USA: JORDAN'S QUEEN NOOR INTERVIEW

(23 Nov 1998) English/Nat

In an exclusive interview with APTN from her home in Maryland in the United States, Jordan's Queen Noor has told how the past year has drastically changed her life.

Just last July her husband, King Hussein, checked into the world famous Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota where he was diagnosed with cancer of the lymph glands.

But after months of chemotherapy and other treatments, the King announced his cancer is in remission.

Both King Hussein's family and his doctors are hoping for the best, but no-one can predict the course of his cancer.

And as a result of his deteriorating health there have been rumours of in-fighting amongst members of his extended family over who will be named as successor to the throne.

But Queen Noor insists that such rumours do not reflect the priorities of most Jordanians.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"The majority of people in the country have really been concerned about his Majesty's health, and praying for his health and his return home. And they're not concerned with issues of succession, transition, and whatever. Those will take place in their own time, and I think they have faith and confidence that his Majesty would never allow a situation to develop that would not be for the best of the country. In other words, that he has worked very hard over the years to ensure that the Hashemite family will serve the country in the smoothest and most capable fashion."
SUPER CAPTION: Queen Noor

Despite her husband's fragile state, Queen Noor and King Hussein travelled to Wye Plantation last month, to try and mend a peace process which appeared to be falling apart.

But as the Queen explains, when they arrived at Wye, it appeared they might already be too late.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"It was a long agonizing process - more traumatic than any roller coaster ride in any amusement park in the United States. It had ups and downs that were that dramatic. We arrived and it looked like everyone, that it has completely come apart, and it appeared that maybe we had arrived just too late."
SUPER CAPTION: Queen Noor

Their efforts paid off and the deal which was eventually struck was signed at the White House.

But many believe if it were not for King Hussein's participation that deal might have collapsed at the eleventh hour..

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"He has limitless faith, and brought everything he had to those discussions, and I think it was very moving to those there, that under the circumstances, that he was giving of everything that he had, and I think in a way that that was a motivation."
SUPER CAPTION: Queen Noor

For her part, Queen Noor has been a devoted advocate of children's issues and education.

Since the death of Princess Diana, Queen Noor has also assumed an advocacy role in the international fight to ban landmines.

While her husband has been undergoing cancer treatments in the U-S, the queen says her family has been her number one priority.

But that hasn't stopped her from meeting with officials from the United Nations, or the International Monetary Fund...or speaking out on issues on which she feels strongly.

Queen Noor was not born into royalty, she met the king when designing an airport for Jordan. She considers herself simply a down to earth "working mother."

Like other working mothers, the Queen says she worries about not spending enough time with her children, and juggling the duties of family and work life.

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