Despite the final absence of Queen Letizia and its duration being shortened from three to two days, the armored state visit of Felipe VI to Jordanaccompanied by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, has continued forward. The effort to make this trip despite the instability in the area highlights once again the close relations between both countries that were already started in the sixties by Kings Juan Carlos and Sofia, a great friend of Queen Noor and also very close to Rania of Jordan.
The emeritus’ ties with Arab countries are well known, but his wife has also fostered good relations, especially with several members of the Hashemite family. This connection dates back to 1962, when Constantine of Greece and Simeon of Bulgaria introduced marriage to the court of Amman. When they first arrived in the Arab country, King Hussein I, father of the current monarch Abdullah II, had already reigned for a decade.
Jordan was one of the couple’s destinations on their long and romantic honeymoon, a destination that Felipe and Letizia would repeat on their own honeymoon. There began the long and deep friendship of the emeritus with King Hussein, which lasted until his death, 47 years later. One of the numerous proofs of his appreciation was the gift from the Mareta palace to Don Juan Carlos at the end of 1980. The first official trip of the Kings of Spain to Jordan took place in March 1977, and coincided with one of the saddest moments of King Hussein, who had just lost, a month before, to his wife Alia in a helicopter accident.
How the friendship between Noor of Jordan and Queen Sofia was born
Queen Noor maintains a close friendship with Queen Sofia since her arrival to the throne, after marrying King Hussein, in 1978. The connection of the emerita with that young queen of American origin was immediate, despite the fact that Doña Sofía was fifteen years older than her.
Queen Sofia and Noor of Jordan. /
Become close friends, as are also the emerita and Queen Farah of Iran, Noor has visited her on numerous occasions at the Marivent Palace and was present at the concert at the Teatro Real organized to celebrate her 80th birthday. Their relationship has withstood the passage of time and the traps of fate well and paradoxically increased when King Hussein died in 1999. “Queen Sofia has been a true sister and friend during all these years. “I love her very much, in an endearing way,” Noor confessed to ‘Vanity Fair’ when talking about her.
Both also share philanthropic interests and have been a great support to each other in overcoming their respective personal tragedies. In addition to her rivalry with Queen Rania and the death of her husband, Noor has had to face the house arrest of her son, Prince Hamzah, accused of conspiracy against the current monarch. Doña Sofía, for her part, will have had the support of her friend in the face of her husband’s financial and sentimental scandals in recent years.
Kings Felipe and Letizia on their honeymoon in Jordan. /
Although not as close as the one she has with Noor, Queen Sofia has also shared numerous experiences with Princess Muna, King Hussein’s second wife. It unites both his effort to combat Alzheimer’s and the last time we saw them together was last April in Krakow, on the occasion of the Global Conference of Alzheimer’s Disease International-ADI.
The closeness of Doña Sofía with Queen Rania
Despite the war declared between Noor and Rania, Queen Sofia has always maintained a good relationship with King Abdullah’s wife. The last example of this closeness was when he attended the wedding in Amman of Crown Prince Hussein and Rajwa Al Saif in June last year, together with the king emeritus.
Rania and Abdullah’s wedding. /
Just thirty years before, in 2003, Doña Sofía went with her sister Irene to the wedding between Abdullah and Rania representing the Spanish monarchy. The ceremony took place in the country’s capital and King Felipe’s mother played a leading role, also participating in the reception that Rania and Abdalá gave at the Zahran Palace.
From that moment, both queens have met on numerous occasionsboth in Spain and in Jordan. In 2006, the visit of our kings to the Hashemite kingdom took place, the first since the ascension to the throne of Abdullah II. Two years later, the excellent bilateral relationship between both nations was highlighted when the kings of Jordan returned their visit to Madrid. Some visits where they shared common interests such as philanthropy or culture.