Engagement of Princess Raiyah Bint Al Hussein & Mr. Faris Donovan: October 26, 2019


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Engagement of Princess Raiyah Bint Al Hussein & Mr. Faris Donovan: October 26, 2019

Princess Raiyah got engaged last month to Mr. Fares Donovan.

وكالة الانباء الاردنية

The royal court statement was published earlier today. It did not provide any information about the groom or where the engagement took place. It also did not clarify whether King Abdullah II attended or not.

Congratulations :flowers:
 
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Congratulations! :flowers:
Are there any pictures of the couple?
 
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Wooooowwww!

The LAST child of late King Hussein getting married, hooray!

Congrats, congrats, CONGRATS!

P.S. The English surname and Arabic name of the fiance gives a hint that he is a Westerner converted to Islam (or son of one).
 
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Congratulations to the couple!
 
Wooooowwww!

The LAST child of late King Hussein getting married, hooray!

Congrats, congrats, CONGRATS!

P.S. The English surname and Arabic name of the fiance gives a hint that he is a Westerner converted to Islam (or son of one).

Ned Donovan is a journalist for the Daily Mail and Spectator based in Delhi. I didn't know this until now, but his paternal grandfather was a senior Australian diplomat and his mother is the daughter of celebrated author Roald Dahl. I've followed him on Twitter for ages (he's a riot), but was blown away by this news. (I think he's a fair bit younger than her, too...)
 
Wooooowwww!

The LAST child of late King Hussein getting married, hooray!

Congrats, congrats, CONGRATS!

P.S. The English surname and Arabic name of the fiance gives a hint that he is a Westerner converted to Islam (or son of one).

He could have converted but for some reason I was under the impression that Ned Donovan was a Catholic. I know he's written for the Catholic Herald. I would think a conversion would be at the very least preferred by the HRC.
 
Donovan or O'Donovan is originally an Irish surname so its quite possible he's from Irish RC ancestry and a possible 1st to marry into a non Christian royal house.
 
Donovan or O'Donovan is originally an Irish surname so its quite possible he's from Irish RC ancestry and a possible 1st to marry into a non Christian royal house.

Ned's paternal grandparents were Australian (his grandfather was an Australian Roman Catholic ambassador) and Hungarian (grandmother was a journalist and cookbook author). His maternal grandparents were Welsh born son of Norweigen immigrants (Roald Dahl) and America (actress Patricia Neal).

Ned's mother would have been raised protestant. Her father grew up in the Lutheran faith. Her mother converted to catholic though before she died.

Ned Donovan is a journalist for the Daily Mail and Spectator based in Delhi. I didn't know this until now, but his paternal grandfather was a senior Australian diplomat and his mother is the daughter of celebrated author Roald Dahl. I've followed him on Twitter for ages (he's a riot), but was blown away by this news. (I think he's a fair bit younger than her, too...)

He is 8 years younger, she is 33 and he is 25.
 
great news,i am happy Princess Raiyha found her match
looking forward the wedding the the photos of the couple
 
Ned is grandson to famous British novelist Roald Dahl, and son to author Chantal Sophia 'Tessa' Dahl - who was born to Roald and American actress Patricia Neal.
Tessa Dahl married actor Julian Holloway and had children Clover and Luke with him, before going on to marry businessman Patrick Donovan, son of an Australian academic and diplomat, whom she welcomed son Ned with.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/...aiyah-Bint-Al-Hussein-engaged-ed-Donovan.html
 
Tessa's eldest child - a fruit of the relationship with English actor Julian Holloway (himself son of English stage and film actor Stanley Holloway & his second wife chorus dancer Violet Marion Lane) - is English author and former fashion model Sophie Dahl (b.1977); she is married to jazz-pop singer-songwriter Jamie Cullum (b.1979) and they have two daughters Lyra (b.2011) and Margot (b.2013).

Sophie is Tessa & Julian's only child together and they were never married; in fact they separated shortly afterwards.

Father of Clover and Luke is Tessa's first husband, Bussinessman James Kelly.
 
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This is fantastic news for Princess Raiyah and the Jordan Royal Family!

According to the news reports there is a difference of eight years between the couple. Raiyah is 33 and the groom to be is 25.
 
:previous:
The age gap between them seems to be interesting. It is quite unusual for a Jordanian princess though we`ve seen many cases among princes.
 
Given that the fiance was mentioned in the official announcement by the Jordanian Royal Family as "Fares Ned Donovan" suggested that he has already converted to Islam and took the name Fares upon doing it.
 
Given that the fiance was mentioned in the official announcement by the Jordanian Royal Family as "Fares Ned Donovan" suggested that he has already converted to Islam and took the name Fares upon doing it.

I agree.
Converting to Islam is a must for him to marry Princess Raiyah & Join the Hashemite family.
 
He hasn't started his new name in his personal communications, so while the court will probably consistently call him Fares I expect he wil just continue to go by his name of Ned.

Are there other religions that require you to take a different name upon conversion? To me it's a weird practice but I assume there will be other requiring something similar.
 
He hasn't started his new name in his personal communications, so while the court will probably consistently call him Fares I expect he wil just continue to go by his name of Ned.

Are there other religions that require you to take a different name upon conversion? To me it's a weird practice but I assume there will be other requiring something similar.

Happens in Judaism as well, though not sure required. Ivanka Trump took the name Yael when she married. Though like Ned, she uses her birth name professionally.

