2024 is a year of round numbers: Twenty years have passed since the wedding of Don Felipe and Doña Letizia and ten years since the proclamation of the Head of State before the Cortes Generales. As if that were not enough, the King and Queen will repeat in autumn the trip they made during their honeymoon, since they have accepted the personal invitation of King Abdullah and Queen Rania and will be in the Middle Eastern country during the first weekend of October. During that trip, the newlyweds not only toured the famous archaeological site of Petro, they also made their official presentation as Prince and Princess of Asturias at a wedding that was celebrated during those days at the Hashemite Court, that of Prince Hamzah bin Hussein, who was then the heir to the throne and In 2021 he was accused of instigating an attempted coup against his brother. It was also the moment when King Abdullah met Queen Letizia, since only the Queen went to the wedding held in the Almudena Cathedral Queen Rania, an appearance that made historyWe remember how the honeymoon of the King and Queen of Spain was in Jordan.
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© GTRESDon Felipe and Doña Letizia were married on 22 May 2004 in the Almudena Cathedral in Madrid, and it was a day that went down in history: the wedding of the crown prince and the first state wedding to be held in Spain for almost a century. Members of 38 royal families, 15 heads of state and prime ministers, prime ministers, and representatives from the world of culture and sport travelled to Spain. The celebrations lasted two days and twenty-four hours later the newlyweds set off on a honeymoon around Spain, which took them to Cuenca, Albarracín, Zaragoza, Sos, Olite and San Sebastián, before moving on to Jordan. The reason for the Prince and Princess of Asturias’ trip was the wedding of another crown prince, Hamzah, the eldest son of the late King Hussein and Queen Noor.
© GTRESThe Jordanian authorities offered to close Petra for them, but they did not accept it.
The wedding at the Hashemite Court was, therefore, the first official trip abroad of Don Felipe de Borbón and Doña Letizia Ortiz as Prince and Princess of Asturias, who also took advantage of the trip to visit Petra, a must-see for those who travel to Jordan. The prince and princess arrived in the afternoon, at the time when the sun sets on the rocks in which the city was carved, which was created in the second century BC by the ancient Arab tribe of the Nabataeans. The prince and princess, dressed informally, arrived by helicopter, and although The country’s authorities offered to close the site so they could enjoy Petra on their own, but they declined and preferred to walk among the ruins of the pink city under the surprised and curious gaze of other tourists.
The first official trip abroad of Don Felipe de Borbón and Doña Letizia Ortiz as Prince and Princess of Asturias
¡HOLA! was there and witnessed how the then Prince of Asturias was with his digital camera immortalizing the best moments, while Queen Letizia carried a guide to Petra in her hands. Both were accompanied by an experienced guide called Mohamed Salamin who gave them explanations in English, while the future kings walked along the main entrance route to the city, a fissure opened by a prehistoric earthquake.
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© GTRESDon Felipe and Doña Letizia, due to their recent wedding, became the other protagonists of the Hashemite wedding, however, They were not the only members of the Spanish Royal Family who travelled to Jordan, as Queen Sofia, a close friend of the groom’s mother, Queen Noor, also travelled to Amman, along with her sister, Princess Irene of Greece and her daughter, Infanta Cristina.
The crown prince ceased to be crown prince six months after his wedding
© Getty ImagesThe significance of a royal wedding is measured by the position of the bride or groom in their royal house or in the line of succession, which is why the wedding of the then Prince Philip, future head of state, was attended by top members of other monarchies. The same was true for the wedding held in Jordan. The groom was the crown prince, Hamzah, eldest son of the late King Hussein and his last wife Queen Noor; and the paternal brother of King Abdullah. To understand this story, it is important to remember that King Hussein, a historic ally of the West in the Middle East, married four times and had twelve children, which was not an easy scenario for the succession issue.
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© Getty ImagesFollowing King Hussein’s death in 1999, his first son, the current King Abdullah II, ascended to the throne and that was the first unexpected turn of events since the heir until then had been a brother of the monarch and not one of his sons. As Noor explained in Memories of an unexpected life, Shortly before his death, “he made the decision to name Abdullah as his heir. Passing the baton to the next generation was a natural decision.” It was then that he also decided, at least so it was told and so it has gone down in history, that Prince Hamzah, son of Noor, his fourth wife, would be crown prince. This was the case from 1999 until 2004, since six months after his brilliant state wedding, King Abdullah decided that the heir would be his first-born son, Prince Hussein, who has been guided by his parents for the last twenty years to the prominent position he currently occupies at the head of state.
© Getty ImagesNevertheless, At the time of their wedding, Hamzah was Crown Prince of Jordan and the celebrations were organised as follows. Travelling to the capital of the country, 38 kilometres from the Dead Sea, were Grand Duchess Maria Teresa of Luxembourg, Queen Fabiola of Belgium with Prince Philippe and Prince Mathilde of Belgium, Prince Haakon and Prince Mette-Marit of Norway, Prince Andrew of England, Paul and Nicholas of Greece, Princess Astrid of Luxembourg, Prince Salman of Saudi Arabia, Kardam and Miriam of Bulgaria (the Prince of Tirnovo died in 2015 and she remarried in 2022). with a cousin of King Abdullah); the Sultan of Brunei and representatives of the Royal Families of Oman and Bahrain also attended. In total, 4,000 guests, including royalty, authorities and the military. A striking number considering the 1,200 guests who attended the wedding of Don Felipe and Doña Letizia.
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© Getty ImagesThe celebrations began with a reception at the royal palace of Zahran, in Amman, and continued with a gala dinner and a private party facing the Red Sea, specifically at the palace of Aqaba, which was one of the favourite residences of the late King Hussein. Queen Letizia wore a two-piece design by Felipe Varela, which was the beginning of a relationship in which he would end up becoming her favourite designer for quite some time.
© Getty ImagesThis story would be incomplete without mentioning that Prince Hamzah, the groom of the brilliant wedding who divorced after five years of marriage and He married again in 2012was arrested in 2021 on charges of plotting against the monarchy. Thus began a palace intrigue in an era in which they are no longer so frequent: Prince Hamzah was charged with the very serious accusation of instigating an attempted coup against the Hashemite monarch, which led to him being placed under house arrest for his alleged participation in the conspiracy. Although the crisis was resolved with a public apology to his brother and an oath of loyalty, Hamzah He renounced his title of princewhile his mother has always proclaimed her innocence. “This marks the third year of the arbitrary, cruel and unlawful detention of our beloved son Hamzah in Jordan,” Queen Noor wrote on her social media in April.
