Today marks the 25th Anniversary of the Death of King Hussein of Jordan, who passed away on this day in 1999. The dynamic ruler of the Hashemite Kingdom for over four turbulent decades became the world’s longest-serving executive Head of State.
The eldest child of King Talal bin Abdullah and Zein al-Sharaf bint Jamil, Prince Hussein was born during the reign of his grandfather, King Abdullah I. The Hashemites are the world’s second-oldest-ruling dynasty which had ruled Mecca for over 700 years until 1925, and had reigned in Jordan since 1921. Prince Hussein began his education in Amman before studying at Victoria College in Alexandria and then going to Harrow School in England with his cousin, King Faisal II of Iraq.
In 1951, Prince Hussein was with his grandfather, King Abdullah I, when he was assassinated in Jerusalem, which led to the accession of King Talal, who was forced to abdicate thirteen months later due to his schizophrenia. After a Regency for a few months, King Hussein was enthroned at the age of 17 on 2 May 1953, the same day as his cousin, King Faisal II of Iraq.
Between 1955 and 1957, King Hussein was married to Princess Dina Abdul-Hamid, having one daughter, before he married Princess Muna in 1961 and had four children, including the current King Abdullah II of Jordan, before their divorce in 1971. The next year, the King married Queen Alia, having two children, including Princess Haya, before her tragic death in 1977. The following year, King Hussein married for the fourth time to Queen Noor, having four children and remaining married until his death.
King Hussein led Jordan through four turbulent decades of the Arab–Israeli conflict and the Cold War, successfully balancing pressures from Arab nationalists, Islamists, the Soviet Union, Western countries, and Israel, transforming Jordan by the end of his 46-year reign into a stable modern state. King Hussein was a constitutional monarch with wide executive and legislative powers, allowing in 1956 the formation of the only democratically elected government in Jordan’s history, but a few months later he forced the leftist government to resign, declaring martial law and banning political parties, only lifting martial law and reintroducing elections in 1989 after riots. Jordan fought three wars with Israel under King Hussein, including the 1967 Six-Day War, which ended in Jordan’s loss of the West Bank. The King renounced Jordan’s ties to the West Bank in 1988 after the Palestine Liberation Organization was recognized internationally as the sole representative of the Palestinians and in 1994 he became the second Arab head of state to sign a peace treaty with Israel.
After 1967, King Hussein engaged in efforts to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, acting as a conciliatory intermediate between various Middle Eastern rivals, and being seen as the region’s peacemaker, but also survived dozens of assassination attempts and plots to overthrow him, becoming the world’s longest-serving executive Head of State when he died at the age of 63 from cancer in 1999, being succeeded by his elder son, King Abdullah II of Jordan.
