He was a royal prince, eldest son of Jordan's King Hussein. She was a polished executive-in-training from a middle-class Palestinian doctor's family. Royal lore has it that the radiant Rania Al-Yassin was considering marriage to another man when she met Jordan's dashing Prince Abdullah, then deputy commander of Jordan's elite special forces, at a dinner party in January 1993. Her plans changed when the stunning 22-year-old Apple Computer employee caught the future king's eye.
"For me, it sounds a bit corny, but it was love at first sight," King Abdullah II would later tell correspondent Christiane Amanpour for a CBS "60 Minutes" profile of his wife, Queen Rania Al-Abdullah. During the same interview, Queen Rania recalled it was intimidating that the handsome military man was the son of one of the Middle East's most powerful men. "But in the end, it was really boy meets girl," she said of their attraction.
After a courtship of just two months, King Hussein approached Rania's father on behalf of his son with a formal request for his daughter's hand in marriage. "It was really quite romantic," Queen Rania recalled of the late king's proposal. King Hussein's mother, Queen Zein, is said to have prophetically told Queen Rania she was destined to be "the diamond" in the reigning Hashemite family. Their June 10 wedding was a glittering affair. At the time, Prince Abdullah was not the nation's crown prince. That title was held by King Hussein's brother, Prince Hassan, for years the assumed heir to the throne. Still, as oldest son of King Hussein's 12 children, his marriage was feted as a grand state occasion.
A clutch of hard-working Brits in the fashion, media, and music worlds have won top honors from Queen Elizabeth II. Her Majesty’s 2010 New Year Honors List — an annual roster of high-achievers in their respective fields — was published, with figures including veteran fashion designer and outspoken campaigner for Fair Trade cotton Katherine Hamnett and Raymond Kelvin, founder of Ted Baker, both set to receive a Commander of the Order of the British Empire. Hamnett said: “I tend to pooh-pooh these kind of things but at the same time it’s frightening how nice it is. It’s seductive. And my friends have been adorable about it. It’s quite funny, I’m respectable at last.”
Footwear designer Beatrix Ong and fashion designer Alice Temperley will each receive an MBE, or Member of the Order of the British Empire, while Wendy Dagworthy, the head of London’s Royal College of Art’s fashion program, and Tanya Sarne, founder of the label Ghost, will each collect an OBE, or Officer of the Order of the British Empire. Mark and Mo Constantine, the founders of Lush Cosmetics, have both received OBEs for their services to the industry.
Other figures to receive honors include author Lady Antonia Fraser, who has been named a Dame, the equivalent of a knighthood, and Annie Lennox, who will pick up her OBE later this year. Lennox said she was “genuinely honoured” to receive an OBE for her work fighting Aids and poverty in Africa. The singer is an Oxfam global ambassador and was inspired by Nelson Mandela to launch the Sing campaign to raise money to prevent the spread of HIV in South Africa. “As somewhat of a renegade, it either means I’ve done something terribly right - or they’ve done something terribly wrong,” she said. “In any case, whatever powers that be have deemed me worthy of such a recognition, I’m getting my fake leopard pillbox hat dusted and ready.” Those honored will receive their medals and congratulations from members of the royal family, including the Queen herself, during separate ceremonies set to take place later this year.
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When Arab-American beauty Elizabeth (Lisa) Najeeb Halaby met the late King Hussein of Jordan at an Amman airport ceremony in 1976 it was the beginning of an improbable royal fairy-tale.
The Princeton-educated daughter of an Arab-American airline executive was working with her father (a friend of the king's) on a consulting project. The stunning and articulate young woman, who would become Jordan's Queen Noor, has said there were no special "sparks" on that fateful day.
That would change following the tragic 1977 death of the Arab leader's third wife, Queen Alia, in a helicopter crash. The heartbroken king, raising eight children from his marriages, eventually began to court the 26-year-old American beauty.
After a six-week romance, Halaby hesitated at the king's life-altering marriage proposal, made as the two shared an after-dinner plate of apples. The young urban planner finally accepted after a few days of contemplation. She would later say her decision to marry the monarch 16 years her senior was out of love "for the man, not the king."
We just LOVE these black & white photos of Olivia Palermo!
Our favorite fashionista & style crush recently revealed to Spanish Vogue that she will be launching her own fashion line! Her design venture will be the focus of her new reality show, and we can't wait to see what it looks like!!!
Take a behind the scenes peek of her Spanish Vogue (January 2011 issue) photoshoot in the video below!
By the way, are we the only ones who think she looks a bit like a young Fairuz in the top photo?? :)