Personal Info
- Country of residence: Jordan
Information
Alia Bahaa El-Din Touqan, and her
fame is Queen Alia Al-Hussein (December 25, 1948 - February 9, 1977), the third
wife of the late King Hussein of Jordan, Hussein bin Talal. She was born in
Cairo to a family of Palestinian origin from the city of Nablus. Her father is
the former Jordanian ambassador to the United Kingdom, Bahaa Toukan. She
married King Hussein on December 24, 1972. After marriage, she was called Queen
Alia Al Hussein. They had two children: Princess Haya (born May 3, 1974). and
Prince Ali (born December 23, 1975).
She was educated in Ankara, London,
Amman, Rome, and New York, studying political science and social psychology.
She was fluent in English and Italian. After her return to Jordan, she worked
in the Jordanian Airlines / Public Relations Branch.
She received the Hashemite necklace
from King Hussein bin Talal, and was awarded an honorary rank of colonel in the
Jordanian Armed Forces. She loved water sports, tennis, music and reading.
She died on February 9, 1977, when
the helicopter she was traveling in crashed while she was on her way to
southern Jordan on an inspection trip to the remote areas of Tafilah. After her
death, the international airport in Amman was named after her.
her childhood
Alia was born in Cairo on December
25, 1948. Alia is the only daughter of the Hashemite Minister of the Royal
Court and Ambassador Bahaa El-Din Touqan. Her siblings are the Consultant
Gastroenterologist in Jordan, Dr. Ala El-Din Touqan, and the former Minister of
Communications, Dr. Abdullah Touqan. Her father moved to Turkey as an
ambassador to Jordan, so she learned the Turkish language there when she
started speaking at the hands of her Turkish nanny. Her father moved as an
ambassador between several capitals such as London, Paris, Rome and Washington,
so she studied in the schools of those cities and learned Italian and English,
while Arabic was her mother tongue. She returned to Cairo with her father, a
political refugee during the reign of President Gamal Abdel Nasser, and stayed
for a while in the city of Alexandria, living in a building on the
Mediterranean Sea in the Glim area, near the villa of musician Muhammad Abdel
Wahhab, a friend of her father, who later married Mrs. Nahla al-Qudsi, the
mother of Amr al-Rifai, the ambassador. The former Jordanian in Cairo.
Alia and her family used to spend
some time in the villa of Sobhi Touqan in Alexandria, who was accompanying King
Talal and played an important role in the stability of Baha El-Din Touqan in
Egypt, and Dr. says about her. Abdel Fattah Touqan “The queen, when she was
still young, loved to come to us and play together” with cigarette holders “in
the form of wheels (car tyres), from the Al-Nasr Automotive Manufacturing
Company. It was given to us by Anwar Farid Al-Saleh, “Abu Mazen”, whose
children later married Princesses Alia and Zain King Hussein's daughters. In
those days, Egypt was full of Jordanians from all walks of life and
orientations, and we had strong relations with everyone from the ocean to the
Gulf, since Egypt was called “the helipad of the free and the castle of the
revolutionaries” at the time...
She attended the Church School in
London and the Rome Center for the Liberal Arts of Loyola, and became active in
organizing students, doing secretarial work, editing the yearbook, and participating
in sports. Later, she joined Hunter College, where she graduated in 1971 with a
minor in political science, in social psychology and public relations. She
worked as a typist in the travel department of American Express in New York.
Her father encouraged her to become a modern liberated woman. She aspired to
follow in her father's footsteps and become a diplomat, but her ambitions went
beyond what was acceptable for a Jordanian woman, and she instead accepted a
quasi-diplomatic position as a public relations officer for the Jordanian
airline.
her life
In 1971, Alia returned to Amman to
work. It so happened that she met King Hussein at a family celebration. King
Hussein did not recognize her and asked Prince Zaid bin Shaker about her
identity. Practically, the king had known Alia since she was a child because he
used to spend his school holidays (Hussein was studying at Victoria College in
Cairo) at the ambassador's house. From that moment on, the friendship between
the King and Alia began and only a few weeks later he announced their
engagement. The King asked her to supervise the preparations for the first
session of the International Water Skiing Festival to be held that year. When
the King proposed marriage he was still married to his second wife, Mona, and
this caused a great stir in Jordan at the time.
