Princess Basma bint Talal

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Princess Basma bint Talal

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Princess Basma
Royal Princess
Spouse Timoor Daghestani
Walid Al Kurdi
Issue
Farah Daghestani
Ghazi Daghestani
Saad Al Walid
Zein Al Sharaf Al Walid
Father Talal of Jordan
Mother Zein al-Sharaf Talal
Born (1951-05-11) 11 May 1951 (age 61)

Princess Basma bint Talal of Jordan (born Amman, Jordan, on 11 May 1951) is the only daughter of the late King Talal and Queen Zein al-Sharaf Talal, sister of the late King Hussein of Jordan and paternal aunt to the current King of Jordan, King Abdullah II. Princess Basma is considered the Princess Royal of Jordan.

Contents

Background

Basma's father became King of Jordan two months after she was born as a result of the assassination of her grandfather King Abdullah I in Jerusalem. King Talal was forced to abdicate as King for health reasons in 1952, when Basma was one year old. He lived on until 1972. Her mother was Queen Zein (1916–1994). After her father's abdication, her older brother Hussein (1935–1999) ascended the throne, and her mother was Queen Regent until Hussein came of age in 1953.

Education

Jordanian Royal Family
Coat of Arms of Jordan.svg

HM Queen Noor

Basma was educated at Ahliyyah School for Girls in Amman, then in England at Benenden School (where she was a friend of Princess Anne) and University of Oxford, where she read Modern Languages.

In 2001, she was awarded a DPhil degree by Oxford University for a thesis entitled Contextualising development in Jordan: the arena of donors, state and NGOs.

Marriage and career

Basma first married Timoor Daghestani in 1970 and had two children together:

  • Farah Daghestani (born 25 March 1971), married 23 September 2004 Saud Abdul Aziz Suleiman
  • Ghazi Daghestani (born 21 July 1974), married on 7 September 2006 Samanta Mahdi Saifi

In the late 1970s they divorced and Basma went on to marry Walid Al Kurdi in 1980. They also had two children together:

  • Saad Al Walid (born 8 November 1982)
  • Zein Al Sharaf Al Walid (born 1 June 1986)

Since the late 1970s, Basma has worked to promote human development, gender equity and children's charities. Through forums that include the United Nations, she contributes to the global debates on health, education, population and the environment.

Appointments

  • President of the Jordanian National Commission for Women (JNCW)
  • President of the Jordanian Association for Boy Scouts and Girl Guides
  • President of Mabarrat Um al Hussein
  • President of Goodwill Campaign (Jordan)
  • Chairperson of the Jordanian Hashemite Fund for Human Development
  • President of Save The Children-Jordan (SCJ)
  • President of the Jordanian National Forum for Women (JNFW)
  • Honorary President of the General Federation of Jordanian Women (GFJW)
  • Member of Board of Trustees for the Higher Population Council
  • Member of the World Health Organization's Adolescent Health Programme Scientific and Technical Advisory Group, 1991–1993
  • Honorary Human Development Ambassador of the United Nations Development Programme since 1993
  • Member of the World Health Organization Global Commission on Women's Health, 1994
  • Goodwill Ambassador of the United Nations Development Fund for Women since 1995
  • Member of the United Nations High-Level Advisory Board on Sustainable Development to the Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, 1995–1998
  • Member of the Earth Council since 1996
  • Member of UNESCO Culture and Development Steering Committee, 1996–1997
  • Member of UNESCO International Panel on Democracy and Development, 1998
  • Member of UNESCO Scientific Committee for the World Culture Report, 1998–2000
  • Goodwill Ambassador of the United Nations Population Fund since 2001
  • Member of the International Advisory Board of the International Council on Social Welfare since 2001

Honours


References


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