[blam]

This is a picture of Queen Noor. She is the mother of the king of Jordan and an American from Baltimore.

[hgro]

She is Egyptian American. Her maiden name was Halaby and her father was president of PanAmerican Airlines in its heyday.

[Let's Roll]

No, she is not the mother of Queen Abdullah. Her predecessor, a British subject, (Muna) Toni, was the mother of Abdullah. Queen Noor married Abdullah's father, King Hussein, following Hussein's divorce from Toni. Search google using "King Abdullah" Jordan mother.

[crystalk]

That is not correct. Your picture IS of Noor, but of course Abdullah's mother is Queen Muna, a British girl born April Antoinette Gardiner, who conceived the present King out of wedlock in 1961.

Muna remained married to Hussein, father of the present King, until 1977, over 15 years, and was the mother of twin girls.

Muna never did really like the Middle East, and raised this Abdullah mostly in England, where she resides today. Abdullah is the first Arab monarch to have learned Arabic as a second language. Still, as the Hashemite heir he is at little risk of assassination by Islamic fundamentalists.

[Hamza01]

Lisa Halaby, a Lebanese Arab American-- as I understand it. I like the current queen (Rania) better.

[E Rocc]

This is a picture of Queen Noor. She is the mother of the king of Jordan and an American from Baltimore.

She's not Abdullah's mother, indeed she's only about 10 years older than him. As has been mentioned, his mother was British born.

She did however play a key role in getting King Hussein to make Abdullah Crown Prince instead of his (Hussein's) brother just before he died. Noor's son Hamzah is the Crown Prince. Between the influence of the half-British King, the half-American Crown Prince, and the American "Queen Emeritus", Jordan's pretty heavily westernized at the highest levels. Indeed, they have a peace treaty with Israel that's a de facto mutual defense deal. They're a reliable friend as long as we don't let the radical Islamophobes cause us to abandon them, and as long as the Hashemite Kingdom stands (of course).

-Eric