Who are the bride and groom in Jordan's royal wedding?
CTV
He's heir to the throne in one of the oldest monarchies in the Middle East and a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad. She's a Saudi architect with an aristocratic pedigree of her own.
He's heir to the throne in one of the oldest monarchies in the Middle East and a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad. She's a Saudi architect with an aristocratic pedigree of her own.
Crown Prince Al Hussein bin Abdullah II, 28, and Rajwa Alseif, 29, are to be married on Thursday at a palace wedding in Jordan, a Western-allied monarchy that has been a bastion of stability for decades as Middle East turmoil has lapped at its borders.
The families have not said how the couple met or provided any details about their courtship. They were formally engaged at a traditional Muslim ceremony in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, in August 2022 that was attended by senior members of Jordan's royal family.
The bride and groom are destined to become a power couple in the Middle East, forging a new bond between Jordan and Saudi Arabia as the latter seeks to transform itself into a regional power broker.
Here's a look at the bride and groom.
Rajwa Alseif was born in Riyadh on April 28, 1994, the youngest of four children.
Her mother, Azza bint Nayef Abdulaziz Ahmad Al Sudairi, is related to Hussa bint Ahmed Al Sudairi, who is said to have been the favourite wife of Saudi Arabia's founder, King Abdul-Aziz Al Saud, and gave birth to seven of his sons, including the country's current ruler, King Salman.
Israel warned U.S. Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin in a call Tuesday that a military operation was going to take place in Lebanon but gave no details, U.S. officials said Thursday. The same day of the call, in an attack widely blamed on Israel, thousands of pagers belonging to Hezbollah militants exploded.