Word: noor
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1990-1999
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
When the royal couple returned to Jordan in mid-January, they did not expect the King to die. Contrary to speculation, Noor says the 63-year-old monarch believed he was winning his battle against non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. His physicians believed as much when they sent him home. But a week after, the King began to grow weaker. He was working on a draft of a document that would rewrite Jordanian history--a letter replacing his 51-year-old brother Hassan as heir with his son Abdullah, 37. When doctors advised him to return to the U.S., Hussein quickly...
Even then, Noor says, she remained hopeful that a fresh course of treatment could revive the King. But "it became clear that we were fighting something that would not give way." They immediately returned to Jordan so that Hussein could die at home. Still, Noor says, she refused to surrender. "My husband was still alive, and I was still praying for the miracle, believing that it could be God's will." It was partly that hope that prompted the Queen and her children to leave Hussein's hospital and plunge into the emotional crowd of Jordanians keeping vigil outside despite...
...Noor has been variously criticized for being an outsider, a jet-setter or a Western woman crusading in a conservative culture. Yet she is deeply rooted in Jordan, where her bearing through the King's illness and death won millions of hearts. She knows the torch has passed to her stepson King Abdullah and her own eldest son Crown Prince Hamzah, 18, who is studying at Sandhurst and bears a striking resemblance to his late father. Abdullah's wife Rania, 28, is expected to be named queen soon, but that shouldn't be a problem: Noor shared the title with...
Indeed, all seems quiet on the palace-intrigue front. When asked what Hussein meant when the last message of his 47 years on the throne referred to "slandering and falsehoods" against Noor, she replies curtly, "I don't even want to talk about it." She was clearly maddened by rumors that she manipulated the change in succession to gain power...
...Noor enumerates her projects, it is clear that she would like to continue the activist role she pioneered for Arab women. Now that she has been released from the constraints of being the wife of a reigning King, she may speak out more forcefully. Famous for angering Washington with her views supporting Palestinian rights and, at one time, urging negotiation with Saddam Hussein, she is now tempted, it seems, to enter areas of advocacy that are politically taboo in the Arab world, such as democracy and human rights. Most dear to her is the new King Hussein Foundation, which seeks...