Queen Alia Al Hussein (1948-1977): Information and Pictures

[Ipi Tombe]

i was just making a fairly catty point of saying that the jordanian queens have a historical record of dressing lavishly. also, i would like to state that it does seem that the JRF is the only royal family that slathers themselve in namebrands. from my rather casual observation, it seems most European, ME and Asian monarchies are well dressed but not 'Designer' dressed-to the extent of the JRF.

even in middle class America there seems to be a backlash against many things 'branded'. so all this hype about QR wearing Designer X or Y seems quite cheap and very superficial.

Originally Posted by sommone

So what's wrong with that?

[shelley]

was just making a fairly catty point of saying that the jordanian queens have a historical record of dressing lavishly. also, i would like to state that it does seem that the JRF is the only royal family that slathers themselve in namebrands. from my rather casual observation, it seems most European, ME and Asian monarchies are well dressed but not 'Designer' dressed-to the extent of the JRF.

I am sorry to say that this younger generation of JRF by and large reflect a regrettable 'brand name ' obession that is all too common amongst certain elements of Egyptian, Jordanian, Lebanese, Palestinian, and the more 'westernised' Saudi and Gulf women. ( Although this trend for JRF women was started by Q. Noor. Q. Zein went to Balmain, and Q. Alia did wear Valentino and Dior, but for official occasions, and I had the impression that she was not as image concious as her successor - of course five years wasn't long enough to see how things would have evolved, but Q. Noor was into the the designer look within three years of her marriage) You have only to read some of the new magazines which have sprung up recently in Jordan, and which also exist in the other countries ( Living Well, Jo etc ) They are totally obessed with consumer products and news. It is a disturbing trend when a magazine can run a feature on sun glasses which range from JD 300 - 600 - when the basic wage is meant to be JD 120 - 130 per month. But tha sadly is the new Jordan for you.

[Angie]

Originally Posted by shelley

i would like to state that it does seem that the JRF is the only royal family that slathers themselve in namebrands. from my rather casual observation, it seems most European, ME and Asian monarchies are well dressed but not 'Designer' dressed-to the extent of the JRF.

Why is it the way Shelley?

[shelley]

That wasn't my statement - it was a quote from Ipi Tombe - I don't seem to be be able to make quotes look like quotes in this new format. But why ? I wish I knew ? I suppose its something to do with new money.....the Arab world saw a huge change in its spending power after the early seventies when the former trucial states gained independence as the gulf states - and by and large the rulers and the people of this region became a byword for opulent living styles, which unfortunately set the cue for the moneyed classes of the less privileged countries. Sad and bad. It was the same with the Hong Kong Chinese at a certain point, and now we see the same conspicious consumption by the newly rich Russians - I guess the clue lies in that phrase- 'newly rich'.

[Ipi Tombe]

I think it was 'Paloma' who asked the question what is 'old money' vs. 'new money'.

I don't think the whole 'conspicous consumption' thing would bother me so much if the royal wore her national designers. Mary (of Fred and Mary fame) seems to have embraced the national designers and wears them quite often. The English royals are noted for wearing English designers. The Monaco royals seem to favor the French designers.

So Rania (or Alia for that matter) wearing Prada, Calvin Klein, Aramani, Dior, Valentino or whoever I find v. unsettling. They don't look elegant. They look like bored rich housewives trolling Neimans looking for some retail therapy.

For example, Elie Saab who shot to face dressing Halle Berry in THAT dress. Is always interviewed as saying he loves to dress Rania and she is a client of his. But I can't think of one Elie Saab dress that she has worn. Now, granted Elie Saad (am I spelling the guy's name right?) is not Jordanian but he is a lot closer to home than Aramani.

Anyways, I think Armani belongs on the red carpet or Oscars not on the shoulders of a soveriegn's wife. It is too flashy.

But that is just my opinion.

Originally Posted by shelley

That wasn't my statement - it was a quote from Ipi Tombe - I don't seem to be be able to make quotes look like quotes in this new format. But why ? I wish I knew ? I suppose its something to do with new money.....the Arab world saw a huge change in its spending power after the early seventies when the former trucial states gained independence as the gulf states - and by and large the rulers and the people of this region became a byword for opulent living styles, which unfortunately set the cue for the moneyed classes of the less privileged countries. Sad and bad. It was the same with the Hong Kong Chinese at a certain point, and now we see the same conspicious consumption by the newly rich Russians - I guess the clue lies in that phrase- 'newly rich'.

[Angie]

Originally Posted by Ipi Tombe

I think it was 'Paloma' who asked the question what is 'old money' vs. 'new money'.

I don't think the whole 'conspicous consumption' thing would bother me so much if the royal wore her national designers. Mary (of Fred and Mary fame) seems to have embraced the national designers and wears them quite often. The English royals are noted for wearing English designers. The Monaco royals seem to favor the French designers.

So Rania (or Alia for that matter) wearing Prada, Calvin Klein, Aramani, Dior, Valentino or whoever I find v. unsettling. They don't look elegant. They look like bored rich housewives trolling Neimans looking for some retail therapy.

