Page 302 - They Also Served

148
King Hussein of Jordan 1953.
The grandson of King Abdullah I, the
founder of modern Jordan, Hussein
bin Talal was born in Amman on 14th
November 1935 and schooled in Egypt,
then at Harrow. On 20th July 1951, he
accompanied his grandfather to pray at
the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem when
the king was assassinated by a Palestinian
gunman. Hussein’s life was saved when
a medal on his uniform deflected a bullet. He was named heir apparent in 1951 but, only a year later, his father was forced to abdicate and the 16-year-old became king. During a period of regency, he was sent to Sandhurst on Intake 12, arriving in September 1952. Because of the situation in his home country, he was allowed to take a shortened version of the 18-month course and completed his training in February 1953.
Tales of the young king in training are many, but perhaps the best is the aftermath of a mistake on the drill square. The sergeant-major told him to ‘Run down to the statue of Queen Victoria, tell her how idle you are and then run back and give me her reply’. Instead of complying with this obviously ludicrous direction, Hussein disappeared. Found asleep on his bed an hour later, he told the same warrant officer, ‘I did what you asked – but Her Majesty told me, monarch to monarch – King Hussein, you look tired – go to bed for the afternoon’.
Inheriting the throne of not just Jordan but the West Bank, which was captured during the Arab-Israeli war of 1948, the young king ruled a country in one of the most volatile regions on Earth. After early reliance on British assistance, he dismissed his advisors and rode the wave of Arab nationalism, receiving a surge in popularity after the failed Anglo-French Suez invasion in 1956. After a brief experiment with a democratically elected government and a failed coup, Hussein asserted his authority and imposed a period of martial law.
Over the next ten years, Hussein avoided threats from Eqypt, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and Syria as well as the assassination of his cousin, the king of Iraq. On 10th November 1958, the aircraft he was piloting was attacked by two Syrian MiGs. His skilful flying
296