Jordan’s crown prince weds scion of Saudi family in ceremony packed with stars and symbolism

ISABEL DEBRE Associated Press

AMMAN, Jordan — Jordan’s crown prince married the scion of a prominent Saudi family Thursday in a palace ceremony attended by royals and other VIPs from around the world, as massive crowds gathered across the kingdom to celebrate the region’s newest power couple.

The marriage of Crown Prince Hussein, 28, and Saudi architect Rajwa Alseif, 29, drew a star-studded guest list including Britain’s Prince William and his wife Kate, as well as U.S. first lady Jill Biden.

The celebrations hold deep significance for the region, emphasizing continuity in an Arab state prized for its longstanding stability and refreshing the monarchy’s image after a palace feud. It even could help resource-poor Jordan forge a strategic bond with its oil-rich neighbor, Saudi Arabia.

<p>Saudi Rajwa Alseif and Jordan's Crown Prince Hussein wave to well-wishers Thursday during their wedding ceremonies in Amman, Jordan.</p>

Nasser Nasser, Associated Press

Saudi Rajwa Alseif and Jordan's Crown Prince Hussein wave to well-wishers Thursday during their wedding ceremonies in Amman, Jordan.

The bride, wearing an elegant white dress by Lebanese designer Elie Saab, arrived at Zahran Palace in a 1968 Rolls-Royce Phantom V custom-made for the crown prince’s late great grandmother. The crown prince arrived earlier in full ceremonial military uniform with a gold-hilted saber.

The families and their guests gathered in an open-air gazebo decked with flowers and surrounded by landscaped gardens for a traditional Muslim wedding ceremony known as “katb al-ketab.” The crowd erupted in applause after the signing of the marriage contract. 

Alseif will henceforth be known as Her Royal Highness Princess Rajwa Al Hussein, according to a royal decree.

<p>Jordan's Crown Prince Hussein and Rajwa Alseif sit Thursday during their wedding ceremony in Amman, Jordan.</p>

Royal Hashemite Court via AP

Jordan's Crown Prince Hussein and Rajwa Alseif sit Thursday during their wedding ceremony in Amman, Jordan.

Several miles away, a jolt went through a packed ancient Roman amphitheater as viewers watched the couple seal their vows and exchange rings on a wide screen. The crowd of some 18,000 people were on their feet, waving flags and shrieking with excitement at one of several viewing parties held across the nation.

Samara Aqrabawi, a 55-year-old mother watching the livestream with her young daughter, said the ceremony was more impressive than she imagined. “I wish for all mothers and fathers in Jordan and in the world to feel like they’re surely feeling,” she said of the king and queen.

“This is an important day because he is our future king,” said Ahmad al-Masri, an 18-year-old attending with his family. “All of Jordan is watching.”

The newlyweds later emerged from the palace in a white custom Range Rover escorted by several bright red Land Rovers, 11 motorcycles and a military marching band — a nod to the traditional horse-mounted processions during the reign of the country’s founder, King Abdullah I.

<p>Jordanians wave the national flags Thursday in anticipation of the royal wedding motorcade in Amman, Jordan.</p>

Raad Adayleh, Associated Press

Jordanians wave the national flags Thursday in anticipation of the royal wedding motorcade in Amman, Jordan.

The kingdom declared Thursday a public holiday so crowds of people could gather to wave at the couple’s motorcade amid a heavy security presence across the city. Tens of thousands of well-wishers attended free concerts and cultural events.

On Thursday morning, Saudi wedding guests and tourists — the men wearing white dishdasha robes and the women in brightly colored abayas — filtered through the sleek marbled lobby of the Four Seasons Hotel in Amman. Noura Al Sudairi, an aunt of the bride, was wearing sweatpants and sneakers on her way to breakfast.

“We are all so excited, so happy about this union,” she said. “Of course it’s a beautiful thing for our families, and for the relationship between Jordan and Saudi Arabia.”

<p>A poster with pictures of Crown Prince Hussein and his fiancee, Saudi architect Rajwa Alseif, is posted Wednesday at a road in Amman, Jordan.</p>

Nasser Nasser, Associated Press

A poster with pictures of Crown Prince Hussein and his fiancee, Saudi architect Rajwa Alseif, is posted Wednesday at a road in Amman, Jordan.

Excitement over the nuptials — Jordan’s biggest royal event in decades — has been building in the capital of Amman, where congratulatory banners of Hussein and his beaming bride adorn buses and hang over winding hillside streets. Shops had competing displays of royal regalia.

“She looks like such a princess that I think she deserves him,” Suhair Afaneh, a 37-year-old businesswoman, said of the bride, lingering in front of a portrait of Hussein in a dark suit. “But so what, I’ll still be in love with him.”

Jordan’s 11 million residents have the young crown prince rise in prominence in recent years, as he increasingly joined his father, Abdullah, in public appearances. Hussein graduated from Georgetown University, joined the military and gained some global recognition speaking at the U.N. General Assembly. His wedding, experts say, marks his next crucial rite of passage.

“It’s not just a marriage, it’s the presentation of the future king of Jordan,” said political analyst Amer Sabaileh. “The issue of the crown prince has been closed.”

<p>Crown Prince Hussein attends a celebration Wednesday in Amman, Jordan, a day before his wedding to Saudi architect Rajwa Alseif.</p>

Royal Hashemite Court via AP

Crown Prince Hussein attends a celebration Wednesday in Amman, Jordan, a day before his wedding to Saudi architect Rajwa Alseif.

The wedding may create a brief feel-good moment for Jordanians during tough economic times, including persistent youth unemployment and an ailing economy.

Palace officials turned the event — a week after Jordan’s 77th birthday — into something of a PR campaign.

The royal family introduced a wedding hashtag (#Celebrating Al Hussein) and omnipresent logo that fuses the couple’s initials into the Arabic words “We rejoice.” Photos and reels from Alseif’s henna party — a traditional pre-wedding celebration featuring the bride and her female friends and relatives — and the couple’s engagement ceremony in Saudi Arabia last summer were splashed across state-linked media.

Zahran Palace in Amman, where the marriage ceremony was held, hasn’t seen such pomp and circumstance since 1993, when, on a similarly sunny June day, Abdullah married Rania, who was born in Kuwait to Palestinian parents. Decades earlier, Abdullah’s father, the late King Hussein, sealed his vows in the same garden with his second wife, the British citizen Antoinette Gardiner.

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