Royal Relations

By Scott MacLeod/Amman with reporting by Amany Radwan/Cairo

Her husband may be king, but Jordan's PRINCESS RANIA, 28, won't be playing the Queen for a while yet. She has to wait until the end of the official mourning period for ABDULLAH to name her Queen. Still, it's likely that Rania, a strikingly beautiful Palestinian, will capture the nation's hearts. Intelligent and family-oriented, Rania took child-psychology courses in school and was an honors student in business administration at the American University in Cairo. She had two children in their first three years of marriage but is hardly a submissive wife. She likes to hang out at Amman's first Internet cafe and take spins with Abdullah on his Harley-Davidson. Throw in Rania's support for Jordanian charities and causes like child-abuse awareness, and you start to see a figure much like Princess Diana. But Rania has good relations with her mother-in-law--actually, both mothers-in-law. British-born PRINCESS MUNA, King Hussein's second wife and Abdullah's mom, saw the political worth of a Palestinian princess in a country two-thirds Palestinian. QUEEN NOOR, who won hearts for consoling royals and ordinary citizens, is also close to Rania, which is just as well. They will share the title of queen.

--By Scott MacLeod/Amman, with reporting by Amany Radwan/Cairo