Duc_et_Pair
Imperial Majesty
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I was of the impression that Hamzah was made crown prince because when Abdullah became king as King Abdullah’s own son was only 5 years old and it was better to have an adult as crown prince in case something happened, but people in Jordan only expected this to be temporary until Abdullah’s son was old enough to be named heir. The same with Hassan, he was named crown prince at a time when King Hussein’s sons were small children and from what I can gather from Jordanian friends no-one ever expected Hassan to become king.
I am told that Hamzah is well respected in Jordan, but the King and Crown Prince are more popular. Hamzah appears to be against the government and corruption, not his brother. Reading the Jordanian government’s statements it seems it is their position they are worried about, although a forced change of government could have ultimately led to change of monarch.
There is a lot of speculation and people have already come to their own conclusions based on gossip and little factual information, which, sadly, is the way of the modern world.
Of course Prince Hamzah citicizes the Government but automatically hits the King, whom is an essential part of Government and is not placed on a distance, like in European monarchies.
It are the King's ministers, it are the King's armed forces and it especially are the King's omnipresent spies, his intelligence agencies, which control the Jordanians. Add to this: the kleptocratic elite, the tribes, which have to be "satisfied". Add to this: the eternal and crippling corruption ("What is in it for me?") and you a once young and promising King unable or unwilling to change this. The young King himself changed into an old granite cornerstone, an embodiment, of all what goes wrong because "change is unstability, and unstability is dangerous for a monarchy".
It is exact the same situation as King Mohammed of Morocco is into. With that difference that due to different personalities and family dynamics and less tribality plus lots of EU money, the situation in Morocco is better than in Jordan.
Underlying message of this house arrest: if even a popular prince is not safe for the iron fist of the King's intelligence agencies, no any ordinary Jordanian is.
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