King Hussein bin Talal

Who is King Hussein bin Talal?

Hussein bin Talal was born in Amman, the grandson of King Abdullah I, whom he witnessed being assassinated in Jerusalem in 1951 as a teenager. He ascended to the Jordanian throne in 1952 after his father, King Talal, was deemed medically unable to continue ruling, and he was formally crowned in 1953 at the age of seventeen, going on to reign for forty-six years, among the longest tenures of any twentieth-century Arab monarch. His rule spanned some of the most turbulent decades of Middle Eastern history, including the loss of the West Bank to Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War, the internal conflict with Palestinian militant groups known as Black September in 1970, and the eventual signing of a peace treaty with Israel in 1994 at Wadi Araba, making Jordan only the second Arab state to formally recognize Israel. Known for his pragmatic diplomacy, personal charisma, and efforts to balance relationships among Arab neighbors, Western powers, and the Palestinian cause, he played a central stabilizing role in the region throughout the Cold War era and beyond. He died of cancer in February 1999 and was succeeded by his eldest son, King Abdullah II, who continues to rule Jordan.

Sources: Avi Shlaim, Lion of Jordan: The Life of King Hussein in War and Peace (Allen Lane, 2007) · Encyclopaedia Britannica, entry on Hussein of Jordan · King Hussein I Foundation, official biographical archive