Princess Basma bint Talal

Princess Basma bint Talal (born 11 May 1952) is the only daughter of King Talal and Queen Zein, sister of King Hussein and paternal aunt to the current king, King Abdullah II.

Princess Basma bint Talal
Princess Royal of Jordan
Born (1952-05-11) 11 May 1952
Amman, Jordan
SpouseTimoor Daghistani
(m. 1970; div. 197?)
Walid al-Kurdi
(m. 1980)
Issue4
Full name
Basma bint Talal
HouseHashemite
FatherTalal of Jordan
MotherZein Al-Sharaf
ReligionIslam

Background

Basma's father became King of Jordan two months after she was born as a result of the assassination of her grandfather King Abdullah I in Jerusalem. King Talal was forced to abdicate as King for health reasons in 1952, when Basma was one year old. He lived on until 1972. Her mother was Queen Zein (1916–1994). After her father's abdication, her older brother Hussein (1935–1999) ascended the throne, and her mother was Queen Regent until Hussein came of age in 1953.

Princess Basma, as an infant, among her siblings, c. 1952-53: (L to R) Prince Hassan, King Hussein, Princess Basma, and Prince Muhammad.

Education

Basma was educated at Ahliyyah School for Girls in Amman, then in England at Benenden School (where she was a friend of Princess Anne) and University of Oxford, where she read Modern Languages.

In 2001, she was awarded a DPhil degree by Oxford University for a thesis entitled Contextualising development in Jordan: the arena of donors, state and NGOs.

Marriage and career

Basma first married Colonel Timoor Daghistani in Amman, on 2 April 1970. They had two children but in the late 1970s were divorced. Basma went on to marry Walid al-Kurdi in Amman, on 14 April 1980, and they also had two children.

Since the late 1970s, Basma has worked to promote human development, gender equity and children's charities. Through forums that include the United Nations she contributes to the global debates on health, education, population and the environment.

Appointments
  • Founder of the Queen Alia Jordan Social Welfare Fund (QAF)
  • President of the Arab Association for Women and Development (AWAD)
  • President of the Jordanian National Commission for Women (JNCW)
  • President of the Jordanian Association for Boy Scouts and Girl Guides
  • President of Mabarrat Um al Hussein
  • President of Goodwill Campaign
  • Chairperson of the Jordanian Hashemite Fund for Human Development
  • President of Save The Children-Jordan (SCJ)
  • President of the Jordanian National Forum for Women (JNFW)
  • Honorary President of the General Federation of Jordanian Women (GFJW)
  • President of the National Committee for Women's Affairs [1]
  • Member of Board of Trustees for the Higher Population Council
  • Member of the World Health Organization's Adolescent Health Programme Scientific and Technical Advisory Group, 1991–1993
  • Honorary Human Development Ambassador of the United Nations Development Programme since 1993
  • Member of the World Health Organization Global Commission on Women's Health, 1994
  • Goodwill Ambassador of the United Nations Development Fund for Women since 1995
  • Member of the United Nations High-Level Advisory Board on Sustainable Development to the Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, 1995–1998
  • Member of the Earth Council since 1996
  • Member of UNESCO Culture and Development Steering Committee, 1996–1997
  • Member of UNESCO International Panel on Democracy and Development, 1998
  • Member of UNESCO Scientific Committee for the World Culture Report, 1998–2000
  • Goodwill Ambassador of the United Nations Population Fund’s (UNFPA) since 2001[2]
  • Member of the International Advisory Board of the International Council on Social Welfare since 2001
  • Member of the Earth Charter International Commission.

Title, styles and honours

Title
  • 11 May 1952 – present: Her Royal Highness Princess Basma bint Talal of Jordan

Honours

National honours

Foreign honours

Awards

National award
  •  Jordan: Honorary Person for the International Year of Volunteers plus 10 - 2001[3]

Foreign awards

References
  1. Jordan Embassy
  2. "United Nations Population Fund". UNFPA.
  3. "HRH Princess Basma Bint Talal : Official Website". Princessbasma.jo. Retrieved 25 May 2017.
  4. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 11 October 2016. Retrieved 23 May 2016.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. "Photographic image". Theroyalforums.com. Retrieved 25 May 2017.
  6. "Photographic image" (JPG). 40.media.tumblr.com. Retrieved 25 May 2017.
  7. "Photographic image" (JPG). 3.bp.blogspot.com. Retrieved 25 May 2017.
  8. "Badraie.com". Badraie.com. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 25 May 2017.
  9. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 June 2013. Retrieved 1 June 2014.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  10. "HRH Princess Basma Bint Talal : Official Website". Princessbasma.jo. 17 May 2011. Retrieved 25 May 2017.
  11. "Honorary Degrees at the University of Reading". Reading.ac.uk. 30 June 1998. Retrieved 25 May 2017.
  12. "Jordanian Princess concludes the Millennium Lecture Series". Reading.ac.uk. 3 May 2000. Retrieved 25 May 2017.
  13. "Obituaries : Somerville College" (TXT). Ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 25 May 2017.
  14. "Arab Regional Preparatory Meeting for the 4th World Conference on Women, Beijing, 1995; Provision of basic education to girls and women in the Arab States with emphasis on rural and remote areas: background paper; 1994" (PDF). Unesdoc.unesco.org. Retrieved 25 May 2017.
  15. "Honorary Degrees | Smith College". Smith.edu. Retrieved 25 May 2017.
  16. "HRH Princess Basma Bint Talal : Official Website". Princessbasma.jo. 16 May 2010. Retrieved 25 May 2017.
  17. "HRH Princess Basma Bint Talal : Official Website". Princessbasma.jo. 16 May 2010. Retrieved 25 May 2017.
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