He's heir to the throne in one of the oldest monarchies in the Middle East and a claimed descendant of the Prophet Muhammad. She's a Saudi architect with an aristocratic pedigree of her own.
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Crown Prince Al Hussein bin Abdullah II, 28, and Rajwa Alseif, 29, are to be married on Thursday at a palace wedding in Jordan. The families have not said how the couple met or provided any details about their courtship. They were formally engaged at a traditional Muslim ceremony in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, in August 2022 that was attended by senior members of Jordan's royal family. The bride and groom are destined to become a power couple in the Middle East, forging a new bond between Jordan and Saudi Arabia as the latter seeks to transform itself into a regional power broker.
Rajwa Alseif was born in Riyadh on April 28, 1994, the youngest of four children. Her mother, Azza bint Nayef Abdulaziz Ahmad Al Sudairi, is related to Hussa bint Ahmed Al Sudairi, who is said to have been the favorite wife of Saudi Arabia's founder, King Abdul-Aziz Al Saud, and gave birth to seven of his sons, including the country's current ruler, King Salman. For decades, the so-called Sudairi Seven, most of whom are now deceased, were seen as a major locus of power within the Saudi royal family.
