King Hussein of Jordan: Survival of a dynasty

The life and struggles of King Hussein of Jordan, from the assassination of his grandfather to the rise of the PLO.
The series looks at the story of King Hussein from 1952 to his eventual death in 1999. He was a major political figure in the cauldron of the Middle East.
His life and career were never far from a crisis, at home and abroad. Hussein was still only fifteen when his grandfather, King Abdullah I, was shot dead by a Palestinian gunman in July 1951 with the boy by his side at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.
Hussein’s father, Talal, became king but was forced to abdicate for health reasons after only a year in power, in August 1952; and the sixteen-year-old Crown Prince acceded to the throne, under a Regency Council until he came of age.
During his life, he was married four separate times and fathered eleven children. Hussein had strong and close relationship with the West to the point that the Washington Post in 1977 alleged he had such strong ties with the CIA and probably received a monthly salary from the agency.
In February 1999, Hussein lost his seven-year battle against cancer. He was a colorful and controversial personality, a trained and daring pilot, with an eventful personal life.

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