Dina... Queen of Jordan

She is no legend, but a reality!! A woman and a crown!! The crown of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan — and its queen, the Emira Dina, only child of her father, the Emir Abd al-Hamid al-Awn of the Hashemite line and cousin of King Hussein the First of the Meccan royal family; her mother is the Emira Fakhriyya Brau, of the line of the famous Circassian Kabartai tribe — from her Dina took the legendary Circassian beauty.

She was born in Egypt, where her people settled after they left the Hijaz in the wake of the Wahhabi invasion in 1920. Other members of the family moved to Jordan and Iraq. King Faisal the First founded the ruling Hashemite state in Iraq, and his younger brother, King Abdullah (grandfather of King Hussein), became emir, and later, in 1947, king of Jordan.

Queen Dina has a winning personality and captivating conversation, joining to splendor of countenance an intelligence that arouses interest and admiration. She is the only queen in the world to hold the degree of Master (M.A.) in English literature, from Cambridge University in 1947. She keeps up wide and elevated reading, preferring books of art and philosophy and the literature of the nineteenth century. "Perhaps because I know it better than modern literature," says Queen Dina.

Before she became queen, Dina was not that secluded, aloof aristocrat: she lectured in English literature at the Institute of Arts of Cairo University, and also attended the Arabic courses at the institute of the Arab League. Her first incentive for studying English literature was her hope of acquainting the Western world with the Arab world through her writings. She takes care to follow daily events with the utmost attention, and she loves travel. Among her aims, before she became wife and mother, was to travel through the Arab world to study and consolidate Arab music and dance and the folk dance.

Her life now is a full, complete life, and often one of many demands. Yet she finds in it a struggle without which she would not feel her life to be of great worth. And she gives her threefold role — as wife, mother, and queen — an undivided attention.

Her day usually begins around nine, when she takes her part in caring for her baby daughter "Alia," six months old. Then she oversees the activity of the palace, approves the menus, arranges the flowers, and makes sure that everything is running its natural course; she likes to know everything that happens in the palace and to concern herself personally with the conditions and welfare of the palace staff.

Then she listens as her secretary recounts to her a summary of the most important local and world events, after which she turns to answering the long letters that pour in upon her from every part of the world — many of whose writers ask the Queen's help and patronage, while others ask only what it feels like to be a woman who has borne the burdens of kingship. Besides people, there are the endless audiences: she sometimes appoints about twenty audiences in a single day. Her zeal and devotion have astonished everyone who has met her, and she is famed for her kindness and her composed, calm smile.

On official occasions Queen Dina seldom appears in the company of King Hussein, in deference to the traditions of her Muslim country. But she carries a share of the social duties and has no room left for a private life of her own. Even so, she shares common pleasures with the King. Her sitting room contains, like many modern homes, various games — dominoes, Chinese checkers, and (Monopoly) — and a library, a recording machine, a collection of pictures taken during her travels, and small souvenirs she has brought back from several parts. The palace also contains a projection room where the King and Queen and their guests watch the popular films, and films the two of them have taken — for the camera is a hobby they share.

And though she believes with firm faith in woman's political right and in the importance of the role woman plays in the life of the nation, Queen Dina feels that woman's duty turns first to her home and her family, for they are the cornerstone of society and the foundation in the building of the nation.

She has entire respect for what the Jordanian woman is doing to raise the level of the social organizations. She says there are in the country close to seventy social organizations, ten of them in the capital. And because she is sincere and practical, she refuses to give this activity a merely nominal patronage. So you find her devoted and persevering in taking a practical part in organizing and multiplying the efforts to spread voluntary service.

Queen Dina says: "It is of the utmost necessity that woman should have her political right, if only to strengthen her morale. But it is more necessary still that woman prepare herself for the responsibilities these rights entail. I feel strongly that our men do not really believe in keeping woman in the rear, but that they do so mostly from habit and tradition. A little energy and boldness on the part of the fair sex will smooth her rapid advance toward her goal."

And, as every queen should be, Queen Dina is the perfect example for the women of her homeland. In her company and with her encouragement, the women of Jordan move steadily onward toward emancipation and equality.

The article was published in English in the magazine "Al-Kulliyah."