Queen Noor of Jordan Biography

Queen of Jordan; born on August 23, 1951, as Lisa Najeeb Halaby in Washington, D.C. Her father, Najeeb Elias Halaby, was a former navy test pilot and lawyer who had been head of the Federal Aviation Administration under President John F. Kennedy. Born into a distinguished Arab-American family, Lisa experienced a privileged upbringing, attending exclusive private schools in Washington D.C., New York City, and Massachusetts before enrolling in the first coeducational class at Princeton University in 1969.

In 1972, after taking a break from academics to waitress, ski, and study photography in Aspen, Colorado midway through her sophomore year, Lisa returned to Princeton and took up her study of architecture and urban planning with a renewed vigor and drive. Upon graduation, she flew to Australia and worked for an architectural firm that specialized in the design of new towns. At this time, her steadily growing interest in Arab culture took shape in a job offer from Llewelyn-Davies, Weeks--a British architectural firm that had been commissioned to re-plan the city of Teheran—which she immediately accepted.

Lisa returned to the United States in 1976, where she planned to take a master’s degree in journalism, entertaining the idea of pursuing a career in television production. In the meantime, her father had just accepted an offer from the Jordanian government to help redesign their airlines, forming the company Arabair Services. He offered Lisa a job, and she accepted, foregoing the Columbia School of Journalism to become the airline’s Director of Facilities Planning and Design. She assisted in the design of the Arab Air University, to be built in the Jordanian capital, as well as a housing company for Royal Jordanian Airlines employees.

During this time, Lisa attended several important social events in Jordan, and occasionally got the opportunity to meet King Hussein (they first met at an airport ceremony in 1977). The King, who was still mourning the loss of his third wife, Alia, took great interest in the airlines. The two became friends, and by 1978, their friendship had evolved into a romance. Lisa later recalled to Dominick Dunne of Vanity Fair, “We courted on a motorcycle. It was the only way we could get off by ourselves.” After a six-week courtship, King Hussein proposed to Lisa on May 13, 1978.

On June 15, 1978, Lisa Najeeb Halaby became the first American-born queen of an Arab country, taking the name Noor al-Hussein or “Light of Hussein.” She and King Hussein married in a traditional Islamic ceremony at the Zaharan Palace, where Queen Noor was the only woman present. Although the Jordanian people expressed discomfort about King Hussein’s choice of a non Arab-Muslim bride, they soon warmed to the union when they witnessed Noor’s genuine interest and commitment to Jordan and her conversion to the Islamic religion.

Queen Noor’s throne came with a myriad of challenges, multiplied by her status as a foreigner coming from an extremely liberal background. She immediately took on the responsibilities of managing the royal household, as well as the three small children from Hussein’s former marriage to Alia. She constantly needed the accompaniment of bodyguards, as King Hussein had survived more than twenty-five assassination attempts.