Prince Hassan bin Talal


Prince Hassan bin Talal is a member of the Jordanian royal family who was previously Crown Prince from 1965 to 1999, being removed just three weeks before King Hussein's death.

Family

Prince Hassan is the third son of King Talal and Queen Zein, brother of King Hussein and uncle of King Abdullah II.
In 1968, Prince El Hassan married Sarvath Ikramullah, daughter of the politician and diplomat Mohammed Ikramullah, and female politician, diplomat and Urdu author, Begum Shaista Suhrawardy Ikramullah. Both her parents, from prominent Bengali families, were born in then British India. They first met in London in 1958, when they were both youngsters, and have four children together:
Prince Hassan was educated first in Amman. He then attended Sandroyd School in Wiltshire before going on to Summer Fields School, Oxford, followed by Harrow School in England, then Christ Church, a college of the University of Oxford, where he graduated BA with Honours in Oriental Studies and later proceeded to MA. Hassan is fluent in Arabic, English, French and German. He has a working knowledge of Turkish and Spanish, and studied Hebrew at university.

Career

In 1965 Hassan was named as Crown Prince of Jordan after the constitution was amended. He was frequently regent during his brother's absences from the country. During Hussein's final illness in January 1999, he was replaced by his nephew Abdullah only days before the king died. Abdullah subsequently inherited the throne of Jordan.
In 2009, he joined the project "Soldiers of Peace", a film against all wars and for global peace.
On 10 June 2013, he was appointed as the chairman of the advisory board on water and sanitation by the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Removal as Crown Prince

As King Hussein was undergoing cancer treatment in mid-1998, the King assigned Crown Prince Hassan a range of powers and authority to act as regent. With his newly gained powers, Hassan exercised a number of steps to consolidate his position as heir and future king, which included: "orchestrating the removal of the government" of Abdelsalam Majali and appointing former Royal Court chief Fayez al-Tarawneh in his place, organizing dialogue and reconciliation with opposition groups, most prominently the Muslim Brotherhood, and "attempting to affect changes at top of the military". Hassan's attempted changes of the top hierarchy of the military angered King Hussein and led him to resume full duties as king. It is also a commonly cited reason for Hassan's removal as crown prince on January 24, 1999. Hassan's removal took shape through a 14-page typed letter, described by American historian W. Andrew Terrill as "extremely harsh", in which King Hussein expressed "unmistakable disappointment in Crown Prince Hassan" and ordered his replacement with Hussein's son Abdullah. Terrill describes King Hussein as perhaps having felt that Hassan had "interest in shifting the line of succession to his own family", which led to his dismissal as Crown Prince three weeks before Hussein's death.
Crown Prince Hassan's attempted consolidation of power led the sickly King Hussein to "break off intensive treatments for lymphoma" and fly back home to Jordan in order to address this issue. At first, the King attempted to negotiate with Hassan, placing the King's younger son Hamzah as Hassan's crown prince to ensure that the line of succession would not switch to Hassan's line. However, Hassan's Indian-born wife Sarvath vetoed the proposal, particularly because of her reported distaste for Hamzah's American-born mother Queen Noor and her desire to have her son Prince Rashid in the line of succession. Therefore instead, King Hussein replaced Hassan with his own son Abdullah who had backing within the military and whose position as eldest son of the king would allow him to be "enthroned by royal fiat", unlike Hamzah whose enthronement would require "confirmation from the Jordanian Parliament".

Organizations

Prince Hassan has been a very active participant in Jordanian and International civil society. He founded the Royal Scientific Society in 1970, the Annual Bilad Al-Sham Conference in 1978, and the Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought in 1980. He has also established the Al al-Bayt University in Mafraq, the Hashemite Aid and Relief Agency, the Islamic Scientific Academy, the Triannual Conferences on the History and Archaeology of Jordan, the Amman Baccalaureate School, and the Al-Hassan Youth Award. He founded and chairs the Independent Bureau for Humanitarian Issues, Independent Commission on International Humanitarian Issues, the Higher Council for Science and Technology, the Royal Institute for Inter-Faith Studies, the Foundation for Intercultural and Interfaith Research and Dialogue, the Arab Thought Forum since 1981, the Kawakibi Democracy Transition Center, and the West Asia – North Africa Forum, and was chair of the Policy Advisory Commission for the World Intellectual Property Organization from 1999–2002.
He has served as the president of the Club of Rome from 1999 to 2007, the board of directors for the Center for Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution at the University of Oklahoma, the Parliament of Cultures, the Royal Jordanian Polo Club, and the International Tolerance Foundation for Humanities and Social Studies, and is honorary president of the Euro-Mediterranean Association for Cooperation and Development since 2012.
Prince Hassan is also a patron of the Post-War Reconstruction and Development Unit at the University of York, the Swiss Rights and Humanity non-profit organization, the British Institute in Amman, and the Woolf Institute, in addition to being a member of the Global Leadership Foundation, the Chairman the United Nations Secretary-General's Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation, the Advisory Board of British think tank Gold Mercury International, the board of directors of the Nuclear Threat Initiative, the Board of Trustees of the Foundation for Interreligious and Intercultural Research and Dialogue at University of Geneva, Switzerland, the Executive Committee of the International Crisis Group, the International Advisory Board of Forum 2000, the Committee of Personalities of Institut Catala De La Mediterrania, the Informal Advisory Group to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor, the International Board of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Board of World Religious Leaders for the Elijah Interfaith Institute, the Trilateral Commission, the Advisory Council for Research of the Center for Democracy and Community Development, and the Independent Eminent Experts group of the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Related Intolerance.

Titles, styles, honours and awards

Titles and styles

National honours

In 2002, Prince Hassan was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of York, in recognition of his contribution to the field of post-war reconstruction and development. In 2004 he was awarded an honorary fellowship by York St John University, for his lifelong contribution to peace initiatives in the Middle East, humanitarian projects and inspirational leadership in interfaith dialogue.
The 2008 Abraham Geiger Award, named after liberal thinker of Judaism Abraham Geiger, was conferred upon Prince Hassan bin Talal. The award ceremony was held in Berlin on 4 March 2008. Past recipients include Cardinal Karl Lehmann, Alfred Grosser, Emil Fackenheim and Susannah Heschel.
"Honouring the President Emeritus of the World Conference of Religions for Peace underlines Prince Hassan's courage in defending pluralism, promoting understanding among different cultures and enhancing dialogue between Jews, Muslims and Christians. The Prince's efforts to promote understanding between the Islamic and Western Worlds are crucial at a time when we seem to be drifting apart, with perceived differences appearing to overwhelm the many things we have in common, both culturally and religiously."

Publications