* Full text can be read as follows;
May, 2021
3. Crown prince had been replaced twice
In 1999, King Hussein (then) had been admitted
to a hospital in US for cancer treatment. King realized that he had no life
expectancy. He took a surprising action. He returned home by a special flight
while lying on his bed. King persuaded his younger brother, then Crown Prince
Hassan, to hand over the title of the crown prince to King’s eldest son,
Abdullah II, of 38 years old. King Hussein flew back to the United States
immediately and he died shortly.
It was Prince Hamza, a half-brother, who
became the crown prince in 1999 under the new King Abdullah II. At that time, Abdullah
II had a son named Hussein with the Palestinian Queen, Rania. But Hussein was only
five years old. So, King Abdullah II made his half-brother Hamza the Crown Prince.
During the reign of King Abdullah II, there were the September 11 attacks in 2001
and the Iraq War in 2003. The Middle East continued to be unrest. The king and
crown prince of half-brothers cooperated each other to keep small Jordan in
safe.
The replacement of crown prince was done
peacefully without any inner battle. The reason of peaceful succession would be
that Jordan, a small and fragile country, could not afford to waste time on the
trouble of the inner circle within the royal family. Both the king and the
crown prince fully acknowledged the situation. Hamza gave up the position of
the crown prince. King Abdullah II picked up the symptom of future family
struggles by adopting the inheritance rule that the king’s son should be the
next king.
Generally speaking, the succession issue is
not so simple even if the person concerned (in this case, Abdullah II and Hamza)
agreed each other. There are many people in both sides looking for sweet
fruits. They might lose their sweet fruits if their boss lost his position.
They, therefore, try to persuade or allure the boss to keep the status quo. In
this case, it could be possible to think that the entourage of Prince Hamza
tried to attempt coup d'etat. Furthermore, Hamza's wife, Princess Basmah, might
be involved in the plot. Basmah was a first female pilot in Jordan. She was
born in Canada and her father was a businessman. Her mother-in-law, Queen Noor
was a Syrian-American.
Remember the kinship of the current King
Abdullah II. The King's mother, Princess Muna, was an English woman. King’s
wife, Queen Rania was born in Kuwait to a Palestinian refugee doctor. Then
Crown Prince Abdullah fell in love with Rania when she was working as a
journalist in Jordan after graduating from college in Kuwait. Rania became the
Crown Princess and later the Queen. She was a Cinderella girl.
Commenting in the style of a gossip magazine, Princess
Basmah is a genuine Jordanian and her mother-in-law was a Syrian Arab. On the
other hand, Basmah’s brother-in-law, King Abdullah II is a half between Arab
and British, and his wife Rania is a Palestinian refugee.
Basmah might think that which is more suitable,
her husband or King’s son as the successor of the noble Hashemite Family which
is the descendent of Prophet Muhammad? It was reported that Princess Basmah
contacted a certain country in search of asylum after the incident was disclosed[1].
It can guess that Hashemite house turmoil was based on the complicated kinship.
This is a gossip-style commentary
on the case. There is no difference between the royal family or the merchant
family in both the East and West regarding domestic struggle.
(Cont’d)
By Areha Kazuya
E-mail: Arehakazuya1@gmail.com
[1] Prince
Hamzeh, inner clique’s attempts to undermine security, stability foiled —
deputy PM
2021/4/5
The Jordan Times
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