Royal Wedding Recollections – Antoinette Avril Gardiner & King Hussein of Jordan

On 25 May 1961, British-born Antoinette Avril Gardiner married King Hussein of Jordan.

He had been married once before, to Dina bint Abdul-Hamid, but this marriage ended in divorce in 1957.

There was an issue with Antoinette being British. Queen Zein, Hussein’s mother, and the Cabinet refused to sanction the match. Eventually, King Hussein conceded and wrote to his premier, “It is my true wish that she be called Muna al Hussein [choice of Hussein] with no decoration, title or position.”¹ Toni had commented that, “Being Queen or anything else in the way of title means nothing to me.”²

And so, the wedding ceremony wedding ahead. In a salon at the Queen Mother’s palace, King Hussein and Muna said their vows, signed copies of the wedding contract and exchanged rings. The guests then shouted, “Mabrouk!” [good luck]. The newlyweds then travelled through the streets of Amman in a cream-coloured Mercedes to celebrate with the people.³

Muna and Hussein went on to have four children together, including the current King Abdullah II of Jordan. They divorced in 1972, but she retained the title of Princess Muna al-Hussein.

Hussein went on to marry two more times. He married Alia Toukan in 1972; she died in a helicopter crash in 1972. In 1978, he married Lisa Najeeb Halab, now known as Queen Noor; she survived him.

1. The New York Times
2. The New York Times
3. Time