The Prince of Asturias Foundation
Member of the Hashemite dynasty and a direct descendant of the Prophet Mohammed, Hussein I was born in Amman, the capital of Jordan, in November 1935. He studied at the Islamic Education College in Amman and, in 1950, went to study at Harrow School in the UK. He then went on to complete his cultural and military training at the Royal Military Academy of Sandhurst. Proclaimed King by the Jordanian parliament in August 1952 after the abdication of his father, Talal I, his country played an active role in the Arab-Israeli War of 1967, which resulted in the loss of the West Bank, the western part of the Kingdom. In September 1970, he was forced to confront the refugee commandoes belonging to the Organization for the Liberation of Palestine (PLO) that had established their bases in Jordanian territory. He managed to restore his authority in the country after “Black September” with the help of the desert warriors, provoking the hatred of the Arab world, whose favour he took over a decade to recoup. He legalized political parties in his country in 1989.
After the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq in 1990, King Hussein, whose country was in close proximity to the conflict, played an important diplomatic role. He defended the thesis of an Arab solution to the conflict and made several tours around the world aimed at avoiding the use of armed force. Although his efforts were unsuccessful, at the end of the war he became one of the promoters of a peace plan for the region. King Hussein always knew how to express great initiative, independence and courage in the most difficult and delicate of times in order to achieve peace. Despite numerous adverse obstacles, he remained committed at all times to the search for peaceful solutions to conflicts in the region and to the creation of a favourable environment to achieve true understanding and a sincere brotherhood among all the nations and peoples of the Middle East.
He died on 7th February, 1999.
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