Princess Dina Abdul-Hamid of Jordan

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The Royal Hashemite Court has announced the death of Her Royal Highness Princess Dina bint Abdul-Hamid, the former Queen of Jordan, at the age of 89 in Amman. The daughter of Sharif Abdul-Hamid bin Muhammad Abdul-Aziz Al-Aun and Fahria Brav, she was born Sharifa Dina bint Abdul-Hamid of Mecca in Cairo, and educated at a boarding school in England, after which she obtained a degree in English literature from Girton College, Cambridge University, and a post graduate diploma in social science from Bedford College, London. Upon her return to Egypt, she taught English literature and philosophy at the University of Cairo. In 1955, she married her distant cousin, King Hussein of Jordan, a match arranged by Dowager Queen Zein, who soon saw the new Queen Dina as a threat to her own status. The couple had one daughter, Princess Alia, and divorced the following year, likely at the promoting of his mother, with the late King going on to marry three more times. She lost her title of Queen Consort and became ‘HRH Princess Dina Abdul-Hamid of Jordan’, and was not allowed to see her daughter for a period of time after returning to Egypt. In 1970, Princess Dina married Lieut-Colonel Asad Sulayman Abd al-Qadir, a Palestinian guerrilla commando who became a high-ranking official in the Palestine Liberation Organization. He was imprisoned by the Israelis in 1982, and a year later, Princess Dina negotiated one of the largest prisoner exchanges in history—freeing her husband and 8,000 other prisoners. Princess Dina spent the rest of her life out of the public spotlight, occasionally appearing at Jordanian Royal events, and published a memoir of her experiences ‘Duet for Freedom’, recounting how she liberated the prisoners.

Princess Dina’s funeral took place in the afternoon at the Royal Guard Mosque in presence of King Abdullah, Crown Prince Hussein, Prince Hassan and other members of the Royal Family, and she was buried in the Royal Tombs.

History of Royal Women

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