Georgina Rodriguez jets to Cannes as stars showcase Arab designs at film festival
Updated 25 May 2023
Arab News
DUBAI: Saudi Arabia-based model Georgina Rodríguez, whose partner is football icon Cristiano Ronaldo, jetted to Cannes this week and is preparing to hit the red carpet at the ongoing film festival, just one day after celebrities posed for photos in an array of Arab designs at the event.
The model, who moved to Riyadh when the footballer signed with Al-Nassr FC, took to Instagram to share snaps of her trip so far.
The British model wore a voluminous sky-blue taffeta gown with asymmetric sleeves by Lebanese couturier Elie Saab to the screening of the French historical romantic drama “La Passion De Dodin Bouffant.”
The Lebanese actress made a red-carpet appearance this week wearing a black satin duchesse, cinched at the waist, corset gown, by celebrity designer Zuhair Murad, with beaded gloves and black and white stole.
Heidi Klum
(AFP)
The US German model donned a yellow jersey-draped gown by Murad with crossed neckline and cutouts from the Lebanese designer’s Spring 2023 couture collection.
Rami Kadi was championed by Brazilian actress and model Valentina Sampaio. She opted for a rosewater crystallized asymmetric bodice gown, featuring an overlapping skirt.
The Brazilian model wore a statin blue gown with a thigh-high slit, and a twisted-bow detail on the chest from Lebanese designer Nicolas Jebran’s Spring 2023 couture collection.
Childhood photos of Rajwa Al-Saif revealed ahead of her wedding to the Jordanian Crown Prince
Updated 39 min 47 sec ago
Arab News
DUBAI: As Saudi citizen Rajwa Al-Saif gets ready to tie the knot with Jordan’s Crown Prince Hussein bin Abdullah II, new photos from the bride’s childhood were revealed as part of the official live stream of the much-anticipated event taking place in Amman today.
While one photo shows a young and beaming Al-Saif on horseback, another features her father Khalid bin Musaed bin Saif bin Abdulaziz Al-Saif.
Rajwa Al-Saif with her father Khalid bin Musaed bin Saif bin Abdulaziz Al-Saif. (Supplied)
Among the photos is also one of Al-Saif at her graduation ceremony at the Syracuse University in New York.
After the wedding, Al-Saif will be known as Her Royal Highness the Crown Princess of Jordan and, when the crown prince takes the throne, she will be Queen Rajwa.
Among the photos is also one of Al-Saif at her graduation ceremony at the Syracuse University in New York. (Instagram)
The religious ceremony will be held at Zahran Palace, where the crown prince’s parents — King Abdullah II and Queen Rania — wed in 1993. The ceremony will be attended by around 140 guests, including members of the Royal Hashemite family, invited royals and heads of state.
Guests include the Prince and Princess of Wales William and Kate Middleton, senior royals from Europe and Asia, as well as US First Lady Jill Biden.
Fashion reigns supreme at Jordan’s royal wedding as Queen Rania stuns in Dior
Updated 12 sec ago
Arab News
DUBAI: Jordan’s ever fashionable Queen Rania wore a gown by French label Dior at her son Crown Prince Hussein’s wedding with Saudi Arabia’s Rajwa Al-Saif on Thursday.
The embroidered gown hails from the luxury label’s autumn 2022 couture collection.
Jordan’s royal wedding day gets underway with surprise arrival of Britain’s William and Kate
Updated 01 June 2023
AP
AMMAN, Jordan: Jordan’s highly anticipated royal wedding day got underway on Thursday with the surprise announcement that Britain’s Prince William and his wife Kate had arrived to witness the nuptials of Crown Prince Hussein and his Saudi Arabian bride.
The attendance of the British royals had been kept under wraps, and was only confirmed by Jordanian state media a few hours before the start of the palace ceremony.
