The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan celebrates the Centenary of the Great Arab Revolt

The Hashemite Family members at the Great Arab Revolt Centennial Ceremony

Sharif Hussein Bin Ali, well known as the leader of the Great Arab Revolt and the Sharif of Mecca, was born in Ottoman Istanbul in 1853. Though well acquainted with imperial politics, Sharif Hussein spent a significant portion of his life among the bedouin Arabs of the Hijaz, immersing himself in the political life of Arabia. In 1908, the Ottomans, recognising his influence in the region, appointed him Emir (Prince) of Mecca.

As Ottoman policies grew more oppressive after the coup of the “Young Turks”, Sharif Hussein earned support among Arabs by opposing Istanbul's totalistic policies in the Hijaz. Some historians say that, even then, he was preparing for Arab independence. Indeed, the idea that the Arabic-speaking people were a nation, deserving of independent recognition, is often thought to have originated with Sharif Hussein.

In 1916, Sharif Hussein allied the Arabs with British forces, leading, along with his sons, Abdullah and Faisal, numerous tribes from the Hijaz in a revolt that liberated the Levant from Ottoman control. Bearing the Hashemite name and tradition of the Aal Al Bayt, Sharif Hussein was the central figure in the revolt, earning the title, “King of the Arabs.” After this victory, however, European powers failed to honour their commitment to support Arab sovereignty and instead, installed colonial rule throughout the Levant.

Sharif Hussein died in Amman in 1931.

King Abdullah I and the Founding of Jordan

The first king and founder of the state of Jordan was born in 1882 in Mecca. Like his father, Abdullah began life as a representative of the Ottoman court but his prestigious education and exposure to Arab tribal customs soon made him aware of the growing nationalist sentiment among his people.

In the Arab Revolt, Abdullah led several Arab battalions against the Ottoman Turks. Afterwards, he left the Hijaz and settled in Maan, where he was received as a leader and sharif. While the European governments were dividing the region among themselves, Abdullah was building support and unity among the tribes and townspeople of Jordan.

The future king led a modest existence, often staying with leaders of different sects and sectors of society, developing relationships with them. He spent much of his time amongst the local bedouin tribes. In 1921, he organised his first government in Amman, thus establishing the Emirate of Transjordan.

For the next thirty years, Emir Abdullah concentrated his efforts on state-building. In 1928, the Prince oversaw the country’s first legislative council and the drafting of a constitution. One year later, he held the first parliamentary elections. On 22 March 1946, Transjordan secured its independence, and Abdullah was crowned king later that year.

More on the 70th anniversary of The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan here.

70 Years The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan

On 25th May 1946 - to this day 70 years ago - a new Kingdom was born. H.H. Emir Abdullah of Transjordan (1921 - 1946) proclaimed the independent Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and he became His Majesty King Abdullah I.

King Abdullah I bin al-Hussein

Abdullah I bin al-Hussein, was born in February 1882 born in Mecca, Hejaz, which then belonged to the Ottoman Empire, and he was the second of three sons of Hussein bin Ali, Sharif and Emir of Mecca and his first wife Abdiyya bint Abdullah. He was educated in Istanbul, Turkey and Hijaz. From 1909 to 1914, Abdullah sat in the Ottoman legislature, as deputy for Mecca, but allied with Britain during World War I. Between 1916 to 1918, working with the British guerrilla leader T. E. Lawrence, he played a key role as architect and planner of the Great Arab Revolt against Ottoman rule, leading guerrilla raids on garrisons.

When he assumed the Throne of Transjordan in 1921, he established the first centralised government out of a mostly tribal and nomadic society in this territory. Over the next 30 years, he focused on nation building and developing the institutional foundations of modern Jordan. He is also remembered for promulgating Jordan’s first Constitution in 1928 and holding the country’s first parliamentary elections in 1929.

During these three decades, King Abdullah I presided over a series of Anglo-Transjordanian treaties, culminating in the 1946 Anglo-Transjordanian Treaty, ending the British mandate and granting the new Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan full independence. He laid down the basis for democracy in the Kingdom and called for political pluralism. The first political party was formed during his reign. A poet himself, he used to meet with poets, writers and scholars and discuss the country’s affairs.

