Queen Rania Of Jordan's Incredibly Lavish Life

Some little girls grow up dreaming of becoming princesses. But the former Rania Al-Yassin — now Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan — wasn't one of them. Born in Kuwait to Palestinian parents (per Biography), she seemed to have every intention of making her mark on the world as a modern, independent woman, earning a business degree before working in marketing at Citibank and later Apple.

It was her gig at Apple that unexpectedly spun Rania into the royal orbit. When an Apple coworker invited her to a party hosted by the sister of then-Prince Abdullah of Jordan, she and the prince fell for each other hard. Within two months of their first chance meeting, they were engaged, and they married soon after that. As if that wasn't a dizzying enough turn of events, an unexpected bit of palace intrigue would soon cast an even bigger spotlight on the couple. 

In 1999, from his deathbed, King Hussein bin Talal unexpectedly named Prince Abdullah as his successor, rather than the king's brother, who had been expected to take the throne. The newly crowned King Abdullah II soon elevated his wife to queen. Promoting his wife's common origins as a plus, he explained that because she could personally relate to her subjects' lives, she "truly believes in their causes" (per Biography). While Queen Rania's public persona emphasizes her philanthropic work (per her website), she's still a queen — with all the jaw-dropping perks that royal life entails.

Jordan's royal family has close ties to Britain and to the British royal family. Per Britannica, King Abdullah II not only graduated from the Royal Military Academy in Sandhurst (where Prince Harry and Prince William studied), but he also served in Britain's military as well as Jordan's. And per the archived Prince of Wales website, King Charles has made multiple official visits to Jordan over the years.

Because of these longstanding ties, Queen Rania has gotten to know several members of Britain's royal family. Having been thrust unexpectedly into her royal role, she saw the late Queen Elizabeth as a role model. "She's someone we all really highly regard and she's someone I look up to personally," she told ITV News. "We can all just hope to be as active as she is at that age." 

Deeply aware of the potential impacts of climate change on her country, Queen Rania added that she's grown to admire King Charles' longstanding commitment to building awareness about environmental issues. "I think he's a leading figure in the fight for our planet," she said. To help promote his work, Queen Rania serves on the governing council for The Earthshot Prize, a global environmental prize and initiative founded by Prince William and The Royal Foundation to promote innovations that will heal the planet (per her website).

One of the perks of being a queen is the opportunity to live and work in a luxurious royal residence — and the sprawling historic structure that Jordan's King Abdullah and Queen Rania call home is exactly what you'd imagine a Middle Eastern royal residence to be. The palace was built in 1927 for Prince Abdullah bin Al Hussein, who named the structure Raghadan (based on the Arabic word raghad, meaning a decent life, according to the website of The Royal Hashemite Court).

Over the years, the palace has not only served as a home for Jordan's royal family, but also as the site of high-profile state meetings and cultural events. Foreign dignitaries and other visitors to the palace — especially those with an appreciation for traditional Islamic art and design — are in for a treat. The structure incorporates traditional arched windows and carved columns, elaborate wood carvings, and stained-glass windows modeled after those of the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, according to Express. While Queen Rania and her family no longer live in Raghadan Palace full-time, she still has her official offices on the palace compound.

While it's obvious that Queen Rania enjoys fashion and has established herself as a style icon, she never wanted her appearance to define her. Besides her family, she told Oprah, her first responsibility is to her country. "There are also the six million people in my country that I have to think about, and I have to think about the issues of our country and everything that faces us," she said. Among the areas that concern her, she told Oprah, is narrowing the divide between the Middle East and the west.

Queen Rania has used her love of fashion as a way to share her culture with the world. She frequently wears traditional Middle Eastern dresses to high-profile formal events (such as this white jalabiya with pink accents that she wore to celebrate Jordan's 76^th year of independence), as well as pieces by Middle Eastern designers. As reported by Emirates Woman, during her visit to the U.N. General Assembly in New York, she wore a white shirt custom-made for her by the Beirut-based design house Azzi & Osta. During her visit to Istanbul a short time later, Queen Rania wore a black-and-red dress by Iraqi designer Raghda Tapponi. It's impossible to confirm whether she chose these designers simply because she likes them or because she wants to celebrate her region's culture and creativity — but in either case, she's shining a bright light on talent close to home.

When a woman accepts an engagement ring, she knows she's about to embark on a new and different stage of her life. But when Rania Al Yassin accepted her engagement ring from then-Prince Abdullah of Jordan, one look probably made her realize that the next stage of her life would be very, very different from her old life as a junior marketing executive.

The ring was a showstopper. Per PopSugar, it featured a large, rectangular yellow diamond surrounded by pavé diamonds and set in white gold — not the sort of thing most young professionals could dream of buying for themselves. Per Pricescope, a ring similar to Queen Rania's engagement ring can be purchased for $13,475. It was a ring quite literally fit for a queen – and one that would be a beautiful match for the memorable gown she would wear to her royal wedding. The ring would also prove to be a symbol of an enduring bond. The couple went on to raise four children, two of whom will have their own royal weddings this year, per the New York Post.

The wedding between then-Prince Abdullah and Rania Al-Yassin was every bit the high-glamour event one would expect of a royal wedding. Their wedding day was declared a national holiday in Jordan, according to Express. The celebration was attended by royals from around the world, and both the bride and groom were dressed to impress — she in a custom-made designer gown by Bruce Oldfield, he in his formal military uniform.

But astute royal watchers noticed one traditional touch was conspicuously absent: Al-Yassin was not wearing the expected royal tiara. As noted by The National, brides marrying into royal families traditionally wear jewelry from their families' collections at their weddings, then switch to pieces from the royal family's collection following the ceremony. A commoner from a middle-class family (per Biography), Al-Yassin did not have a family jewelry collection at her disposal, and while she certainly could have borrowed a tiara from her future in-laws (she had one made for herself several years later), her choice to not wear a tiara showed the world that she wouldn't turn her back on her roots.