— Al Arabiya English (@AlArabiya_Eng) June 1, 2023
The wedding of Jordan’s 28-year-old heir to the throne and Rajwa Al-Saif, a 29-year-old architect linked to her own country’s monarch, emphasizes continuity in an Arab state prized for its longstanding stability. The festivities, which are to start Thursday afternoon, also introduce Hussein to a wider global audience.
On Thursday morning, Saudi wedding guests and tourists — the men wearing white dishdasha robes and the women in brightly colored abayas — filtered through the sleek marbled lobby of the Four Seasons Hotel in Amman. Noura Al Sudairi, an aunt of the bride, was wearing sweatpants and sneakers on her way to breakfast.
“We are all so excited, so happy about this union,” she said. “Of course it’s a beautiful thing for our families, and for the relationship between Jordan and Saudi Arabia.”
Excitement over the nuptials — Jordan’s biggest royal event in years — has been building in the capital of Amman, where congratulatory banners of Hussein and his beaming bride adorn buses and hang over winding hillside streets. Shops had competing displays of royal regalia. Royal watchers speculated about which dress designer Al-Saif would select— still an official secret,
Nancy Tirana, a 28-year-old law intern, said she spent the last week scrutinizing Al-Saif's every move and stitch of clothing.
“She’s just so beautiful, so elegant, and it’s clear from her body language how much she loves the queen,” she said, referring to Hussein’s glamorous mother, Rania. “I feel like all of Jordan is getting married,” Tirana gushed as she ate mansaf, Jordan’s national dish of milky mutton and rice, before heading to a wedding-themed concert.
Jordan’s 11 million citizens have watched the young crown prince rise in prominence in recent years, as he increasingly joined his father, King Abdullah II, in public appearances. Hussein has graduated from Georgetown University, joined the military and gained some global recognition speaking at the UN General Assembly. His wedding, experts say, marks his next crucial rite of passage.
“It’s not just a marriage, it’s the presentation of the future king of Jordan,” said political analyst Amer Sabaileh. “The issue of the crown prince has been closed.”
Palace officials have turned the event — a week after Jordan’s 77th birthday — into something of a PR campaign. Combining tradition and modernity, the royal family introduced a wedding hashtag (#Celebrating Al Hussein) and omnipresent logo that fuses the couple’s initials into the Arabic words “We rejoice”
Photos and reels from Al-Saif's henna party — a traditional pre-wedding celebration featuring the bride and her female friends and relatives — and the couple’s engagement ceremony in Saudi Arabia last summer have splashed across state-linked media.
The kingdom declared Thursday a public holiday so crowds of people could gather after the wedding service to wave at the couple’s motorcade of red Land Rover jeeps — a nod to the traditional procession of horse riders clad in red coats during the reign of the country’s founder, King Abdullah I. Tens of thousands of well-wishers are expected to flock to free concerts and cultural events. Huge screens have been set up nationwide for crowds to watch the occasion unfold.
The signing of the marriage contract will take place at Zahran Palace in Amman, which hasn’t seen such pomp and circumstance since 1993, when, on a similarly sunny June day, Abdullah married Rania, who was born in Kuwait to Palestinian parents. Decades earlier, Abdullah’s father, the late King Hussein, sealed his vows in the same garden with his second wife, the British citizen Antoinette Gardiner.
In addition to the Prince and Princess of Wales, the guest list includes an array of foreign aristocrats and dignitaries, including senior royals from Europe and Asia, as well as First Lady Jill Biden and US climate envoy John Kerry. Other likely attendees include Saudi aristocrats, as Alseif’s mother traces her roots to the influential wife of Saudi Arabia’s founder, King Abdul-Aziz Al Saud, Her billionaire father owns a major construction firm in the kingdom.
After the ceremony, the wedding party will move to Al Husseiniya Palace, a 30-minute drive away, for a reception, entertainment and a state banquet. The royals are expected to greet more than 1,700 guests at the reception.