For example, Elie Saab who shot to face dressing Halle Berry in THAT dress. Is always interviewed as saying he loves to dress Rania and she is a client of his. But I can't think of one Elie Saab dress that she has worn. Now, granted Elie Saad (am I spelling the guy's name right?) is not Jordanian but he is a lot closer to home than Aramani.

Anyways, I think Armani belongs on the red carpet or Oscars not on the shoulders of a soveriegn's wife. It is too flashy.

But that is just my opinion.

If the country wasn't so poor it wouldn't looked so bad.

[papillon]

Originally Posted by Angie

If the country wasn't so poor it wouldn't looked so bad.

That's my feeling, too. Well, that and the fact that even many of the leaders of far wealthier countries do not flash their wealth. So, it's also a matter of using good judgment and exercising taste to me. Old money families rarely flaunt their wealth. This, to me, is much wiser.

[maryshawn]

I know she died in 1977 but did anyone ever meet her in person and could give us an impression of what she was like? She seemed very kind.......and I saw some videos of KH and QA together at public functions......very cute when she was crowded in and bumped him into a wall......I think she had a gorgeous smile and she just threw him this impish look like "oops."

[mousbah]

from www.mgaproduction.com

official portraits

[golden sun]

ohhhhhhh, she is angle, poor Ali and Haya how they lost such a great mother, please if you have more photos just post them she is beautiful

[salma]

from ANP:

Queen Alia in conference.

[maryshawn]

We've seen the lovely photos. Here are some impressions of QA, the person:

From Mrs. Trudeau:

I met her and KH for the first time when they came to Ottawa for an official visit, immediately after the 1974 elections. We took to each other at once. Alia was magnificent to look at: a mass of striking blond hair, green eyes, an irresistable smile. She arrived when I was at my lowest ebb. Within hours, she had taken me in hand, forced me to laugh about our lives, poked fun at my fears.

There was no formality between us: despite her being a Palestinian born on the West Bank, and me a politician's daughter from Vancouver; we were just two girls, sitting and giggling in her bedroom, me in jeans, she in her invariably magnificent clothes, with trunks of silk lingerie and boxes of priceless jewels scattered about the floor. She understood completely what I was talking about and comforted me: "You're lucky, don't you understand," she kept repeating. "Pierre will eventually leave politics and you'll be free. Mine is a life sentence."

More soberly, she wrote me on Oct. 17, 1974:
"I finally received your letter, as I was reading it I felt I was talking to myself.....It's not easy to find friends in our positions--if we raged and screamed everybody would think we were absolutely crazy but yet I say only people who have feelings and love in them go through this.....Don't overload your husband. Try to control yourself and when he is away, rage, break, scream and cry and get everything out. That is what I have learned to do and it has helped me and my husband.....I am scared to death too because I am afraid for his life. I have never felt so insecure as I do now because of the assasination attempts he has escaped. I only pray to God everything works out."

The fact I knew she was having a much harder time than I was and yet survived and kept smiling was comforting. When we went to Amman in June 1976, I found her just as exuberant but a little worried. Her extravagance and high spirits were beginning to make her enemies in Jordan and she was now frightened a monument she had planned to put up for her daughter, Haya, in the shape of a community center was getting unstuck. She had, she admitted, been rather haughty and gone ahead, sending in bulldozers. The mayor was furious and determined to put a stop to it. Alia was decidedly anxious: "I know I have produced a Crown Prince and that is something," she said to me doubtfully, "but Hussein will be so angry."

We talked, gossiped and comforted each other. We made plans to share a little London house where we could escape to holiday. She had a fantasy we would join the european jet set and decorate our Chelsea home with all the taste she complained was lacking in her modern Amman palace. She wanted to buy Georgian furniture. She was quick, she was sharp, she was witty. She made me laugh with stories of her children: She had just heard 3 year old Haya say graciously to the elder child she and KH had adopted "I am a Princess." Abir sat silent for a moment, then responded: "I am the Queen Mother." She was enormously empathetic--almost telepathically so. On my worst days, the phone would ring and invariably her voice would be on the other end...."Margaret, how ARE you?"

[maryshawn]

After our first meeting in 1974, Queen Alia and I became especially close. After the conference, we corresponded with each other and called frequently on the phone. When she returned on an official visit with KH, she and I would spend many happy hours gossiping on the terrace of the Cataract Hotel overlooking the Nile. Slim and elegant, a personification of the modern Arabic woman, Alia was also a good mimic. I laughed until I gasped one afternoon when she described a meal she had had with the mother of Sultan Qabus: "You must eat more. You look too thin and weak." Alia mimicked while imitating the Sultan's mother poking her in the ribs. "Eat. Eat. Eat. Then you will be healthy."

