Jordan’s Crown Prince Hussein's engagement to architect Rajwa Al Saif, first revealed on Wednesday, has been confirmed by the Royal Hashemite Court.
Ms Al Saif, 28, is a Saudi citizen born to businessman Khalid Al Saif and his wife Azza Al Sudairi.
The engagement took place at the home of Ms Al Saif's father in Riyadh on Wednesday.
Who is Jordan's Crown Prince Hussein?
Prince Hussein, also 28, identifies himself with young people who make up the overwhelming majority of the population in the kingdom, and the wider Arab Middle East.
The prince is the eldest son of King Abdullah and is being groomed for eventual succession to the Hashemite throne, established with British support in what was known as Transjordan 100 years ago.
He is named after his grandfather, King Hussein, who became king at the age of 16 and ruled Jordan for almost five decades until his death in 1999.
Under King Hussein, Jordan emerged as a bastion of stability in a volatile region, an image King Abdullah has sought to preserve amid political and economic challenges in the past decade.
What is he best known for?
In the past five years, Prince Hussein has been appearing increasingly on the international stage and serving as regent when the king is away.
His major debut was in 2017 at the United Nations General Assembly, where he gave a speech criticising the focus on militarisation in the Middle East instead of resources for development.
“The message to the youth of Jordan and our region is loud and clear: there is no shortage of money for fighting evil. But the appetite for rewarding virtue is nearly non-existent,” he said.
“The voice of those who defend and build is drowned out by those who attack and destroy.”
He said he belongs to the “largest generation of young people in history” who live in an area “too often deafened by division and extremism.”
He heads the Crown Prince Foundation in Amman, which promotes education, with a focus on technical training for the young.
Where was he educated?
Like many of the male members of Jordan’s royal family, including his father and grandfather, Prince Hussein attended an officer's training course at Britain’s Sandhurst military academy. He has a degree in international history from Georgetown University in Washington.
What about his family?
The prince has three siblings: Princess Iman, Princess Salma and Prince Hashem.
His 60-year-old father King Abdullah succeeded King Hussein in 1999, becoming at the time one of the youngest rulers in the region. He focused on economic development, while the pillar of the country’s foreign policy remained a close alliance with the US.
In July last year, Prince Hussein accompanied King Abdullah on an official visit to Washington, where the king became the first Arab leader to meet President Joe Biden since he took office in January 2021.
Prince Hussein sat alongside his father in the White House with Mr Biden. The meeting was important because Jordan was somewhat sidelined during the Donald Trump administration and its regional weight lessened as Washington concentrated on promoting Arab normalisation with Israel.
King Abdullah told Mr Biden that he “had the privilege of knowing you with my father decades ago,” a scenario he repeated with the prince.
Who is Rajwa Al Saif, his Saudi fiancée?
Al Saif was born in Riyadh on April 28, 1994, according to Roya News in Jordan.
She is the youngest of four siblings and her parents are businessman Khalid Al Saif and Azza Al Sudairi.
Her secondary education took place in Saudi Arabia before she moved to New York in the US to complete her higher education at Syracuse University's College of Architecture.
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Director: James Cameron
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Islamophobia definition
A widely accepted definition was made by the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims in 2019: “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.” It further defines it as “inciting hatred or violence against Muslims”.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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Trump v Khan
2016: Feud begins after Khan criticised Trump’s proposed Muslim travel ban to US
2017: Trump criticises Khan’s ‘no reason to be alarmed’ response to London Bridge terror attacks
2019: Trump calls Khan a “stone cold loser” before first state visit
2019: Trump tweets about “Khan’s Londonistan”, calling him “a national disgrace”
2022: Khan’s office attributes rise in Islamophobic abuse against the major to hostility stoked during Trump’s presidency
July 2025 During a golfing trip to Scotland, Trump calls Khan “a nasty person”
Sept 2025 Trump blames Khan for London’s “stabbings and the dirt and the filth”.
Dec 2025 Trump suggests migrants got Khan elected, calls him a “horrible, vicious, disgusting mayor”
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Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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UAE
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German intelligence warnings
- 2002: "Hezbollah supporters feared becoming a target of security services because of the effects of [9/11] ... discussions on Hezbollah policy moved from mosques into smaller circles in private homes." Supporters in Germany: 800
- 2013: "Financial and logistical support from Germany for Hezbollah in Lebanon supports the armed struggle against Israel ... Hezbollah supporters in Germany hold back from actions that would gain publicity." Supporters in Germany: 950
- 2023: "It must be reckoned with that Hezbollah will continue to plan terrorist actions outside the Middle East against Israel or Israeli interests." Supporters in Germany: 1,250
Source: Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution
THREE
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The Sky Is Pink
Director: Shonali Bose
Cast: Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Farhan Akhtar, Zaira Wasim, Rohit Saraf
Three stars
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
