All set for the royal wedding in Jordan. This Wednesday, the eve of the great day, King Abdallah has offered a great celebration in honor of his son and heir, Prince Hussein, attended by more than four thousand Jordanian notables, all men who, following the Arab tradition, meet separately from women before the link. A royal wedding is always a great event, but in this case, it is also the right occasion for Jordan to show itself to the world as an open and stable country in which the West can trust. The crown prince, Hussein, eldest son of kings Abdullah and Rania, will marry this Thursday the architect Rayua bin Khaled bin Musaed bin Abdulaziz al Saif, a relative of the Saudi king, in a union that will also shorten the distances between the kingdoms of Jordan and Saudi Arabia, whose destinies and territories were separated more than a century ago.
In order for the event to have international repercussions, the European royal wedding model has been taken with guests from the royal houses, including the kings Juan Carlos and Sofía, and, at the same time, the Arab traditions have been preserved, which, before the obligatory signing of the marriage contract before the imam and in the presence of the parents, provide separate ceremonies for the groom with men and the bride with women.
The women's celebration took place on May 22, when Queen Rania organized a night of henna, a ritual in which women encourage the bride for her new life, which was attended by the rest of the women of the Hashemite royal family, as well as the mother of the bride, Azza bin Nayef Abdulaziz Ahmad al Sudairi, her sisters and a large group of women. This Wednesday, King Abdullah II has celebrated his eldest son with a pre-wedding celebration, attended by four thousand notable men from all over the country, which aims to highlight the role of men in marriage and share with him a simple farewell meal.
This Wednesday, in a large esplanade, equipped with tents, Abdallah wished his son happiness and gave him a tribal sword, shortly before the royal guard honored them and there were performances by folkloric groups and military bands. .
A reception is also scheduled for tonight, without the assistance of the bride and groom, which the kings of Jordan offer to the guests of royal houses who attend the wedding.
The big party and public images are reserved for the big day. This Thursday, the wedding ceremony will begin at 4 in the afternoon (one hour less, in Spain) in the Zahran palace, built in 1957 as the residence of Queen Zein al Sharaf, the mother of King Hussein bin Talal. There, in 1993, the wedding of Abdallah and Rania was celebrated, and also the four of King Hussein (with Dina, Muna, Alia and Nur).
The ceremony will be attended by around 140 guests, including members of the Hashemite royal family and guests from other royal houses. The bride will arrive at the gazebo where the Islamic wedding will take place accompanied by the crown prince, Prince Hashem bin Abdullah IIl. At the ceremony, the couple will sign the marriage contract, along with two witnesses, before the imam of the court, Ahmed al Jalaileh, who was appointed to this position in January 2021. After the signing, a group of women will perform the traditional Zaghrouta, shouts accompanied by movements of the tongue, with which, in the culture of the Middle East, joy is expressed.
After the ceremony, the bride and groom, mounted in a red Land Rover, will walk for two hours through the streets of Amman in the direction of the Al Huseiniya palace, where, with the assistance of 1,700 guests, the banquet and after-party will take place. .
The Red Procession, made up of twenty Land Rover, in addition to other vehicles, various formations of royal guards on horseback, on motorcycles and wearing their dress uniforms, takes place in all the ceremonial celebrations of the Jordanian royal house and has its origin in the first, which took place on May 25, 1946 when the independence of Jordan was proclaimed.
The arrival of the bride and groom at the palace will be announced with a fanfare by the band of the Jordanian armed forces, dressed in the traditional red and white shemagh, a traditional headdress for men, in addition to their dress uniform. After going through a saber arch, the bride and groom will advance through the patio in the midst of the guests towards a stage, where the family will receive the greetings of the guests, while singers and folkloric groups perform in different parts of the gardens. The reception closes with the bride and groom cutting the wedding cake.
The bride, Rayua al Saif, was born in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia) on April 28, 1994, into an influential family. His father, Khaled bin Musaed bin Saif bin Abdulaziz al Saif, owns a major construction company, and his mother, Azza bin Nayef Abdulaziz Ahmad Al Sudairi, belongs to the Al Sudairi tribe, which included Hussa bin Ahmed al Sudairi. , the mother of Salman, the current king of Arabia. The bride has three brothers, Faisal, Naif and Dana, and she studied architecture at Syracuse University in New York after graduating from high school in Saudi Arabia. She also has a professional degree in Visual Communication from the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in the United States. Apart from Arabic, she speaks English and French.
