it
CBC News - World - Queen Rania Al-Abdullah: A diplomatic monarch in a troubled region
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I find these interviews to be very repetitive as she never says anything new and it is always a variation on a theme. Always the same lines that have been well rehearsed over the years. She is only articulate if she is reading a speech or appearing on an interview that is preprepared like this one. When she has to speak off the cuff, she is a terrible speaker, repetitive, scattered and jumps from one thing to something entirely unrelated. She always gives a polished performance in these instances where the questions are preprepared and there is nothing controversial being asked and she is not being asked any tough questions by a tough interviewer.
 
I respect your right to have your opinions yamamah but do you EVER have anything nice to say about this woman? I mean before I even clicked the thread, I saw that you responded and I knew it was going to be something negative. I happened to like this interview, albeit repetitive, what choice does she have when they all ask the same questions over and over again throughout the years?

And I thought she was much more expressive, especially in the last few minutes, verbally as well as physically, and despite having the same questions, they were not the same responses if you read her body language as it compares to other interviews.
 
Jae143 said:
I respect your right to have your opinions yamamah but do you EVER have anything nice to say about this woman? I mean before I even clicked the thread, I saw that you responded and I knew it was going to be something negative. I happened to like this interview, albeit repetitive, what choice does she have when they all ask the same questions over and over again throughout the years?

And I thought she was much more expressive, especially in the last few minutes, verbally as well as physically, and despite having the same questions, they were not the same responses if you read her body language as it compares to other interviews.
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I know the woman personally and have done for many years. I compliment her clothing choices and style sometimes but I do not compliment the disparity between the image she likes to project and the reality. By the way, I knew your response would be something positive so we counterbalance nicely ;)
 
With all due respect, I know the region and its troubles closely and I'm glad that she is giving a voice to those troubles. Becouse, letS' face it, if she wasn't the youngest queen in the world and beautiful, very few people would actually listen to her.
About the repetition, the troubles in East in general are not being comrehended rightfully in the western world, because they don't know the culture and/or afraid of that particular culture. Only if you tell them over and over again, they grasp some of the realities. (I know this from personal experience)
I won't mind her being repetitive for the problems themselves are also reprising themselves.

But again, I don't mean to cause any offence.
 
Charlotte Aster, I agree with you and also about the troubles but unfortunately the view that the King and Queen give is too simplistic and does not address all the realities.

I think what you say about Rania's personal image is true also and she has courted publicity for her looks over the years which has ensured she is a familiar face in a certain type of magazine brand.

Jae143 said:
I respect your right to have your opinions yamamah but do you EVER have anything nice to say about this woman? I mean before I even clicked the thread, I saw that you responded and I knew it was going to be something negative. I happened to like this interview, albeit repetitive, what choice does she have when they all ask the same questions over and over again throughout the years?

And I thought she was much more expressive, especially in the last few minutes, verbally as well as physically, and despite having the same questions, they were not the same responses if you read her body language as it compares to other interviews.
Click to expand...

They ask the same questions over and over again because they do not have any other choice. The interviewers are told what they can and can't ask about in advance. These interviews are never spontaneous and the answers are not. Queen Rania's image is very carefully managed and she has a staff of at least 30 people at the palace and she also engages the services of numerous PR companies worldwide to advise on her media image. Rania has never been spontaneous and if you have ever spent time with her, even in private she is not. The image you see in interviews, on television and read about is a very small slice of a stage managed public persona which is what everyone on this board claims to like. it is not the same as the real person. :flowers:
 
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Charlotte_Aster said:
…if she wasn't the youngest queen in the world…
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She's actually not the youngest queen in the world anymore, and I get really annoyed when the media claim that she is. She hasn't been the youngest queen for at least a decade, after the King of Lesotho married in 2000. Queen 'Masenate Mohato Seeiso was born on June 2, 1976, making her 34 years old.

The Lesotho King's Office

The reason I knew the Lesotho queen existed was because she accompanied her husband to the King of Thailand's golden jubilee celebrations in 2006. A couple of photos posted elsewhere on this forum:

http://img120.imagevenue.com/img.php?loc=loc105&image=15932_622734.jpg
http://img42.imagevenue.com/img.php?loc=loc34&image=20947_561460.jpg
 
yamamah said:
They ask the same questions over and over again because they do not have any other choice. The interviewers are told what they can and can't ask about in advance. These interviews are never spontaneous and the answers are not. Queen Rania's image is very carefully managed and she has a staff of at least 30 people at the palace and she also engages the services of numerous PR companies worldwide to advise on her media image. Rania has never been spontaneous and if you have ever spent time with her, even in private she is not. The image you see in interviews, on television and read about is a very small slice of a stage managed public persona which is what everyone on this board claims to like. it is not the same as the real person. :flowers:
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But does this mean that she doesn't have a brain of her own, that she is incompetent? Many of us are not well spoken or eloquent in a moment's notice. I consider myself to be well-educated and well-written but because of shyness and social anxieties I am horribly spoken unless I've rehearsed or pre-written what I want to say. I end up stammering, repeating myself, losing track of my thoughts, and sound downright idiotic. I suck at job interviews or any interviews at all where I can't anticipate the questions. Sometimes my brain and my lips just don't connect properly and it's possible, given her shyness that she's the same way.

