Jordan's Camelot: Young, Western-educated, the Mideast's newest royals share flair and mission

(Joseph P. Kahn, Globe Newspaper, 10/26/99)  They are in many ways a typical couple trying to carve out quality time in a 24/7 world. He traded a promising military career for a high-ranking executive position earlier this year. She got off the business-management track when marriage and motherhood came along and now volunteers her services in the nonprofit sector.

Quality time takes on a whole different meaning, though, when your address is the Royal Hashemite Court in Jordan and your executive titles are, respectively, King and Queen.

It has been less than a year since King Abdullah II, 37, became the surprise choice to succeed his father, King Hussein, after Jordan's longtime ruler died of cancer in February at age 63. Abdullah's 29-year-old wife, Queen Rania Al-Abdullah, was formally enthroned six weeks later.

Today, the couple's marriage, a blend of Arab traditionalism and Western modernism, has become something of a blueprint for the future of a country whose population is youthful (70 percent under age 35) but which still feels the loss of a beloved and charismatic monarch.

''It's something neither one of us signed up for,'' Abdullah acknowledged during a private interview recently in the couple's sixth-floor suite at Boston's Four Seasons Hotel. ''Rania and I were thrown in somewhat in the deep end. It's been an adjustment for sure, for us and our children.''

Seated in an armchair next to her husband, flanked by a coterie of security personnel and press aides, Queen Rania spoke to the same issue, in flawless English that reflects her college years at the American University in Cairo.

''The fact that we took over this position at a young age means our children are also young,'' she said, conjuring up images of the Camelot-Kennedy days. ''It's a very sensitive and crucial time in their lives. We both realize that they will never be 5 and 3 again. It makes these moments very precious, and we want to appreciate them.''

''I think every professional couple faces the same kind of challenge, balancing work life and family life,'' she went on. ''In our case, maybe it's a little more exaggerated at times'' - she giggled in unison with her husband - ''but we do try to create that balance.''

The dual interview, conducted during the royals' recent swing through Washington and Boston, provided a rare snapshot of a young couple that has stepped smartly onto the world stage with a sense of flair as well as mission.

Until his father's deathbed wishes were made public, Abdullah, then a tank company commander and the eldest of Hussein's five sons, was considered a long shot to assume one of the Middle East's key leadership posts, with his uncle, Hussein's brother Hassan, the presumed heir to the throne.

Abdullah's wife was no shoo-in, either, to be granted a title reserved, up until then, for her stepmother-in-law, the American-born Queen Noor, 48, who still advocates for some worldwide causes, such as land-mine abolition.

Hussein's decision, detailed in writing just days before he died, altered all plans.

The royal couple's mid-October trip was originally scheduled around a high school friend's wedding in Vermont - a graduate of Deerfield Academy, the king has maintained close ties with several of his prep school classmates - but it quickly stretched to accommodate meetings with business and political leaders, both here and in Washington. The king and queen had made their first state visit to America in May.

At the White House this month, Queen Rania met privately with Hillary Clinton to discuss the first lady's November trip to Jordan, during which issues close to the queen's heart will be highlighted.

Prominent among these are child abuse and the economic empowerment of women throughout the Middle East, causes that Queen Rania has championed through her nonprofit Jordan River Foundation.

''When I got interested in child abuse four or five years ago,'' her majesty commented, ''it was a subject that wasn't discussed in Jordan. There wasn't even any terminology for child abuse at the time. Now people are aware that it's a problem that exists in every community in the world, that it needs to be brought out in the open. We are opening the first center in the Middle East to deal with this issue, and we hope it will be a model replicated in other countries.''

Leaning forward slightly in her chair, the queen, who is of Palestinian descent and went to school in Kuwait, noted that having two small children (Prince Hussein, 5, and Princess Iman, 3) drives her even harder in her efforts against child abuse in Jordan. She credited King Hussein with raising awareness of the issue as well. In one publicized incident before his death, he visited an orphanage where children had been mistreated, she said. Not only were the children relocated to one of his palaces, but the king fired the minister in charge of the orphanage.

''After that,'' said Queen Rania, ''people realized it was a very important issue in Jordan.''

Moments later, she was asked whether she is consciously bending - if not breaking - cultural barriers that have faced Jordanian women in the past. The queen spoke softly, yet emphatically.

''I'm not looking for revolution,'' she replied. ''It's a matter of taking the best from the past and looking towards the future. My husband and His Majesty [Hussein] have both been very supportive of women having a productive role in our society.''