On 20th July 1951, King Abdullah, while visiting Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, was shot dead by a Palestinian from the Husseini clan. He was succeeded by his son King Talal bin Abdullah (26th February 1909 – 7th July 1972). Under the reign of King Talal the country prepared a new liberalised Constitution in 1952, which introduced a culture of Arab unity by declaring Jordan part of the Arab nation. During the short reign reign, Jordan concluded important agreements including a pan-Arab collective security agreement and announced compulsory free education. The introduction of compulsory free education, the first of its kind in Jordan and the Arab world, had a positive impact on the country’s future development.

King Talal bin Abdullah

Born in Mecca in 1909, King Talal studied at the British Military Academy, Sandhurst, and in 1929 became the first Jordanian officer to graduate from the institute. As an officer of the Arab Army, he participated in battles between Arab and Israeli forces in Jerusalem, Ramallah and other Palestinian towns. In 1934, he married Zein Al Sharaf, the late Queen Mother, who died in 1994.

He was King of Jordan from 20th July 1951 until forced to abdicate in favour of his son Hussein due to health reasons on 11th August 1952.

Hussein ibn Talal was born on 14th November 1935, in his parents' villa in Amman, in what was then the Emirate of Transjordan. His family's circumstances were modest. Though heir to the throne, his father, Talal ibn Abdallah, supported his family of three sons and a daughter on an allowance of pounds 1,000 a year. Hussein received his primary education at schools in Amman and then at 13 was sent to Victoria College, Alexandria, an Egyptian boarding school on the British model. He recalled repairing his school uniform with a needle and thread to spare his parents the expense of replacing it. 

Prince Hussein was standing only a few feet away when his grandfather was murdered, and saw the king's bloodstained turban roll across the floor in front of him. The 16 year-old only escaped death himself by what seemed a miracle: a bullet aimed at him struck a medal on his uniform. He was thrown backwards but otherwise unhurt; his grandfather had given him the medal only the day before.

At the time of his coronation, on 2nd May 1953, Hussein was just 18 (by the Islamic calendar). His cousin Faisal II of Iraq  was crowned King of Iraq on the same day. Having ascended the throne as a teenager, he was as a young king the target of numerous attempted coups and assassinations. Later, two Arab-Israeli wars and a civil war threatened the existence of his throne and the state itself. He was under threat as much from political enemies among his Arab neighbours as from a militarily superior Israel.

The result of King Hussein's determination to safeguard his position is a country which enjoys a degree of openness, stability and prosperity not widely achieved by other Arab states. The King also secured the prize that had eluded his predecessors: a peace treaty with Israel.

King Hussein was motivated by a strongly mystical, if sentimental, belief in his own destiny as the only remaining Hashemite king. His dynasty traced its ancestry back to the Prophet Mohammed and beyond, and had ruled Mecca for seven centuries until it was seized by Saudi forces in 1925.

King Hussein and Princess Muna with their sons, Prince Abdullah and Prince Faisal, later followed the twins Princess Aisha and Princess Zein.

But in King Hussein's mind the ideal of a universal Hashemite monarchy persisted, taking the form of a benign authoritarianism that drew legitimacy from Islam and the traditional values of the desert Arab.

At the end of July 1998, it was made public that King Hussein was diagnosed with lymphatic cancer. On 7th February 1999, King Hussein died of complications related to non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. He was, at the time of his death, one of the longest-serving leaders in international politics. He had been the King of Jordan for over 46 years. His successor was his eldest son, Crown Prince Abdullah.

Just present and fourth King, Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein was born on 30th January 1962 and has been the King of Jordan since he ascended the throne on 7th February 1999 upon the death of his father.

King Abdullah II and Queen Rania with their children, Princess Salman, Prince Hashem, Princess Iman and Crown Prince Hussein.

He was born to King Hussein and his second wife, the British-born Princess Muna al-Hussein. Abdullah was named Crown Prince shortly after his birth. King Hussein transferred the title to his own brother, Prince Hassan, in 1965, only to return it to Abdullah in 1999. King Abdullah is married to Queen Rania of Jordan, who is of Palestinian origin.

Republics divide ...

... Monarchies unite.

Here is a photo of King Faisal II, King of the Hashemite Kingdom of Iraq, in 1957 clergy of all spectrums of Iraq's Christian, Muslim and Yazidi communities.

A year later King Faisal II and many members of Iraq's Royal Family were hacked to death.

Since the military putsch on 14th July (!) 1958 Iraq has been in turmoil.