As for repetitive questions, while I understand there are restrictions on what can be asked and what can't, I don't believe every single interview she has ever given has been pre-scripted, much like when any celebrity gives interviews about films or music or issues in their lives different reporters ask the same damn questions and get the same responses because the celebs have fallen into the pattern of saying them so much. I can recite their answers before they give them sometimes! I imagine, with so many interviews on the same subjects Rania has been given much practice as well.
 
Hi Jae143, I am saying that I am suprised sometimes that she is not better at speaking spontaneously as she has received years and years of coaching and training by the very best media trainers and PR people in the world. She has spent many years being asked questions and speaking in public so it is surprising to me that she is not more polished when the questions are not scripted or pre-determined. You probably have not had as much experience in public speaking or the training so it would be natural for you to stutter or use lots of filler words. I do not mean the questions are scripted in a way that the journalist has to read exactly what is written on a script but they do have to only ask questions about subjects that are pre-cleared and only within a certain latitude. The final interview you see is the result of a lot of editing and the palace has final approval before anything is broadcast. There is no natural conversation flow. I can assure you that Rania is not a shy wallflower and she actively sought publicity for herself and for her image in the past. That is not the action of a shy person although there are many things I believe that she is secretive about but that is two different things.

Jae143 said:
But does this mean that she doesn't have a brain of her own, that she is incompetent? Many of us are not well spoken or eloquent in a moment's notice. I consider myself to be well-educated and well-written but because of shyness and social anxieties I am horribly spoken unless I've rehearsed or pre-written what I want to say. I end up stammering, repeating myself, losing track of my thoughts, and sound downright idiotic. I suck at job interviews or any interviews at all where I can't anticipate the questions. Sometimes my brain and my lips just don't connect properly and it's possible, given her shyness that she's the same way.

As for repetitive questions, while I understand there are restrictions on what can be asked and what can't, I don't believe every single interview she has ever given has been pre-scripted, much like when any celebrity gives interviews about films or music or issues in their lives different reporters ask the same damn questions and get the same responses because the celebs have fallen into the pattern of saying them so much. I can recite their answers before they give them sometimes! I imagine, with so many interviews on the same subjects Rania has been given much practice as well.
Click to expand...

BTW, I have never ever said Rania is not intelligent. She is more clever than her husband but other qualities that are attributed to her public persona are not so true:flowers:
 
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Jae143 said:
But does this mean that she doesn't have a brain of her own, that she is incompetent? Many of us are not well spoken or eloquent in a moment's notice. I consider myself to be well-educated and well-written but because of shyness and social anxieties I am horribly spoken unless I've rehearsed or pre-written what I want to say. I end up stammering, repeating myself, losing track of my thoughts, and sound downright idiotic. I suck at job interviews or any interviews at all where I can't anticipate the questions. Sometimes my brain and my lips just don't connect properly and it's possible, given her shyness that she's the same way.

As for repetitive questions, while I understand there are restrictions on what can be asked and what can't, I don't believe every single interview she has ever given has been pre-scripted, much like when any celebrity gives interviews about films or music or issues in their lives different reporters ask the same damn questions and get the same responses because the celebs have fallen into the pattern of saying them so much. I can recite their answers before they give them sometimes! I imagine, with so many interviews on the same subjects Rania has been given much practice as well.
Click to expand...

When I met her for the first time more than a decade ago, I saw a rather shy young woman who did not feel secure or comfortable in her new role as a queen (as a woman already in my mid-40s then I had a lot of sympathies for that "young pretty girl" overwhelmed by her new position). I guess, that a role as a person who is staying in public eye most of her time would never have been her own choice, she was suddenly thrown into that and had to adapt to it. Therefore I think that what she said of herself being a very private person in that CBC interview were really sincere words!
At the beginning she was rather stiff in interviews or when she had to deliver an address (unlike her husband who reacted from the beginning much more spontaneous and often with a sense of humor), but she has improved a lot in the last years (of course by training) and is now much more self-assured and more confident in speeches, interviews and even public discussions. I think she has now accepted and internalised her public role to a certain degree (to be seen now widely "as the most beautiful queen" etc. certainly helped), but I doubt that she really likes it. It's not in her nature to feel really comfortable being in the public eye, she just thinks, she has to and I believe that she tries to give her best there (or what she, her husband, the royal court etc. are thinking is the best; of course, there are people who think that she should select other issues to concentrate on).
And there is no royal, statesman or any other public figure in the world whose real person matches his/her (by PR experts)
carefully cultivated public image.
 
