Word: talal
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...into the small chamber where Jordan's Parliament was waiting, walked to a huge, satin-covered royal chair topped by a crown, and began reading: "I swear by God Almighty to safeguard the provisions of the constitution and to be loyal to my country and its people." Prince Talal had returned to claim his throne...
Amman, which had been wrapped in dark mourning for Talal's murdered father, King Abdullah, once more came alive. Youngsters ran through the streets shouting, "Welcome, King Talal!" Crowds shouted their congratulations, and Bedouins from the desert fired rifles into the air. From the housetops, women set up the weird wail that among Arabs denotes...
...days before, the new King had been a patient in a mental hospital near Geneva, undergoing insulin shock treatments for an unspecified mental disorder, while his younger brother, Prince Naif, ruled as Regent. Then, so goes the story in Amman, Talal began getting word of a plot at home. Naif, deciding he liked the feel of power, was conniving with two cabinet ministers and Jordan's chief justice to dissolve Parliament and proclaim himself King. He would be backed by the guns of the Arab Legion's Hashemite regiment, the King's bodyguard...
...Jordan's premier, Tewfik Pasha, quickly squashed the plot. The British quietly decided that Talal ought to take over from Naif. In betting on Talal, London took a calculated risk. Talal has been violently anti-British. In one of his fits of temper, he reportedly slapped the respected face of Glubb Pasha, British head of the Legion. Said he once: "If I am insane, it is with a hatred of the British...
Abdullah had three wives, two sons, three daughters. No. 1 Queen was a cousin, Umm Talal, mother of Prince Talal; No. 2 Queen was a Turk, Umm Naif, mother of Prince Naif the new regent; No. 3 was a comely Ethiopian, black as the tents of Kedar, onetime maidservant to Umm Naif. The black queen attended to Abdullah's clothes, prepared his favorite meals of tender lamb, rice and raisins. A trim figure with a passion for green clothes and nylon stockings, she is, despite her heavy veil, often recognized in Amman's streets. An Amman urchin once...