Queen Alia was known for her love of
goodness and benevolence. She was also known for her participation in many
events and for encouraging the work of Jordanian women in all fields. She
chaired the National Committee to Support the Battle that was formed during the
1973 war. She also participated in the meetings of the Afro-Arab Women's
Parliamentary Conference held in Cairo on May 18, 1974. She chaired the Royal
Committee for the Rehabilitation and Care of People with Disabilities. in
Jordan, and assumed the honorary presidency of the University of Jordan Alumni
Club.
In 1974, the Queen called for women
to be given the same right to vote as men in Jordan, and later that year, the
law granting women the right to vote was launched. Libraries were established
throughout the kingdom also because of her love of literature.
Queen Alia took an active role as
monarch and established the Queen's Office. The late Queen represented
Jordanian women in many international conferences, to be a model for Arab
women, and to support Arab women's issues and their participation in social and
economic development. Her interest in the arts led to the founding of the Haya
Children's Cultural Center (November 14, 1976) and the National Folklore
Ensemble.
In her short reign as queen of the
Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Alia Touqan broke with tradition and raised
eyebrows among the conservative Muslim aristocrats of Amman society. And in a
land where women still lived under ancient constraints, the young
Western-themed queen was well known for her love of fast cars, motorbikes,
surfing, American pop music and blue jeans.
her family and her family
She married the late King Hussein
bin Talal on December 24, 1972, as the wedding ceremony took place on December
24, 1972 at the home of Queen Alia's parents in Amman. The wedding was small
and private, with only 12 people in attendance. And Alia Touqan, the third wife
of King Hussein, received the title of queen after marriage, while his previous
wives did not obtain the title. She gave birth to Princess Haya (May 3, 1974
-), who married Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Ruler of Dubai and Prime Minister
of the United Arab Emirates, and Prince Ali bin Al Hussein (December 23, 1975
-), brother of King Abdullah II, who married Reem Al-Ibrahimi, daughter of the
Algerian Foreign Minister Ibrahimi green. The couple also had an adopted
daughter, Abeer in December 1973, as Abeer lost her parents the same year when
a Soviet plane crashed into their home in a refugee camp in Amman.
She was the first wife of King
Hussein to be called the Queen, and she was also the first to accompany him on
trips abroad. She was with him during his visits to the United States in 1973
and 1974. She hosted the first Christmas party to be held at the home of the
Muslim king in 1974. her family and her family
She married the late King Hussein
bin Talal on December 24, 1972, as the wedding ceremony took place on December
24, 1972 at the home of Queen Alia's parents in Amman. The wedding was small
and private, with only 12 people in attendance. And Alia Touqan, the third wife
of King Hussein, received the title of queen after marriage, while his previous
wives did not obtain the title. She gave birth to Princess Haya (May 3, 1974
-), who married Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Ruler of Dubai and Prime Minister
of the United Arab Emirates, and Prince Ali bin Al Hussein (December 23, 1975
-), brother of King Abdullah II, who married Reem Al-Ibrahimi, daughter of the
Algerian Foreign Minister Ibrahimi green. The couple also had an adopted
daughter, Abeer in December 1973, as Abeer lost her parents the same year when
a Soviet plane crashed into their home in a refugee camp in Amman.