The loss of the Iraqi Monarchy cost millions of people their life. The murder of King Faisal was only the beginning. The Christian churches of the East are disappearing in what was Mesopotamia; the century old community of the Yazidi are on the brink of extinction and the muslim communities are bitterly fighting against each other.

It would be the start of a healing process to bring back the King of Iraq. He is living in neighbouring Jordan.

Camilla and The Night Manager

The Daily Telegraph reported the first meeting of HRH Camilla Duchess of Cornwall and Tom Hiddleston who won fame in the BBC's great thriller success The Night Manager, which was on air in March in the UK, on Foxtel in Australia and is presently shown in the USA.

The Duchess didn't mind Tom Hiddleston's arm on her shoulder.

Obviously the Duchess watched the five-part mini series as this dialogue proves:

"After [BBC Radio 2 host Chris] Evans greeted her with a kiss on the cheek, he introduced the Duchess to Hiddleston, saying: 'Your Royal Highness, The Night Manager.'

"The Duchess said: 'Hello Night Manager, how are you? Sunday nights just aren't the same without you.'

"'Well I can only apologise unreservedly for that,' said Hiddleston

"'But you might come back again?' the Duchess asked hopefully.

"'Well you never know,' he replied. 'We will have to ask John Le Carré [the writer].'

"'Well it was brilliant, the Duchess said. 'Everyone sat gripped.'"

Once again Her Royal Highness showed her good taste.

Yehudi Menuhin believed in constitutional Monarchy

The Right Honourable The Lord Menuhin OM KBE

Yehudi Menuhin, one of the greatest musicians of the 20th century, was an American-born violinist and conductor, who spent most of his performing career in Britain, where he became a monarchist. He received a knighthood in 1985 and in 1993  Sir Yehudi was bestowed a life peerage by the Queen as The Right Honourable The Lord Menuhin OM KBE. He was born 100 years ago on 22nd April 1916 and died on 12th March 1999.

In its 1975 summer edition The Monarchist - Journal of the Monarchist League published the following letter to the editor by Yehudi Menuhin:

Sir,

Thank you for sending me a copy of The Monarchist. Having read it, though, I would like to take this opportunity to point out a fundamental weakness in your proposition.

Constitutional monarchy is the genius of the British nation whose people understand what your philosophy has failed to realise, viz., that the very heart of the system is ineluctably welded to democracy. It is palpably obvious that the highest position in the land is utterly without power, and by this very token our responsibility for the weaker, courtesy for principle, and pride in the sharing of power between all citizens, from Palace to Pub, upheld.

I believe that constitutional monarchy is the best defence of democracy.

Yours sincerely,

Yehudi Menuhin,
London N6

90th Birthday of the Queen of Australia

Anyone who would have thought that Queen Elizabeth II's birthday would be used to push the dwindling circulation figures of the Fairfax media were wrong. In today's print edition of The Age there was not a single line on the significance of this 21st April that marks the 90th birthday of Australia's longest serving Monarch.

This was today's front page:

The front page of The Age, 21st April 2016

On page 2 a report of drugs in Melbourne, a crumbling wall (very common in Melbourne), page 3 a case of child snatching of an Australian woman in Lebanon and on page 4 and 5 a "special report" on Muslims in Australia, followed by petty articles on domestic items. Nothing of great interest to anyone outside the suburbs. World news on page 14 had the inevitable report on the US primaries in New York and the retired Cuban dictator "Ailing Castro" who is quoted with saying: "I'll be 90 years old soon." He is not the only one, one is tempted to tell The Age.

However, in the Comment section this time no nasty editorial, no vicious letters to the editor, no guest writer telling the unwilling audience, that in his or her opinion Australia should become a republic.

The total ignorance is a replica. On 2nd August 2000, when the Queen Mother celebrated her 100th birthday, every single newspaper in the UK had front coverage on her life. Not so The Independent, which ignored the Monarch's anniversary. That was certainly not the only reason for dropping sales figures, but an indicator how out of touch The Independent was. In March 2016 it was not longer printed. The Independent can be read only online these days.

The Age's development from a broadsheet to a tabloid newspaper to an internet news point may go faster. It will take not 16 years for The Age to stop the printing machines forever.
To be fair to Fairfax, it has to be mentioned that Mark McGuinness wrote Queen; Happy birthday to our time-share monarch, which lacks to usual attacks on the Australian Royal Family and admits:  

Her family, in particular her heirs, have visited regularly and kept the flame alive. The Prince of Wales' affection for the country that (it has been said) made a man of him, is genuine and undimmed and he will make a good king.