Jordan’s Crown Prince Hussein bin Abdullah II to wed Saudi national Rajwa Al-Saif at lavish royal wedding
Guests at the wedding include Britain’s Prince William and Princess Kate, US First Lady Jill Biden, Qatar’s Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, as well as royals from across the Arab world and beyond
Updated 10 min 49 sec ago
Arab News
AMMAN: It is set to be an affair to remember as Jordan’s Crown Prince Hussein bin Abdullah II weds Saudi national Rajwa Al-Saif on Thursday at Zahran Palace in Amman, before the royal couple will travel by motorcade to Al-Husseiniya Palace for a lavish reception.
Al-Saif will be known as Her Royal Highness the Crown Princess of Jordan and, when the crown prince takes the throne, she will be Queen Rajwa.
The religious ceremony will be held at Zahran Palace, where the crown prince’s parents — King Abdullah II and Queen Rania — wed in 1993. The ceremony will be attended by around 140 guests, including members of the Royal Hashemite family, invited royals and heads of state.
Guests include dignitaries and royals from around the world, including the UK’s Prince and Princess of Wales William and Kate Middleton; US First Lady Jill Biden; Qatar’s Sheikha Moza bint Nasser; the king and queen of Malaysia; the king and queen of The Netherlands; King Juan Carlos I and Queen Sofía of Spain; Prince Sébastien of Luxembourg; Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary of Denmark; Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden and Prince Daniel, Duke of Västergötland; Haakon, Crown Prince of Norway and Hisako, Princess Takamado and her daughter, Princess Tsuguko of Takamado of Japan, among others.
Al-Saif will arrive at the palace in a 1968 Rolls-Royce Phantom V that was custom-made for the late Queen Zein Al-Sharaf and will be escorted by the Crown Prince’s younger brother, Prince Hashem bin Abdullah II, and Princess Salma bint Abdullah II. Prince Hashem will walk Al-Saif to the gazebo where the Islamic marriage ceremony will take place.
During the ceremony, the bride and groom will sign the marriage contract — as will two witnesses. Royal Hashemite Court Imam Dr. Ahmed Al-Khalaileh, who was appointed to this position in January 2021, is set to preside over the ceremony, which will be followed by several women performing the Zaghrouta.
Meanwhile, crowds will line the 10km route as the couple travel to the location of the reception party in a custom 1984 Range Rover as part of a convoy worthy of an Arab royal wedding.
The motorcade will feature eight red 1980s Land Rovers and 11 red BMW motorcycles. The vintage machines belong to the Royal Convoy Unit, part of a special military formation known as the Royal Guards. The Jordan Armed Forces Musical Band will perform during the event.
The cars will carry the unit's yellow and green flag, which boasts a lion's figure as its crest, as well as the Hashemite flag.
As is customary, the arrival of the bride and groom will be announced with a zaffeh by the Jordan Armed Forces Musical Band. All band members will wear the traditional red and white shemagh, a traditional headdress for men, in addition to their full-dress uniform. After passing through an honorary Arch of Sabers, the couple will proceed through the courtyard amidst a traditional Jordanian zaffeh, toward the greeting stage, where the family will greet more than 1,700 guests. The remainder of the evening will feature a variety of performances by local and regional singers, a choir group, Jordanian bands, the national orchestra, and folk dance troupes.
According to the Royal Hashemite Court, the reception space at Al-Husseiniya Palace has been designed to showcase Jordanian traditions, craftsmanship, and the country’s natural surroundings. Upon arrival, guests enter on a path that evokes the Jordanian desert, featuring a 20-meter-long handwoven Bedouin rug, created specifically for this occasion by the Bani Hamida Women's Weaving Project in the village of Mukawir in Madaba.
Surrounded by foraged wildflowers that reflect the native landscape of the weavers, guests are welcomed with traditional Arabic coffee and music as they make their way down the reception. Once inside the reception space, guests will be greeted by the sight of native olive trees surrounded by a dune-like display of dates, which represent hospitality in both Jordanian and Saudi cultures. The venue features an installation of five large-scale mesh arches, inspired by the architecture of the palace and the hues of the desert landscape of Jordan’s Wadi Rum.
