The wedding celebrations of Princess Imam of Jordan with Jameel Alexander Thermiotis begin, the climax of which will take place this Sunday with the couple’s “yes, I do”. This Wednesday the mother of the bride, Queen Rania of Jordan, has shared on her Instagram profile a gallery of images of the Henna Night, one of the last rituals before the wedding. The tradition is that at this party, attended only by women, the bride is encouraged for her new life as a couple.
To the white bridal gown by designer Reema Dahbour, Princess Imam has included the same belt that her mother wore on the day of her wedding to King Abdullah II of Jordan on June 10, 1993. “So much love in a room! We wish the best to the bride and fill her with love at the gathering of friends and family, yesterday, at the night of Iman’s henna”, Rania wrote on her social networks.
Among the attendees it was possible to see the Saudi Rajwa Al Saif, who on June 10 will marry Imam’s brother, Crown Prince Hussein, the same month that marks the 30th anniversary of their parents’ wedding. Imam’s grandmother, Princess Muna, second wife of the late King Hussein, and Princess Aisha, King Abdullah’s sister, also attended. Who is not seen in the images is Queen Nur, another of the four women that the previous king of Jordan had.
The princess marries Venezuelan Jimmy Alexander Thermiotis, renamed Jameel after converting to Islam in order to join the family. This wedding will stand out for being the princess’s big day, a clear successor to her mother’s style. But the appointment will also attract attention for being the first major family reunion of the Hashemite dynasty after the power struggle in the family that ended in two recent palace coup attempts by Imam’s uncle, Prince Hamza, son of Queen Nur.
A few months ago another interesting wedding took place within the Jordanian royal family. Madrid businesswoman Miriam Ungría, widow of Kardam from Bulgaria, married Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad, cultural adviser and first cousin of the current monarch, last September. So the wedding was announced the same day it happened, without many knowing the link between them, which is not uncommon in the weddings of members of Middle Eastern royal families outside the line of succession.
This season of liaisons in Jordan places the country once again in the international spotlight after the notorious power struggle between King Abdullah II and his brother, Prince Hamza, who has been accused of carrying out up to two coups d’état in the last two years. In Jordan, the succession problems of the Hashemite dynasty are sold to the international community as “family problems” outside of politics.
The family conflict arose because there was a day when –contrary to European monarchies where the succession is clear: hereditary from parents to children–, in Arab countries it is common for a king’s brother to be designated heir while the king’s children are not of legal age. Abdullah II first named his half-brother Hamza as his heir in compliance with his father’s wishes. But in 2004, after his marriage, he removed him from the succession line, and, in 2009, named his eldest son heir. The first wedding of Prince Hamza, held in Petra in 2004 while he was heir, was attended by the then newlyweds Princes of Asturias and Queen Sofía.