Veram, I have known her longer and even when she was younger she had a high opinion of herself. As a princess, even back then, she was known to be snooty with people. She was shy when she first became queen because she was in the full glare of the world but she has played up to the most beautiful, youngest and all the other things attributed over the years. She wanted to be a model when she was younger but did not have the height or looks (pre-rhinoplasty) and she has had huge amounts of work on her face over the years. Her skin is smoother and has less wrinkles in this interview than it did when she was in her twenties! She actively seeks publicity which is why she has her staff send stories out constantly to the press and agrees to so many photoshoots. Of course, I am sure interviews are inconvenient and she would much rather do other things but they come with the territory but the fact remains that she goes out of her way to maintain a high public profile. She is the wife of a ruler of a poor, small Middle Eastern country and not Michelle Obama. The amount of press she receives is totally disproportionate to her status in the world and yet there isn't a week that goes by that she is not doing something to raise her profile. I agree she is private but only in the sense that she does not like people knowing what she is up to but shy is one thing she is not but this public persona is such fakery and nothing like the real Rania.
 
yamamah said:
Hi Jae143, I am saying that I am suprised sometimes that she is not better at speaking spontaneously as she has received years and years of coaching and training by the very best media trainers and PR people in the world. She has spent many years being asked questions and speaking in public so it is surprising to me that she is not more polished when the questions are not scripted or pre-determined. You probably have not had as much experience in public speaking or the training so it would be natural for you to stutter or use lots of filler words. I do not mean the questions are scripted in a way that the journalist has to read exactly what is written on a script but they do have to only ask questions about subjects that are pre-cleared and only within a certain latitude. The final interview you see is the result of a lot of editing and the palace has final approval before anything is broadcast. There is no natural conversation flow. I can assure you that Rania is not a shy wallflower and she actively sought publicity for herself and for her image in the past. That is not the action of a shy person although there are many things I believe that she is secretive about but that is two different things.



BTW, I have never ever said Rania is not intelligent. She is more clever than her husband but other qualities that are attributed to her public persona are not so true:flowers:
Click to expand...

well I don't agree about ' more clever then her husband ..." I do believe that his majesty is clever, kind ,spontaneous distinguished leader but as many members in the family espically his brothers do not seek media attention and do not run for it
 
it seemed to me that the comment insinuating that she is a well-groomed puppet show that can only speak after careful coaching and rehearsal sounds like she is incompetent and less intelligent.

I must ask for someone who seems to be in close relational proximity to her, you were either a friend of the family or a friend of hers or a relative to some extent, why do you feel the need to go online and run this giant expose campaign against her? I just don't understand the time and effort spent on attacking her, is this some personal vendetta? were you scorned by her in some way?

On an unrelated topic, I read a comment on a site that Rania appears (or has appeared) in a reader's digest magazine, does anyone have information on this? is she coming out in the next issue or has she appeared in one before?
 
I actually liked the CBC interview. Queen Rania is pretty well-known in Europe and increasingly in the US but she isn't in Canada. To those of us who follow her and read/watch all of her interviews they might seem repetitive at times but the average person/overwhelming majority of North Americans has no idea who she is. Many of them can't even name some of their own government officials, let alone the Queen of Jordan.
To most viewers of the CBC this latest interview would be their first exposure to her.
The interviewer isn't that well-known though. She did ask some interesting questions, for example the one about how Rania addressed those who might think her too Western. I also liked her personal insights on the problems in Palestine.
 
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xavi83 said:
well I don't agree about ' more clever then her husband ..." I do believe that his majesty is clever, kind ,spontaneous distinguished leader but as many members in the family espically his brothers do not seek media attention and do not run for it
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I totally agree. You cannot make such a broad brush statement Yamamah. I think they are both intelligent. You cannot run a country and navigate the Middle East for over 11 years without being intelligent. HM King Abdullah and Queen Rania do complement each other well.
 
:previous: Very touching. Thanks for posting dear
 
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Iit is touching and shoscking at the same time. I believe the organisation with the help of Rania will be able to gain as much followers as possible to help the most needy and injured kids like these from the video.
 
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