Guest seats are adorned with traditional embroidery patterns, handstitched by women artisans employed by Al-Karma Embroidery Center and the Jerash Women Charitable Society – all of which were established to empower local women and promote traditional handiworks. Guest tables are made from natural Madaba stone and decorated with hand-blown glass vases and traditional clay pottery made by local artisans. The space design also incorporates hand-hammered basalt stone from the north of Jordan. Utilizing local seasonal flowers, the Palace’s archways will be steeped in jasmine. Other design elements will pay homage to Jordan’s wheat harvesting season, which will be in full swing, with items reimagining the traditional threshing board used to shred wheat and release its grain.
The reception will conclude with the bride and groom cutting the wedding cake.
The royal wedding was almost a year in the making, with the couple announcing their engagement in August 2022. The pair got engaged in Riyadh with members of the Jordanian royal family in attendance, as well as Al-Saif’s parents — Khalid bin Musaed bin Saif bin Abdulaziz Al-Saif and Azza bint Nayef Abdulaziz Ahmad Al-Sudairi.
The Al-Saif family traces its lineage to the Subay tribe, who have been present in the Sudair region of Najd since the beginning of the era of King Abdulaziz, the founder of modern-day Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile, Al-Saif’s mother comes from the prominent Al-Sudairi family.
The royal couple: A closer look at Rajwa Al-Saif and Crown Prince Hussein bin Abdullah II
Updated 31 May 2023
Hams Saleh and Shyama Krishna Kumar
DUBAI: As people across Jordan, and the wider Arab world, prepare to celebrate the wedding of Jordan’s Crown Prince Hussein bin Abdullah and Rajwa Al-Saif from Saudi Arabia, Arab News take a closer look at the royal power couple.
While Al-Saif largely lived outside the public eye until the couple’s engagement was announced last year, Hussein has been in the spotlight since the moment he was born in Amman on June 28, 1994. He was appointed crown prince by royal decree on July 2, 2009.
The crown prince has three siblings: Princess Iman, Princess Salma and Prince Hashem. (Supplied)
The 28-year-old prince, the eldest son of King Abdullah II and Queen Rania, has three siblings: Princess Iman, 26, who tied the knot with financier Jameel Alexander Thermiotis on March 12, Princess Salma, 22, and Prince Hashem, 18.
The crown prince was named after his grandfather, King Hussein bin Talal, who became king in 1952 at the age of 17 and ruled Jordan for almost five decades until his death in 1999. Hussein’s paternal grandmother is Princess Muna Al-Hussein, a British convert to Islam, and his mother is of Palestinian descent.
He complete his high school studies in 2012 at King’s Academy in Jordan. In 2016, he graduated with a degree in international history from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.
He is a qualified helicopter pilot. (Supplied)
Like many male members of the Jordanian royal family, including his father and grandfather, the prince attended Britain’s prestigious Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, graduating in 2017.
He often accompanies King Abdullah during official visits in Jordan and has also embarked on several official trips abroad. Most recently, he accompanied the king and queen on a visit to Japan in April.
“The King has been preparing the prince for years,” Samih Al-Maaytah, Jordan’s former minister of information, told Arab News.
He holds the rank of captain in the Jordanian Armed Forces. (Instagram)
“The prince attends all the important meetings of his majesty the king with world leaders in the United Nations, Europe and at international and Arab conferences. So he is being trained directly by the king.”
In April 2015, at the age of 20, Crown Prince Hussein became the youngest person to chair a session of the UN Security Council when he presided over an open debate on the role of youth in efforts to counter violent extremism and promote peace. As a result, in August 2015, Jordan hosted the first Global Forum on Youth, Peace and Security, which produced the Amman Youth Declaration on those issues.
