Prince Zeid bin Hussein

Prince Zeid bin Hussein, GCVO, GBE (Arabic: الأمير زيد بن الحسين‎) born (February 28, 1898 – October 18, 1970) was a member of the Hashemite dynasty and the head of the Royal House of Iraq from 1958 until his death.

Biography

Prince Zeid was the only son of King Hussein of Hejaz and his third wife Adila Khanum. He was educated at Ghalata Serai (Galatasaray High School) College, Constantinople College and Balliol College, Oxford.

From 1916 - 1919, Prince Zeid was the Commander of the Arab Northern Army. In 1918 T. E. Lawrence suggested that he be made King of a truncated Syria.^[1] The advent of French rule resulted in his 1923 assignment to the Iraqi Cavalry and he was promoted to Colonel.

Zeid was also Iraqi ambassador in Berlin and in Ankara in 1930s and in London in the 1950s.

On July 14, 1958, Prince Zeid was appointed Head of the Royal House of Iraq, following the assassination of his great-nephew King Faisal II by General Muhammad Najib ar-Ruba'i, who proclaimed Iraq to be a Republic. Zeid and his family continued to live in London, where the family resided during the coup, as Zeid was the Iraqi ambassador there.

Prince Zeid died in Paris on October 18, 1970, and is buried in the Royal Mausoleum at Raghdan Palace, Amman, Jordan. His son Prince Ra'ad succeeded him as head of the Royal House of Iraq.

Marriage and children

In November 1933, Zeid married Princess Fahrelnissa Zeid in Athens, Greece. Together they had one son:

• HRH Prince Ra'ad bin Zeid - born February 18, 1936, married to Margaretha Inga Elisabeth Lind, now Majda Raad.

References

1. ^ See map on display at the Imperial War Museum sketched by Lawrence in 1918 around the time of the Paris Peace Conference indicating Zeid to be head of a Syria comprising what is today western Syria with "British influence"