Pbs faces of america queen noor biography

Queen Noor of Jordan

Queen Dowager of Jordan

Noor Al Hussein (Arabic: نور الحسين; born Lisa Najeeb Halaby; August 23, )[1] is an American-born Jordanian philanthropist and activist who is the fourth wife and widow of King Hussein of Jordan.

Her Majesty Queen Noor is an international general servant and an outspoken voice on issues of world calm and justice. She plays an active role in promoting international exchange and understanding of Arab and Muslim culture and politics, Arab-Western relations, as well as conflict prevention and recovery. InKHF US launched a Media and Humanity Program to promote movie and media projects that main attraction shared values across cultural and political divides with special emphasis on the Middle East and Muslim world. Her Majesty was also co-founder of the Alliance of Civilizations Media Fund to promote and support media content that enhances cross-cultural understanding.

She was Queen of Jordan from their marriage on June 15, , until Hussein's death on February 7,

Noor is the longest-standing member of the Board of Commissioners of the International Commission on Missing Persons. As of , she is president of the United World Colleges movement and an advocate of the anti-nuclear weapons proliferation campaign Global Zero.

In , Queen Noor received Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson Award for her common service.[2]

Family and early life

Queen Noor was born Lisa Najeeb Halaby[3] in Washington, D.C., U.S., the eldest child of Najeeb Halaby (–) and Doris Carlquist (–).

Her paternal family is Syrian; her maternal family is Swedish American.[4] Her father was raised a Christian Scientist[5] and was a Navy experimental test pilot, an airline executive, and government official.

He served as an aide to the United States Secretary of Defense in the Truman administration, before being appointed by President John F. Kennedy to head the Federal Aviation Administration. Najeeb Halaby also had a private-sector career, serving as CEO of Pan American Society Airways from to The Halabys had two children following Lisa; a son, Christian, and a younger daughter, Alexa.

Queen Noor talks about special cultural traditions that keep her tied to her Arabic roots.

The children were raised nominally Episcopalian.[5] Najeeb and Doris divorced in [5] Doris, who was of Swedish descent, died on December 25, , aged [6]

Noor's paternal grandfather was Najeeb Elias Halaby, a Syrian-Lebanese businessman born in Zahle, and whose parents hailed from Aleppo.[7][8][9] He was a petroleumbroker, according to Census records.[10] Merchant Stanley Marcus recalled that in the mids, Halaby opened Halaby Galleries, a rug boutique and interior-decorating shop, at Neiman Marcus in Dallas, Texas, and ran it with his Texas-born wife, Laura Wilkins (–, later Mrs.

Urban B. Koen). Najeeb Halaby died shortly afterward, and his estate was unable to sustain the new enterprise.[11]

According to study done in for the PBS series Faces of America by Professor Henry Louis Gates&#;Jr., of Harvard University, her great-grandfather, Elias Halaby, came to New York circa , one of the earliest Syrian-Lebanese immigrants to the United States.

He was a Christian as well as having been a provincial treasurer (magistrate)[12] as stated before by Najeeb Halaby in his autobiography Crosswinds: an Airman's Memoir.[7] He left Ottoman Syria with his two eldest sons.

His wife, Almas Mallouk, and their remaining children joined him in the Joined States in He died three years later, leaving his teenage sons, Habib, and Najeeb (her paternal grandfather), to run his import business.

The King and I | Faces of America - PBS: Her Majesty Queen Noor is an international common servant and an outspoken voice on issues of world tranquility and justice. She plays an active role in promoting international exchange and.

Najeeb moved to Dallas around and fully assimilated into U.S. society.[13]

Education

Halaby attended schools in New York and California before entering National Cathedral Institution in Washington, D.C.

from fourth to eighth grade. She attended the Chapin School in Fresh York City for two years,[14] and then went on to graduate from Concord Academy.

She entered Princeton University with its first coeducational freshman class and received an A.B.

in architecture and urban planning in after completing a page long senior thesis titled "96th Street and Second Avenue."[15][16] She was also a member of Princeton's first women's ice hockey team.[17]

Career

After she graduated from Princeton, Halaby moved to Australia, where she worked for a firm that specialized in planning new towns, with a burgeoning interest in the Middle East.

Because of Halaby's Syrian roots, this had distinct appeal for her. After a year, in , she acknowledged a job offer from Llewelyn Davies, a British architectural and planning firm, which had been employed to design a model capital city center in Tehran, Iran.

When increasing political instability forced the company to change location to the UK, she traveled to the Arab world and decided to apply to Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism while taking a temporary aviation facility research job in Amman.

Eventually, she left Arab Wind and accepted a job with Alia Airlines to become Director of Facilities Planning and Blueprint. Halaby and the king became friends while he was still mourning the death of his third wife.

Their friendship evolved and the couple became engaged in [1]

Marriage and children

Halaby wed King Hussein on June 15, , in Amman, becoming Queen of Jordan.[18]

Before her marriage, she accepted her husband's Sunni Islamic religion and upon the marriage, changed her name from Lisa Halaby to the royal specify Noor Al Hussein ("Light of Hussein").