After she died, I traveled to Amman to pay my condolences to KH, who had learned I was there to see Alia's mother. On my way to the palace, we passed Alia's tomb, which the King had ordered built for his young wife where he could see it from his balcony. My sorrow increased when I entered the palace and saw a huge painting of Alia on the wall beside a portrait of the King. I found it hard to control myself and wept as the King entered the room. He looked stricken, as if he were ill. I could find no words to comfort him but he spoke haltingly to me "I know she loved you very much. We shall both miss her very much....." NOTE: KH was the only Arabic leader to write a letter of condolence upon the assasination of President Sadat. "He alone among the Arab leaders had the integrity to personally mourn the passing of a friend. Just as I had gone to Jordan after Alia's death to express condolences, he now wrote: "I send to you, and my family shares this with me, feelings of sadness at the passing of your husband. God rest his soul, into the company of his Lord who we look to. I and my family offer you the same human feelings and emotions you consoled me with personally the day the will of the Almighty was carried out and He chose to move closer to Him one from my own family.......Please accept from us our feelings of sorrow.......To God we Belong and to Him we return. Your brother, Hussein."

This passage is touching in its portrayal of Alia and KH. He did not forget Mrs. Sadat's grief at the loss of his wife and sent a letter to console her in her hour of need.

[maryshawn]

OK, QA said she had produced a Crown Prince. So was Ali, in fact, named such for awhile or at that time. I think they had a loving relationship but its interesting to hear her express her insecurities about how she was perceived by the people of Jordan and her husband's possible anger with her re: community center in Haya's name.

[madonna23]

Thanks Mary Shawn for posting this article. It's quite interesting.

I don't believe Ali was never named crown prince although I'm sure it was consdered. A King from a Palestinian mother was certainly more desirable than a King from a British mother and Queen Zein was known to dislike the idea of a half-British King. We can never know what would have happened because the idea was thrown out the window with the arrival of Noor.

I also think the part of Haya's community center is intriguing. First off, it convinces me that all of the JRF's (not just Alia) hospitals, community centers, etc. built in their name serve the primary purpose of a monument to the JRF itself and then the purpose of providing services. It's disgraceful but it's also human so I can't criticize any one of them.

Haya's community center incident also shows Alia was not as popular as we think. We also here talk of her extravagence. But also this comes with the turf, I think. We can't expect Alia to be an angel - all humans have flaws. We also don't know how much of these perceptions were true. Anyhow, whatever Alia was like personally, I think her true appeal lay - and still lies - in her face. Somehow, whenever I see a picture of her, I get the impression that this is a very "real" woman. I can't explain it but I just don't see it in Noor or Rania. It's not their fault, of course, but don't get the same impression as when I look at Alia. There's something in her eyes, and especially in her smile, that speaks of sadness and longing and acceptance.

[Humera]

Its wierd I've never seen any pictures of this visit of Queen Alia to Canada..not even in the Canadian Press. I wonder what the Queen thought of Prime Minister Trudeau.
He was one sexy guy

I guess Queen Alia hoped Prince Ali would be the Crown Prince..

"I know I have produced a Crown Prince and that is something,"

It just goes to show that none of the King's wives, at least not Alia, Muna, and Noor, were so unselfish as to not wish their sons to be the next crown prince. All three had the same ambition in that respect.
Had Queen Alia been alive today, things might have been different.

[sommone]

Thanks MS for posting this....More and more I am learning things about Alia. I can only imagine her fears for her husband. As far as her extravagance, well wasn't it KH who wanted her to dress a in lavish things...not saying she did or didn't enjoy it. Just reading this article makes me like Alia even more.

[queenkat101]

Anyhow, whatever Alia was like personally, I think her true appeal lay - and still lies - in her face. Somehow, whenever I see a picture of her, I get the impression that this is a very "real" woman. I can't explain it but I just don't see it in Noor or Rania. It's not their fault, of course, but don't get the same impression as when I look at Alia. There's something in her eyes, and especially in her smile, that speaks of sadness and longing and acceptance.

I understand what you are getting at.... I think that Alia was a woman that thought with her heart as opposed to her mind.... I think Rania and Noor can detatch themselves emotionally from certain things (criticism, the busy schedule of their husbands, perhaps even being second in importance to their husbands...Jordan being first of course), but I think Alia was vulnerable and thought with her heart.... and I think people can recognize that and appreciate it. She almost reminds me a bit of Princess Diana in that respect....

[T-R-O-U-B-L-E]

Originally Posted by sommone

Thanks MS for posting this....More and more I am learning things about Alia. I can only imagine her fears for her husband. As far as her extravagance, well wasn't it KH who wanted her to dress a in lavish things...not saying she did or didn't enjoy it. Just reading this article makes me like Alia even more.

Alia Toukan (Queen Alia then) was born rich and was used to the lavish things,so we can't blame her... Al-Toukan are known to be one of the richest Jordanian (from palestinian origins) families,especially her father and now her brother...

[madonna23]

I think Alia's legacy would have been very different had she lived. She really could have gone either way but I suspect that she would have followed Noor and Rania - becoming the modern, jet-setting queen. I guess there is just something about the JRF environment that motivates these women to choose this path.