The prince made his debut in front of the UN General Assembly in 2017, when he delivered a speech criticizing the focus on militarization in the Middle East.
The crown prince with his parents. (Supplied)
He holds the rank of captain in the Jordanian Armed Forces and is often an observer at military drills in the country. He is a qualified helicopter pilot; after his first solo flight in 2018, he was doused with a bucket of water in a traditional military celebration of such occasions.
Al-Maaytah described the prince’s relationship with the Jordanian public as “active, dynamic and close to the youth.” Hussein oversees the Crown Prince Foundation, which promotes education with a focus on technical training and initiatives to benefit young people in Jordan.
The prince also founded the Masar Initiative to encourage youths to take an interest and pursue careers in the field of space technology, and the “Hearing without Borders” project, which provides cochlear implants for deaf children.
“He always visits gatherings with the youth from different sectors, so he is a role model to the youth who have awareness, who are dynamic and passionate,” Al-Maaytah said.
In the rare moments the prince has to himself to pursue his own interests, he likes to share his activities and hobbies with his 3.9 million followers on Instagram. He appears to like to stay active and particularly enjoys basketball, football, hiking, cooking and playing the guitar.
The crown prince and Al-Saif announced their engagement in August last year during a ceremony in Riyadh, in the presence of King Abdullah, Queen Rania and Al-Saif’s family. The royal family of Jordan’s Hashemite dynasty will welcome its newest member on June 1, when the couple are due to wed at Zahran Palace in Amman, but what do we know about the future queen?
Born on April 28, 1994, Al-Saif is the daughter of Saudi businessman Khalid bin Musaed bin Saif bin Abdulaziz Al-Saif and his wife, Azza bint Nayef Abdulaziz Ahmad Al-Sudairi. The youngest of four children, her older siblings are called Faisal, Nayef and Dana.
The Al-Saif family traces its lineage to the Subay tribe, who have been present in the Sudair region of Najd since the beginning of the era of King Abdulaziz, the founder of modern-day Saudi Arabia.
Al-Saif’s mother comes from the prominent Al-Sudairi family. Incidentally, Saudi Arabia’s King Salman is one of the so-called “Sudairi Seven,” an influential alliance of seven full brothers born to King Abdulaziz and Hussa bint Ahmed Al-Sudairi.
After graduating from high school in Saudi Arabia, Al-Saif studied at Syracuse University’s School of Architecture in New York state. She also holds an Associate of Arts Professional Designation in visual communications from the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles.
After a spell working at an architecture firm in Los Angeles, she returned to her native Saudi Arabia to work at the Designlab Experience design studio in Riyadh.
Since their engagement, Al-Saif and the crown prince have made numerous public appearances together, including a visit in January to the “Fragrance of Colors” initiative in Amman, which aims to teach the blind and visually impaired to draw by identifying colors through their sense of smell. They were briefed by Suheil Baqaeen, the founder of the initiative, on the creative work of students during a workshop at Darat Suheil, a gallery and art space in Jabal Luweibdeh in Amman.
“It was one of the most beautiful moments in my life. Believe you me, she is so simple, elegant, nice and humble,” Baqaeen told Arab News when asked about his encounter with Al-Saif. “And they both were so, so sweet.
“They showed so much sensitivity when talking to the children. When the crown prince and Ms. Rajwa came to our simple Darat Suheil, they gave their positive energy to the children by spending time with them and talking to them.
“It felt like a healing energy … there was no obstacle in the conversation. There was so much freedom to talk. She also asked the children about their dreams.”
Baqaeen said Al-Saif spent time painting alongside the children.
“She showed a lot of skill with the watercolor painting, since she is an architect and has a design background,” he added.
The Royal Hashemite Court has yet to reveal full details of Al-Saif’s future role as a working member of the Jordanian royal family after the wedding, though it is thought likely she will follow in her mother-in-law’s footsteps as a philanthropic force to be reckoned with, first as crown princess and then as queen.
