An old joke from Eugenio talked about two children who wondered what had asked the Magi that year.One said "a scalextric" and the other, "a tampax".To the first question why a tampax, the second child replied: "Because with a tampax you can dive, raise a mountain, drive a motorcycle, go to the beach ...".The life in photos of King Abdalá II of Jordan remembers the joke: the king who dives, pilots, riding a motorcycle, makes paratrooper, shoots automatic weapons...
But his public image also projects that of the king who has modernized the economy of his country, encouraged commercial transparency, legislated against corruption, kept at bay to the Islamic State that makes noise in the neighboring Saudi Arabia, allowed entry to refugeesSyrians fled from war and formed a family that seems beautiful and harmonious with a modern woman, but who knows and appreciates tradition, rania.
Abdalá Bin al-Hussein, a direct descendant of the prophet Muhammad in a quadragesimo first generation, according to the tradition of the hachemite dynasty that reigns in Jordan since 1921, he was born in Amán in 1962.Son of King Hussein and his second wife, the British Princess Muna, Abdalá grew up knowing that he was not going to inherit the throne because his father had chosen his uncle, Prince Hassan.
He was educated in Britain from preschool and then studied at Oxford and Georgetown universities.In 1980 he enrolled at the Sandhurst Military Academy and served in the British Army in East Germany, opening a military career for which he is known, especially for his role as commander of the Jordanian Special Forces.
Quién es quién en la familia real de Jordania: cuatro esposas, nueve hermanos y muchos divorcios Núria TiburcioThe unexpected crown
In 1993 he met Rania Al-Assin, the daughter of a Palestinian doctor, at a dinner of friends of both.Little is known about that event, but six months later they married a great summer wedding Jordana.They have four children (Hussein, Imán, Salma and Hashem) and over the years lived a discreet life to be Jordan.
Abdalá related scenes of his normal life in an interview with the American program '60 minute 'in 2016, while living in the United States, where he did a military course."My wife prepared breakfast to me and our children, who were young, then took me to the base by car, picked me up at noon, I put the washing machine ..." he said to his interviewee's surprise.To which the monarch replied that making washing machines, folding clothes and being self -sufficient is a requirement of military life.And while he seemed destined for the military race and nothing more, a few days before he died, his father changed his mind and appointed him successor to the throne.
My Mom Doesn't Know How To Wash Grapes Properly.
— Mels Sun Jan 29 23:34:20 +0000 2012
Abdalá counts in the same interview that he replied "yes, sir", as he always did, and that he also added: "But I don't want this".His father replied: "That is another reason why I have chosen you".His reasons for not wanting the work were, as he broke out, that he was very sacrificed, "with so many responsibilities ..., I saw what my father did, it was a lot of pressure on him, about the family ...";And yet he was crowned king and his effigies, reproduced in various sizes, hang from walls and buildings throughout the kingdom.
They say the rumors, and he has confirmed it in interviews, that from time to time he likes to dress discreetly, hiding his identity, and going to the streets of his country to observe, chat and take the pulse of his people.The monarch understands that his work also requires reality baths.Like the one he made publicly in 1998, when he headed a military operation to stop an attacker who had killed eight people in Amán.
Geographic, political and familiarly complicated
Jordan plays a delicate diplomatic role in the Middle East, historically close to Great Britain since World War I, and at present, thanks to his monarch, markedly opposite to the radical Islam of Al Qaeda and the Islamic State.Dialogue with the West, however, Abdalá has criticized on more than one occasion the condescension of the distant powers that want to explain to the mediors how to understand each other.In addition, Jordan was the second country to sign a peace agreement with Israel.He did it in 1994, despite housing a very large Palestinian population.Muslim and Christian holy places also custody in Eastern Jerusalem, which adds another element of tension.
The king has a famous joke that describes the difficult area in which his country is and the conflicts of the place: "We are between Iraq and a difficult place";The difficult place is Israel.The constitutional monarch Abdalá II liberalized the Jordanian economy as soon as the throne assumed and its reforms produced an economic boom that stopped in 2008, with the world recession and the side effects of the Arab spring.When the massive protests of 2011 broke up demanding reforms in different countries of the region, some led to civil wars and Abdalá responded to internal discomfort and the demands of change modifying the government and introducing constitutional and legislative reforms.
At the same time, almost a million and a half of Syrian refugees from the Islamic State entered the country.However, in recent years the shadow of corruption plays on the king - for purchases of millionaire properties and evasion of currencies between the accusations - and an apparent frustrated coup d'etat carried out by his stepbrother Hamza highlighted last yearthe instability of the monarchy with a reputation of being the most stable.
Hamza is the greatest of the children that the monarch's father had with Queen Noor.The next in the line of succession after Abdala was going to be Hamza, according to the express desire of King Hussein, but five years after his death Abdalá II withdrew his stepbrother from the succession line and appointed his own eldest son, Hussein in his place.After the alleged coup attempt, Hamza was put in house arrest.He himself recorded a video broadcast by the BBC in which he had that he had been stripped of his advisors, guards, telephone connection and the Internet in Jordan's disgust and nepotism, he said, he said.The Jordanian government dictated the prohibition of informing about what was happening in the palace and there was the thing for the observers.
The King's national and international popularity, however, continues as always.Abdalá is active Arab leader with more years of service and is very active.Their efforts are praised to promote interreligious dialogue in their country and also outside.Unconditional fan of the Star Trek series, asked to be given an extra paper and got it.He has guides 'Discovery Channel' and they say he can be seen riding in his Harley Davidson for Wadi Rum Rumos.
