40th Wedding Anniversary of King Hussein and Queen Alia

Today marks the 40th anniversary of King Hussein of Jordan’s wedding to Alia Toukan. The wedding was a surprise to the people, because the Royal Court didn’t make an official announcement of the engagement. In addition to that, King Hussein had only gotten divorced from his second wife, the English born Princess Muna, a few weeks earlier.

Alia Toukan was the daughter of a Jordanian diplomat, Baha Uddin Toukan, and Hanan Hashim. She was born in Cairo on December 25, 1948. Hussein and Alia met in Cairo when Alia was a child, and they were reunited in 1972 when Alia started to work for the Royal Airlines.

The wedding took place on December 24, 1972, at the home of Queen Alia’s parents in Amman. It was an intimate ceremony and only twelve family members attended the ceremony. An exception was the Queen Mother, Zein, who did not accept the marriage. The young bride wore a simple white dress with short sleeves and flowers adorned her hair down. Her small bridal bouquet had white and red roses.

After the wedding the late King Hussein gave the title of Queen to Alia. The couple have two children: Princess Haya, born on May 3, 1974, and Prince Ali, born on December 23, 1975. They also adopted a Palestinian girl, Abir Muhaisen, in December of 1973. Queen Alia passed away in a tragic accident on February 9, 1977. King Hussein died on 7 February 1999.

Filed under Historical Royals, Jordan
Tagged King Hussein of Jordan, Queen Alia al-Hussein of Jordan, Wedding Anniversary.