Oh yes, and  o n e  photo in the editor's choice photo section, however,it is the same is in Mark McGuinness' article.

An extraordinary poor coverage on Her Majesty's milestone birthday, but typical for avowed republicans.

Queen's Birthday stamps 2016

It is in stark contrast to Australia's Queen.

In 2011, when she returned to Australia, a Palace spokesman said the tour did not have the atmosphere of a final farewell.

It's almost a coming home for the Queen she has a huge fondness for Australia, a lot of Australians have worked in her household. 

And during her visit David Marr wrote in The Age: "She hasn't been around for years, but we don't feel neglected. If anything, absence has made us a little fonder of this bent figure in a big blue hat."

Former soldier Arthur Pembroke first met the Queen in 1953 when he was decorated for heroism during the Korean War. The former officer, who received the Military Cross from the Queen during a Buckingham Palace investiture ceremony, said: "She impressed me a great deal and has right from the time I [first] met her. Her dedication and loyalty and determination to carry out her duty as she sees it, I think it is the sort of thing we have always admire."

The Queen made her first visit to Australia in 1954, when she became the first reigning monarch to set foot in the country and covered so much ground that an estimated 75 per cent of the entire population saw her at least once.

When she finally arrived, stepping ashore at Farm Cove on February 3, 1954, a crowd of one and a half million people had gathered to watch. Waiting media described it as Sydney's biggest party since Victory over Japan day with female editorialists gushing over the young monarch's youth, beauty, poise

The 1954 Royal Visit, particularly given the communications and transport facilities of the day, set a high water mark that has never been matched. It lasted two months from 3rd February to 1st April and, for the duration, dominated the front pages of the nation's newspapers. The Queen's travel schedule involved 33 flights taking 57 hours and covering 16,000km. This paled into insignificance when compared to the airlift required to keep the show on the road. Described as the largest individual civil air operation in history, this involved 257 flights covering more than two million kilometres and carrying over a million pieces of freight. Then there were a further 363 flights by the RAAF.

During her stay in 2006 she met Her Australian Prime Ministers who were still alavive then, even the promoters of republicans did not decline the invitation.

When she last came to Melbourne in 2011 crowds flocked to Federation Square to get a glimps of their Monarch and her husband. Flinder Street Station was blocked.

Time to get rid of Malcolm Turnbull

When 54 Liberal MPs and senators abandoned Prime Minister Tony Abbott on 14th September 2015 (44 remained loyal to the elected PM) the winning Malcolm Turnbull had claimed that "the [Abbott] government is not successful in providing the economic leadership that we need. ... We have lost 30 Newspolls in a row. It is clear that the people have made up their mind about Mr Abbott's leadership."

Today he faced the same situation: The polls as published in The Age are against him. "Labor and the Coalition are fifty-fifty in the latest Fairfax-Ipsos poll, as Malcolm Turnbull's once-soaring approval rating continues to decline. Voters have reacted savagely to the reality of Malcolm Turnbull as Prime Minister when measured against their own expectations, sending a clear warning to the Coalition that the election will be close and victory cannot be assumed. A massive 25 per cent drop in his ability to make things happen headlines the decline. This seems to sum up the sense of disappointment in voterland at the slow pace and performance of the Turnbull government and a disturbing tendency to set out ambitious policy goals and then retreat from them.

"The Prime Minister's net approval rating has dropped by 10 points since March and his preferred prime minister rating has also fallen by seven points over that time.

"Mr Turnbull's disapproval rating has jumped up six points as voters marked him down severely on a range of 11 leadership characteristics including a staggering 25 per cent drop in his ability to make things happen, a 20 per cent drop in his perceived strength as a leader, a 17 per cent drop on his authority over his party, and a 13 per cent drop in his perceived competence."

The wake-up of the voters as well as of Malcolm Turnbull should not come as a surprise. It is a déjà-vu of his tenure as Leader of Her Majesty's [Loyal?] Opposition, which was ended by Tony Abbott and it deserved this comment, written on 2nd December 2009:

The past fifteen months have shown, how a darling of the media, a republican messiah even, fell from grace and is now seen - even by his republican mates - as a disaster!

Nothing has changed. Turnbull started as the darling of the media and the public, but everybody soon realised what a dud he really is. Time for the Coalition to dump him and send him to the Cayman Islands, where his money is parked.