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Queen Noor of Jordan
Live Web cast March 8, 2001 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT
 Listen to the event
American-born Queen Noor of Jordan may have withdrawn
to the sidelines since the death in 1999 of her
husband, King Hussein, but she remains active in the
life of her adopted country. Wife of the king for 21
years and now mother of Jordan’s Crown Prince Hamzah,
she has long straddled two cultures, sometimes in the
face of criticism that she was too American or too
outspoken.
An architect, college cheerleader and anti-Vietnam
protester during her youth, 49-year-old Queen Noor
feels that she has been true to herself as life has
taken her down a unique path. “At university, I was a
student activist, and although a tear-gas fogged
protest line might seem a strange starting point for a
journey to a palace, the ideals and concerns that
sparked my involvement with the civil rights, anti-war
and environmental movements of the 60's and 70s are
the much the same ones that have motivated my work in
the Middle East over the past 20 years,” she said in a
1997 speech at the annual Women of the Year awards
ceremony in London.
She has put a stamp on many aspects of life in Jordan,
especially in areas of particular interest to her:
mother and child health care, education, women’s
development, environmental protection, culture, and
public architecture and planning. Queen Noor founded
Jordan's Jubilee School for gifted youths and the
national music conservatory. Her Noor Al-Hussein
Foundation and the National Handicrafts Development
Project, which she launched, help rural women develop
economic independence through various crafts and
agricultural businesses. Many of the foundation’s
programs have earned recognition outside Jordan as
development models that are sensitive to local values
and traditions. But she has also bucked other
traditions, speaking out against “honor killings”
sometimes carried out in Jordan against women who have
had sex outside marriage.
Long an emissary of King Hussein, Queen Noor has also
held a variety of international roles aimed at
fostering cross-cultural understanding and helping
people in developing countries. Since the death of
Britain's Princess Diana, she has spearheaded
international efforts to ban land mines. She is patron
of the World Conservation Union (IUCN), president of
the United World Colleges, chair of advisory boards at
the Center for the Global South at American University
in Washington, D.C. and at the United Nations
University International Leadership Academy, and
director on the global board of The Hunger Project, to
name only a few of her projects.
Born Lisa Najeeb Halaby on August 23, 1951, to a mother
of Swedish background and a father of Syrian-Lebanese
descent, the future queen entered Princeton University
in its first co-ed freshman class. She graduated in
1974 with a B.A. in architecture, and met Hussein
while working on a new aviation college in Jordan.
They married in 1978 -- after Lisa Halaby converted to
Islam, adopting the name Noor -- and subsequently had
four children. Queen Noor speaks Arabic, English and
French and enjoys skiing, sailing, horseback riding,
reading, gardening and photography.
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Queen Noor of Jordan
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