Rania Al Abdullah

Rania Al Abdullah born Rania AlYassin 31 August 1970 is the queen of Jordan from 1999 As the wife of King Abdullah II of Jordan Rania drew on her position as queen to advocate on behalf of numerous causes including the rights of women and children Rania whose family was of Palestinian descent her father was from Tulkarm her mother from Nablus was born and raised in Kuwait After completing her primary and secondary education there she earned a degree in business administration from the American University in Cairo 1991 In her early professional career Rania worked in the fields of banking and information technology In January 1993 she met Abdullah then a prince at a dinner party and they were engaged two months later On June 10 1993 Rania and Abdullah were married and Rania became a princess When Abdullahs father King Hussein died in 1999 Abdullah succeeded him as king of Jordan and shortly thereafter he elevated Rania from princess to queen As queen of Jordan Rania championed an array of causes including the rights of women and children access to education environmental concerns and the development of strong Jordanian communities She founded a variety of charities and made frequent appearances both at local eventsshe was known to visit some of the kingdoms remote villages unannouncedand at international functions Rania also embraced new forms of communication in March 2008 she launched a video blog as part of her efforts to deconstruct stereotypes about Arabs and promote dialogue with the West She also amassed millions of followers on social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter posting messages related to her causes and pictures of herself and her family