Are husbands in the Jordanian royal family considered to be members of the RF? I'm a tad surprised he was required to convert. Or was there simply family pressure? I guess in the Muslim faith children automatically take their religion from their dads, so there would be pressure for a Christian husband to convert first so the kids carry on the Muslim faith.
 
He hasn't started his new name in his personal communications, so while the court will probably consistently call him Fares I expect he wil just continue to go by his name of Ned.

Are there other religions that require you to take a different name upon conversion? To me it's a weird practice but I assume there will be other requiring something similar.

Converting to Islam does not require changing names except in some cases such as:
- When it has a meaning that conflicts with Islamic teachings.
- If the name has an evil or bad meaning (very rare cases).

The royal court usually changs the heavy foreign names to make them easy & acceptable to the Jordanian people.
 
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If you convert to Catholicism you often take on another saint name and in Judaism as said above. I met a Wiccan who went by a "more pagan sounding" name informally with her Wiccan group.

I think people that convert to different religions, especially those which are very different culturally from what they grew up with often use a different name to feel like they're fitting in even if it's not required.
 
:previous:
The age gap between them seems to be interesting. It is quite unusual for a Jordanian princess though we`ve seen many cases among princes.

Are there any obstacles to princesses marrying younger men, or is it simply more traditional for the husband to be older?

Or was there simply family pressure? I guess in the Muslim faith children automatically take their religion from their dads, so there would be pressure for a Christian husband to convert first so the kids carry on the Muslim faith.

Yes, and on that basis marriages between Muslim women and non-Muslim men are deemed invalid under most readings of Islamic religious law (and therefore are not legally recognized in many countries where Islam is the national religion).


The royal court usually changs the heavy foreign names to make them easy & acceptable to the Jordanian people.

That seems like a practical measure to take when the gap between the two languages (and their names) is significant.
 
Happens in Judaism as well, though not sure required. Ivanka Trump took the name Yael when she married. Though like Ned, she uses her birth name professionally.

Are husbands in the Jordanian royal family considered to be members of the RF? I'm a tad surprised he was required to convert. Or was there simply family pressure? I guess in the Muslim faith children automatically take their religion from their dads, so there would be pressure for a Christian husband to convert first so the kids carry on the Muslim faith.

Yes, they are considered members of the royal family but without titles or royal duties. They can accompany their wives in several engagements.

Ned has to convert to Islam because, according to Islam teachings followed in Jordan, a Muslim woman cannot marry a non-Muslim man.

In contrast, a Muslim man is allowed to marry a non-Muslim woman from whom they call the People of the Book (i.e. the Jews and Christians).
Non-Muslim Women who marry into the JRF are obliged to convert to Islam only because it is a constitutional requirement for their future children to inherit the throne.
 
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Converting to Islam does not require changing names except in some cases such as:
- When it has a meaning that conflicts with Islamic teachings.
- If the name has an evil or bad meaning (very rare cases).

The royal court usually changs the heavy foreign names to make them easy & acceptable to the Jordanian people.

This is true. Most people choose to use an Arabic name to signify the conversion.

Congrats to the couple!
 
Happens in

Are husbands in the Jordanian royal family considered to be members of the RF? I'm a tad surprised he was required to convert. Or was there simply family pressure? I guess in the Muslim faith children automatically take their religion from their dads, so there would be pressure for a Christian husband to convert first so the kids carry on the Muslim faith.
I think they are considered so...as they are required to convert to be membres of the RF and not only because the kids automatically take their father religion but also because of who are the Hashemite (descends of Prophet Mohammed) it's strong symbole that is part of the RF legitimacy to rule
 
Congratulations to the couple! Interesting that Princess Raiyah's new fiancee is part of the Dahl family.

I can imagine that Ned would probably convert but keep his birth name for professional use, like Ivanka Trump as someone else mentioned. It will be interesting to see what Arabic name he'll choose if he does.
 
Happens in Judaism as well, though not sure required. Ivanka Trump took the name Yael when she married. Though like Ned, she uses her birth name professionally.
Elizabeth Taylor took the name Elisheba Rachel upon her conversion to Judaism and Marilyn Monroe also took a Hebrew name but chose to keep it private. Like Ivanka both of them used their old names publically. This is not something unusual for Jews in the Diaspora these days who often has both a Hebrew name for religious use and another name that conforms to the names of the society they live in.
 
Happens in Judaism as well, though not sure required. Ivanka Trump took the name Yael when she married. Though like Ned, she uses her birth name professionally.

Are husbands in the Jordanian royal family considered to be members of the RF? I'm a tad surprised he was required to convert. Or was there simply family pressure? I guess in the Muslim faith children automatically take their religion from their dads, so there would be pressure for a Christian husband to convert first so the kids carry on the Muslim faith.

From what we've seen before, husbands of the women are not given titles but styled as His Excellency in Jordan. You can see it in the Arabic news reports about the married ones. Not sure it is ever used abroad though :confused:
 
how excting - congratulations to the future bride and groom! can't wait to see the wedding pictures in due time.

in his twitter, he has 'Currently a Delhi wallah but moving to Jordan in December.' so i am wondering where they could have met... i guess the fact that he is moving to jordan in december means that their wedding will take place shortly afterwards. i guess they will then live in california, as raiyah is still doing her PHD.

also, it seems that ned will start learning arabic at Qasid Arabic Institute
 
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