Queen Rania of Jordan Sports Tiara in New 54th Birthday Portrait — Weeks After Becoming a Grandma! (2024)

It has been a big year — and a big month! — for Queen Rania of Jordan.

To mark her 54th birthday on Aug. 31, the Royal Hashemite Court released a new portrait of the Queen. The photo shows the royal smiling as she looks off-camera while sporting a regal look: an evening dress complete with a purple sash, adorned with a crown brooch, and sparkling tiara.

Queen Rania now shares a birthday month with her newborn granddaughter. She became a grandmother for the first time when her son Crown Prince Hussein and daughter-in-law Princess Rajwa welcomed their first child, Princess Iman, on Aug. 3.

“Iman, you’ve already got a hold of my heart,” the Queen of Jordan wrote on Instagram earlier this month. “Our family has never been happier!”

In addition to Princess Iman’s birth, it's been a big year for Jordan's royal family. King Abdullah celebrated his Silver Jubilee, marking 25 years on the throne, and recently gave his wife of 31 years a special honor: the Order of the Bejewelled Grand Cordon of Al Nahda, in appreciation of her service alongside him for a quarter century. The honor was given to the Queen “in recognition of her leading role in the advancement of Jordanian society and her efforts to support Jordanians in all fields,” according to the Royal Hashemite Court.

“Every time I enter a Jordanian village or home, its people ask me to convey to you their greetings and their appreciation for your efforts to develop our country and create a brighter, more hopeful future for our children,” the King, 62, wrote in a public letter addressed to his wife marking the occasion. “I see, in their eyes, love for the wife of their King and the mother of their Crown Prince.”

Abdullah acceded to the throne at 37 years old in February 1999 upon the death of his father, King Hussein. Just days before he died, King Hussein chose Abdullah as his successor over Crown Prince Hamzah, his son with his fourth wife, Queen Noor, BBC reported.

The celebration of King Abullah’s Silver Jubilee on June 9 was filled with pageantry, including a military parade and flypast attended by around 9,000 people. Queen Rania, who joined her husband on several visits across Jordan throughout 2024 marking the milestone, posted a sweet tribute of her own on Instagram, writing, “King of my heart…Congratulations on your Silver Jubilee.”

To mark their wedding anniversary the very next day, June 10, Rania wrote a tribute on Instagram to her husband, whom she called “the best friend, partner, husband and role model anyone could ask for.”

In addition to keeping busy with a jubilee year, Queen Rania apparently spent time shopping for her first grandchild prior to Princess Iman’s arrival. According to her son Crown Prince Hussein, “My mother has already started shopping for baby stuff weeks ago,” he told Al Arabiya in May.

He added of impending fatherhood that “Everything will change with the kids, for sure. I don’t know what to expect, but thank God we are excited and the family is excited too.”

After Princess Iman’s birth, proud grandmother Queen Rania posted to Instagram, writing “So much cuteness in my arms.”

After her son Crown Prince Hussein, 30, married Princess Rajwa, also 30, in a June 1, 2023 royal wedding in Amman, Jordan (where Kate Middleton and Prince William were among the 1,700 in attendance!), Queen Rania told TODAY in a 2023 appearance the advice she’d given her daughter-in-law on life in the public eye.

“One of the first things, just before my son announced his engagement, I took Rajwa to the side and the first thing I told her was that there’s no such thing as 100% approval rating,” Rania said. “You’re always going to have people that are against you, and the advice that I want to give you is ‘Please try not to read the comments.’”

She added, “You know, you’re just going to have self-doubt, and there’s always going to be negativity — and it’s not about you, it’s from the person. They’re unhappy in their own lives. So don’t carry that unhappiness…it’ll shake your confidence.”

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In addition to Crown Prince Hussein, the King and Queen are also parents to their own Princess Iman, 27, Princess Salma, 23, and Prince Hashem, 19.