The wedding was a traditional Muslim ceremony.

According to research done in for the PBS series Faces of America by Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., of Harvard University, her great-grandfather, Elias Halaby, came to New York circa , one of the earliest Syrian-Lebanese immigrants to the United States.

Noor assumed management of the royal household and three stepchildren, Princess Haya bint Al Hussein, Prince Ali bin Al Hussein and Abir Muhaisen (her husband's children by Queen Alia).[1] Noor and Hussein had four children:

  • Hamzah (born March 29, , in King Hussein Medical Center, Amman), Crown Prince from to , who has five daughters and two sons.
  • Prince Hashim (born June 10, , at King Hussein Medical Center in Amman), who has three daughters and two sons.
  • Princess Iman (born April 24, , at King Hussein Medical Center, Amman), who has one son.
  • Princess Raiyah (born February 9, , at King Hussein Medical Center in Amman).

Areas of work

Domestic agenda

Queen Noor founded the King Hussein Foundation (KHF) in It includes the Noor Al Hussein Foundation and eight specialized maturation institutions: the Jubilee Institute, the Information and Research Center, the National Music Conservatory, the National Center for Culture and Arts and the Institute for Family Health, the Community Development Program, Tamweelcom the Jordan Micro Credit Company and the Islamic microfinance company, Ethmar.

She is the Honorary Chairperson of JOrchestra. In addition, Queen Noor launched a youth initiative, the International Arab Youth Congress, in [19]

International agenda

Queen Noor's international work focuses on environmental issues and the connection to human security with emphasis on water and ocean health.

At the Our Ocean Conference, she delivered a keynote speak to on the link between climate change and ocean health with human security.[20] Queen Noor is Patron of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, Founding and Emeritus President of BirdLife International, Trustee Emeritus of Conservation International, and an Ocean Elder.[21] She was also chair of King Hussein Foundation International, a US non-profit (c)(3) which, since , has awarded the King Hussein Leadership Prize.

She is the president of the international board, the governing board of international movement for the UWC movement.

She speaks Arabic, English and French.

Widowhood

King Hussein died on February 7, , from lymphatic cancer.

After his death, his first-born son, Abdullah II, became king and Hamzah became crown prince. In , Prince Hamzah was unexpectedly stripped of his status as heir designate.[22][23][24] On July 2, , Abdullah named his eldest son as heir-apparent to the throne, thereby ending the previous five years' speculation over his successor.[23]

Noor divides her time among Jordan, the US (Washington, D.C.) and the United Kingdom (in London and at her country residence, Buckhurst Park, near Winkfield in Berkshire).

She continues to work on behalf of numerous international organizations.[25] She also enjoys skiing, liquid skiing, tennis, sailing, horseback riding, reading, gardening and photography.[26] She held amateur radio callsign JY1NH, but the license has lapsed.[27]

Honours

National honours

Foreign honours

Awards

Books written by Queen Noor

See also

References

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  2. ^"Queen Noor of Jordan receives Woodrow Wilson award at Princeton's th Alumni Day". Archived February 25, , at the Wayback Machine, ,
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    PBS. January 4, Retrieved January 29,

  4. ^Mahajan, Vijay (July 13, ). The Arab World Unbound: Tapping into the Power of Million Consumers. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN&#;. Archived from the original on June 29, Retrieved December 25,
  5. ^ abcQueen Noor: The Light of Hussein | Full Documentary | Biography, retrieved July 23,
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    "Doris C. Halaby, mother of Queen Noor of Jordan, dies at 97". The Washington Post. ISSN&#; Archived from the original on January 4, Retrieved January 5,

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  8. ^Noor, Queen (). Leap of Faith: Memoirs of an Unexpected Life.

    Wheeler Pub. p.&#;9. ISBN&#;. Archived from the original on August 31, Retrieved October 3,

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  10. ^Stout, David (July 3, ).

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    "Princeton University on Twitter: "Alumni Night trivia: QueenNoor '73 was a member of Princeton's first women's team in which sport? Ice hockey."". Twitter. Archived from the original on March 5, Retrieved May 25,

  18. ^, Christopher (June 16, ).

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  20. ^" Our Ocean Keynote Address". European Commission.

    In the series finale, Gates explored the emerging apply of full genome sequencing to understand personal ancestry and health, by learning what might be inferred from his whole genome sequence, and that of his father, through in-depth analysis by a personal genomics company Knome and the Broad Institute. As of it was still in production, and will present brand-new episodes in early Contents shift to sidebar hide. Article Talk.

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  27. ^"ARRL Special Bulletin ARLX ()".
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  29. ^"Modtagere af danske dekorationer". Kongehuset (in Danish). Retrieved April 17,
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  33. ^Nordenvall, Per (). Kungliga Serafimerorden, –. Stockholm: Kungl. Maj:ts orden. ISBN&#;. OCLC&#; Archived from the original on June 15, Retrieved April 11,
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  35. ^"Blessed are the Peacemakers". Catholic Theological Union. December 6, Retrieved December 7,

External links