Princess Basmah Hamzah ( ar, بسمة حمزة, née Basmah Bani Ahmad Al-Outom ar, بسمة بني أحمد العتوم; born 1979) is the second wife of

Hamzah bin Hussein Hamzah bin Hussein, ( ar, حمزة بن الحسين; born 29 March 1980) is the fourth son of King Hussein bin Talal of Jordan overall and the first by his American-born fourth wife, Queen Noor. He was named Crown Prince of Jordan in 1999, a ...

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

Family

Her father is Mahmoud Hassan Bani Ahmad Al-Outom, who was born and raised in the town of Kufr Khall north of

Jerash Jerash ( ar, جرش ''Ǧaraš''; grc, Γέρασα ''Gérasa'') is a city in northern Jordan. The city is the administrative center of the Jerash Governorate, and has a population of 50,745 as of 2015. It is located north of the capital city ...

, and is a businessman in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. Princess Basmah has three siblings: Bassam, Nader, and Yesmeen.

Education and career

Princess Basmah enrolled at Stratford Central Secondary School. She attended Fanshawe College in London, Ontario before enrolling at the University of Western Ontario. She left her studies in Mathematics at the

University of Western Ontario The University of Western Ontario (UWO), also known as Western University or Western, is a Public university, public research university in London, Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by resident ...

to practise the art of aviation as a hobby in Canada, before moving to Jordan in 2005. In Jordan she trained with The Middle East Aviation Academy in

Amman Amman (; ar, عَمَّان, ' ; Ammonite language, Ammonite: 𐤓𐤁𐤕 𐤏𐤌𐤍 ''Rabat ʻAmān'') is the capital and largest city of Jordan, and the country's economic, political, and cultural center. With a population of 4,061,150 a ...

to obtain a flight instructor license and after, in 2007, joined Ayla Aviation Academy in

Aqaba Aqaba (, also ; ar, العقبة, al-ʿAqaba, al-ʿAgaba, ) is the only coastal city in Jordan and the largest and most populous city on the Gulf of Aqaba. Situated in southernmost Jordan, Aqaba is the administrative centre of the Aqaba Govern ...

. She worked as a chief pilot at The Royal Aero Sports Club of Jordan in

and

Wadi Rum Wadi Rum ( ar, وادي رم ''Wādī Ramm'', also ''Wādī al-Ramm''), known also as the Valley of the Moon ( ar, وادي القمر ''Wādī al-Qamar''), is a valley cut into the sandstone and granite rock in southern Jordan, about to the east ...

, of which Prince Hamzah is president. She was Jordan's first female pilot to obtain a basic aerobatics certificate. She met Hamzah at the Dubai Air Show in November 2011.

Marriage and family

On 12 January 2012, the Royal Jordanian Court announced Prince Hamzah's marriage to Basmah Bani Ahmad. The marriage ceremony was held at the Amman home of the Princess' grandfather. The ceremony was attended by

King Abdullah II Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein ( ar, عبدالله الثاني بن الحسين , translit=ʿAbd Allāh aṯ-ṯānī ibn al-Ḥusayn; born 30 January 1962) is King of Jordan, having ascended the throne on 7 February 1999. He is a member of t ...

Queen Rania Rania Al-Abdullah ( ar, رانيا العبد الله, ; born Rania Al-Yassin, 31 August 1970) is Queen of Jordan as the wife of King Abdullah II. Rania was born in Kuwait to Palestinian parents. She received her bachelor's degree in busines ...

Queen Noor Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

, a number of Royal family members, Basmah's father (Mahmoud Hassan Bani Ahmad), Basmah's mother (Halloul Muhammad Bani Ahmad), and other family members.

held a lunch banquet at Basman Palace on the occasion of the wedding of Hamzah and Basma that was attended by a number of Royal family members, the prime minister, Senate president, Lower House speaker, president of the Judicial Council, Royal Court chief, other senior officials and Members of the Bani-Ahmad Family. Hamzah bin Hussein and Basmah al-Hamzah have six children: * Princess Zein bint Hamzah, born 3 November 2012 * Princess Noor bint Hamzah, born 5 July 2014 * Princess Badiya bint Hamzah, born 8 April 2016 * Princess Nafisa bint Hamzah, born 7 February 2018 * Prince Hussein bin Hamzah, born 8 November 2019 * Prince Muhammad bin Hamzah, born 8 February 2022

References

Petra.gov.jo
{{DEFAULTSORT:Basmah Bani Ahmad 1979 births Living people House of Hashim Canadian emigrants to Jordan Jordanian aviators Jordanian princesses People from Amman Canadian people of Jordanian descent Canadian aviators People from Stratford, Ontario Women aviators Aerobatic pilots Flight instructors Glider pilots Aviation pioneers University of Western Ontario alumni Princesses by marriage