Ambassador Prince Zeid al Hussein sent a letter to the U.N.

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That role was to go to his uncle, King Hussein's brother Prince Hassan, now 55.

FORBES: Monarch on a Mission

That role was long expected to go to his uncle, King Hussein's brother Prince Hassan, now 55.

FORBES: Magazine Article

On his deathbed, King Hussein named Abdullah the crown prince.

FORBES: Monarch on a Mission

Prince Hamzeh, his 18-year-old half-brother and the elder son of Hussein's widow, Queen Noor, was appointed crown prince.

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At 18, Prince Hamzeh is an unknown quantity (just as King Hussein was when he became king, aged 17).

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But in 1965, when his eldest son, Abdullah, was a child, King Hussein introduced an amendment making his brother, Hassan, crown prince.

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But in early 1999, just weeks before he died of cancer at the age of 63, King Hussein changed his mind about the succession and named Abdullah the crown prince.

FORBES: Magazine Article