Meet The Next King

The end of an era, if that is what it was, came quietly. When King Hussein, ruler of Jordan for 47 years, left abruptly for emergency cancer treatment in the U.S. last week, there was a brief royal decree, a kissing of cheeks and an elegiac command on behalf of his people. "Achieve for them," the 63-year-old monarch told his newly anointed successor, Crown Prince Abdullah, 37, "a dignified life."

Yet those simple acts set off a seismic shock. Just as upsetting as the prospect of Hussein's nearing death was the stunning change in Jordan's royal succession. His demise under any circumstances would leave the world wondering how much more dangerous the Middle East might become without his moderation. But now his successor will not be the dutiful, seasoned Hassan, Hussein's 51-year-old brother, who has been Jordan's king-in-waiting for nearly 34 years. In the span of a few hours last week, Hussein sent Hassan an angry dismissal, accusing him of power grabbing, and installed his untested eldest son as heir to the Hashemite throne.

Although Hassan was plainly galled by his brother's decision, he quickly affirmed his loyalty to the new heir. Abdullah, designated regent while his father struggles to overcome non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, pledged to Hussein to "follow in your footsteps." U.S. officials privately called him "a chip off the old block," and Israel reacted without alarm. Many analysts regard the leadership turmoil in Jordan as less worrisome than that in other Arab states, where aging Kings and Presidents may soon give way to unfamiliar new rulers. Jordan's transition, says Anthony Cordesman, a Washington-based Middle East scholar, is only "the first step in a long process that will be going on for the next decade and will affect peace, energy and stability in the region."

Abdullah has yet to express his views, but friends say he supports the peace with Israel and opposes Iraq's Saddam Hussein. The son of Briton Toni Gardiner, the second of Hussein's four wives, he received an extensive education at Sandhurst and Oxford and attended Georgetown University in the U.S. He heads the army's elite Special Forces, and his popularity in the Bedouin-based force is a strong point. He may have an advantage in dealing with the country's Palestinians: his wife hails from the West Bank. But Abdullah has no political or government experience. And strict Muslims are unhappy with his Western ways--he speaks better English than Arabic.

A potent combination of Hassan's missteps and Hussein's obsession with his legacy put Abdullah in charge. In 1992, as the King recuperated from his first bout with cancer, he returned home ready to abdicate. Buoyed by a hero's welcome and upset by a slanderous whispering campaign against his American-born wife Queen Noor, for which he held Hassan's court responsible, he changed his mind.

Family tensions rose further over Hussein's insistence that one of his sons be designated to succeed Hassan. He was furious when Hassan said the matter should wait until he became King, leaving the door open to name his son Rashid. Just before Hussein was found to have cancer again last year, the King signaled that he favored Hamzah, 18, the eldest son of Queen Noor, to become second in line.

Then, undergoing treatment in the U.S. for the past six months, Hussein was stung by reports of intrigue and ambition back home. Princess Sarvath, Hassan's wife, was moving furniture around the palace. The King also seemed to blame her, palace sources say, for more rumors smearing Noor, like the tale that Noor was a Jew, even a relative of the late Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. "When my fever was getting high," Hussein later said, "some people thought it was their chance."

The final straw was what Hussein called Hassan's meddling in the Jordanian armed forces. In his dismissal letter, he disclosed that his brother had moved to fire Jordan's Chief of Staff on false corruption charges related to the construction of an opulent new home. Palace sources say that Hussein saw the move, at worst, as the beginning of a coup attempt.

The King told almost no one that he had returned home intending to replace his brother. His deteriorating health, says a friend, tipped the job to Abdullah over the unseasoned Hamzah, who might have been seen as his American mother's puppet. When Hussein broadcast hints of a change two weeks ago, Hassan dashed off a letter pleading his case, adding "I submit to your will." The King responded by sending the army chief to tell his brother he was no longer destined for the throne.

As unprepared as they were for life after Hussein, many Jordanians took comfort watching the new crown prince going about his first official duties. As he stood in Raghadan Palace, shaking hands with thousands of subjects--army officers and Bedouin chiefs, imams and Palestinian businessmen--Jordanians took note of the same strong yet polite way with people that was the magic of his father.