She was the first wife of King
Hussein to be called the Queen, and she was also the first to accompany him on
trips abroad. She was with him during his visits to the United States in 1973
and 1974. She hosted the first Christmas party to be held at the home of the
Muslim king in 1974. her family and her family
She married the late King Hussein
bin Talal on December 24, 1972, as the wedding ceremony took place on December
24, 1972 at the home of Queen Alia's parents in Amman. The wedding was small
and private, with only 12 people in attendance. And Alia Touqan, the third wife
of King Hussein, received the title of queen after marriage, while his previous
wives did not obtain the title. She gave birth to Princess Haya (May 3, 1974
-), who married Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Ruler of Dubai and Prime Minister
of the United Arab Emirates, and Prince Ali bin Al Hussein (December 23, 1975
-), brother of King Abdullah II, who married Reem Al-Ibrahimi, daughter of the
Algerian Foreign Minister Ibrahimi green. The couple also had an adopted
daughter, Abeer in December 1973, as Abeer lost her parents the same year when
a Soviet plane crashed into their home in a refugee camp in Amman.
She was the first wife of King
Hussein to be called the Queen, and she was also the first to accompany him on
trips abroad. She was with him during his visits to the United States in 1973
and 1974. She hosted the first Christmas party to be held at the home of the
Muslim king in 1974.
Achievements and Awards
her death
Queen Alia died on February 9, 1977
AD. She was returning from a check-up trip to Tafila Hospital in southern
Jordan when the military helicopter she was traveling in crashed. Among the
victims of the accident were the Minister of Health, Muhammad Al-Bashir, the
pilot Badr Al-Din Zaza, a friend of King Hussein, the military doctor, and
“Muhannad Al-Khas”, the personal attendant of Queen Alia Touqan. Despite bad
weather and King Hussein's warnings not to make the visit that day, Queen Alia
wanted to know if the letters she had received from the sick were true.
After confirming the accident at
17:30, King Hussein announced on television and radio the death of his wife and
the start of seven days of mourning throughout Jordan. Two days later, on
February 11, Queen Alia was buried in the grounds surrounding the Hashemite
Palace, a palace designed for the young queen. Construction was completed just
three months before her death. In honor of Queen Alia's death, 21 bullets were
fired in her farewell as her body was buried next to a tree she had planted.
Her funeral, along with the king and family members, was attended by Syrian
President Hafez al-Assad, German Foreign Minister Hans Dietrich, Empress Farah
of Iran, Queen Sophia of Spain, and Jihan Sadat.
The Likud Party's accession to power
in Israel resulted in a major change in Israel's foreign policy. In contrast to
the pragmatic Labor Party, which was concerned with Israel's security, the
Likud was an ideological, nationalist party that adhered to the "Land of
Israel" project and completely rejected any demands for Jordan and any
Palestinian right to self-determination. The year 1977 coincided with the
silver jubilee of King Hussein's ascension to the throne of Jordan, but it was
a tragic year in terms of his private life and a source of frustration on the
political level. His grief was compounded by a feeling of guilt for allowing
Queen Alia to travel on board the royal helicopter in bad weather. King
Hussein's first foreign visit after that tragic incident was on April 24 to the
United States, where he met former US President Jimmy Carter and his advisors
at the White House. In the same month, 32 years after her departure, he mourned
her on Jordanian television, tearfully. The pain squeezes his heart, and after
a love story that ended with the fall of her military helicopter.
Some disagree about the
circumstances and circumstances of the death of the late queen, just as they
disagree about the death of Field Marshal Abdel Hakim Amer in Egypt, with a
difference, and some believe that she died in her helicopter for one reason or
another. However, the story of the accident, which some described as
"orchestrated," is, in the opinion of some, malicious beliefs and misplaced
rumors.
her memory
The new Jordan International Airport
was named after her on the fortieth anniversary of her death. Its name was also
given to the Heart Center in Al-Hussein Medical City. A stamp was issued in its
image. In 1983, Queen Alia Military Hospital was established, with a capacity
of 170 beds at the time. Later, her daughter, Princess Haya, established Tkiyet
Um Ali, in her memory, the first non-governmental organization for food relief
in the region that provides assistance to needy families.
source
- Years in active
: From
To