The King began his education at the age of five at the National School.
He continued his elementary education at the Bishops School and the
Islamic Education College in Amman, receiving his secondary education at
Victoria College in Alexandria, Egypt. In 1951, he attended Harrow
School in England. He was proclaimed King of the Hashemite Kingdom of
Jordan on 11th August 1952. As His Majesty was then only seventeen years
of age, a Regency Council was appointed until his formal accession to
the throne on the 2nd May 1953. During this period, the King attended
the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, in England, where he received his
military education. His Majesty´s autobiography, Uneasy Lies the Head,
was published in English in 1962.
He has always been committed to peace through diplomatic resolution of
conflicts rather than the use of armed force. Recently, during the Gulf
Crisis of 1990-91, King Hussein repeatedly attempted to mediate a
peaceful solution to the conflict.
King Hussein has presided over the transformation of his country from a
tribal, nomadic society still under British colonial influence to a
fully modern state with a complete internal infrastructure, and literacy
and education levels that are among the highest in the developing
world. In 1989, Jordan held its first full and free parliamentary
elections since 1967. King Hussein played a pivotal role in convening
the Madrid Peace Conference in October 1991, not only by committing
Jordan to the peace process, but also by providing an umbrella for the
Palestinian people to negotiate their future as part of a joint
Jordanian-Palestinian delegation. The recent signing of the peace with
Israel and the new initiatives by the Hashemite King augur a peaceful
solution to the problems of the region.