The queen, whose college degree is in business, said that microfinancing, a method of seeding grass-roots industries throughout the region, is ''a good example of empowering women within their own households. Not only do they become income-earners, they become decision-makers. They begin to influence the way their lives are run, how decisions are made about their children, and how they want to live.''

The memory of King Hussein was often invoked - sometimes somberly, sometimely playfully - during an hourlong interview marked by relaxed banter between the royal couple. The king clearly relished sharing the spotlight with his accomplished spouse, while the queen spoke with the assurance of someone who respects tradition, yet looks at political and social issues with contemporary eyes. Both emphasized that their marriage was conceived as a strong working partnership from the start. And each laughed when asked if the two `pillow talked'' issues at the end of the day.

''It does happen,'' said the queen, ''but I'm realizing I have to draw the line somewhere. He's exposed to that all day, in the office, at the Royal Court. I feel that when he comes home, he needs to be sheltered. If it's something urgent I just say it to him. Then it's, `Let's talk about something happier.'''

The king nodded. ''There are issues that are close to Rania's heart,'' he said. ''The economy is really the future for Jordan, and she has some very interesting input in this area. I've been more traditionally involved in military affairs, so there are lots of areas where she speaks as `we.'''

Switching to more personal matters, Abdullah tacitly acknowledged his former reputation as a globe-trotting sportsman and playboy. He and Rania met by chance in early 1993, he said, at a dinner party given by his sister when he was briefly on leave from his army battalion. A month later, the couple met again at another dinner party, and two months later they were engaged. They married on June 10, 1993.

''My father had given up on me,'' said Abdullah, glancing in the queen's direction as she laughed. ''He was very romantic in that regard, always wanting to play matchmaker. When he heard I was interested in someone, he got very excited. The day before we got engaged, he actually showed up at the airport when I flew in, which is something he never did.

''He was so nervous. He wanted us to get engaged that day and married a day later.''

''We managed to keep it quiet for a while,'' the queen interjected. But a long courtship was impossible, she said, given her future husband's high public profile.

That profile also encompasses eight years of school in Massachusetts, first at Eaglebrook School in Deerfield, then Deerfield Academy. Though he was sent away at an early age (at 7, to boarding school in England) for security reasons, the king said, getting to lead what he called a ''normal teenager's life'' was one experience he would never trade, even if it raised doubts back home that he took his royal responsibilities seriously.

At Deerfield, Abdullah was a self-described ''average student'' who competed in soccer, wrestling, and track. A graduate of Sandhurst, England's Royal Military Academy, in the 1980s he also attended Oxford and Georgetown, where he took courses in international politics.

Rather than downplaying his years abroad now that he has succeeded his father, the king said, ''It's completely the opposite. I think the secret of our success is being able to hold onto the years we had being normal. They are years I've kept in my heart,'' and he tapped his chest.

Without that perspective, he noted, ''It would have been easy to go back to Jordan and forget who you are and what you are'' in a world where his every adventure (and misadventure) had national ramifications.

''I went through my whole life with this feeling, and I miss it right now,'' he continued. ''For us, the biggest shock is the loss'' of freedom.

''Having so many people and so many minders working around you.''

He turned to his wife and both chuckled again, joined nervously by some of those who make their livings as royal minders.

Let it be noted that Abdullah has not put aside all his youthful passions. His hobbies include motorcycling, auto racing, parachuting, and scuba diving, while Queen Rania enjoys bicycling and water skiing. At sporting events, the royal family frequently shows up to root like any other fans, father and son dressed in jerseys marked with number 99, King Hussein's old race-car number.

King Abdullah also delighted in recounting how his father, a former racing champion, liked to ditch the palace guards and sneak off for a good fast drive, doing so as recently as three years before his death.

''My father called it recharging,'' said Abdullah, who went on to describe the family weekends he and Queen Rania now spend at the couple's seaside residence in Aqaba.

''It was a favorite place of my father's,'' the king offered with a smile. ''The kids play on the beach. We take them jet-skiing or play in the pool together, put our shorts on. I need that.''

Is there a typical day in the royal household?

''I haven't found that routine yet,'' said her majesty with a twinkle in her eye. ''But I'm looking for it.''

Circling back to the subject of child-rearing, the queen said more seriously that, like Americans, Jordanians are concerned about issues like violence and drug abuse, too.

''I think we share the same concerns all over the world,'' she said. ''I worry about my children just like every other mother worries about her children. About keeping them close, about keeping contact with them. Going out of our way to make time for them.''

Sounding very much like every other young mother, she added, ''For me, it's an investment in the future. I don't want to suddenly look at my children and think, they've become teenagers and I've missed a very important part of their lives.''