Queen of Jordan
Sharifa Dina first met King Hussein in London, where they were both studying, at the home of a relative from Iraq, in 1952. The King was then at Harrow School while she was at Girton College, Cambridge. The King visited her in Maadi therefter. She took the Bachelor of Arts degree with honours and was a lecturer in English literature Cairo University prior to her marriage.
In 1954, two years after her son's accession to the throne, Queen Zein, who exerted a significant influence early in his reign, announced the engagement of the King and Dina. The union was strongly favoured by Gamal Abdel Nasser, the future President of Egypt. They were married on 18 April 1955. The bride was 26 and the groom was 19. Upon her marriage she became Queen of Jordan but according to the author Isis Fahmy, who interviewed Dina in the presence of her husband on their wedding day, Hussein determinedly said that she would have no political role. Fahmy noted that Hussein had intended to exercise authority over Dina, who was herself a strong personality, and that his mother viewed her as a threat to her own status.
It soon became apparent that the King and Queen had little in common. On 13 February 1956 she gave birth to the king's first child, Princess Alia, but the arrival of a child did not help the royal marriage.
Read more about this topic: Dina Bint 'Abdu'l-Hamid
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