Princess Aisha bint Hussein

Princess Aisha bint Hussein
Princess Aisha bint Hussein
Born	23 April 1968 (age 56); Amman, Jordan
Spouse	Zeid Saadedine Juma (m. 1990; div. ); Ashraf Banayotti (2016-)
Issue	Aoun Juma ; Muna Juma
House	Hashemite
Father	Hussein of Jordan
Mother	Princess Muna

Princess Aisha bint Hussein (born 23 April 1968) is the sister of King Abdullah II of Jordan and is the twin sister of Princess Zein. Her parents are Princess Muna al-Hussein and King Hussein.

Education

Aisha was born in Amman, Jordan. She was educated up to age eight in Jordan, at the American community school (In the same class as her sister Zein, for all or almost all of the time). She moved to the U.S. to pursue her education for ten years. She graduated from Dana Hall School in Wellesley, Massachusetts, in 1986. She then attended the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in the United Kingdom, completing the officer’s training course in April 1987. She then completed an undergraduate degree in Modern Middle East History and Politics from Pembroke College, Oxford. In June 2010 she completed her Masters of Arts degree in Strategic Security Studies at the College of International Security Affairs (CISA), at the National Defense University, Washington D.C., USA.

Professional life

Hussein is a major general in the Jordanian military and became the first female in the Middle East to receive her parachutist wings after completing five military parachute jumps, according to her official biography.

She successfully completed her officers’ training course at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, in the United Kingdom in April 1987, following her arrival as the first Middle East woman to attend the academy. After graduation from Sandhurst, the princess served in Jordan’s special forces and completed several additional parachuting courses.

Since 1996, she has taken part in several conferences by the Defense Department Advisory Committee on Women. She is a member of NATO’s Mediterranean Dialogue and serves as a Jordanian expert in the internationally staffed NATO Human Factors and Medicine Research Task Group 140, on psychological, organizational and cultural aspects of terrorism, in all matters military and civilian.

She successfully completed numerous military courses, including Security and Protection with the Jordanian Royal Guards, Senior International Defense Management from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School at the Defense Resources Management Institute in Monterey, California. She has also completed an open water diving course at the Scuba Schools International in New Jersey. She travels abroad frequently to further enhance her knowledge of military-related issues, particularly the role of women in the military.^[1]

She is currently assigned as the defense attaché with the Jordanian embassy to the United States.^[1]

Private life

In 1990, Aisha married Zeid Saadedine Juma in Amman, the couple later divorced. She currently resides in the United States of America and is a proud mother of two, son Aoun Juma, born on May 27, 1992 and a younger daughter, Muna Juma born on July 18, 1996. Her son, Aoun Juma has attended Coventry University (London campus) in London United Kingdom. Following on the footsteps of his mother, Aoun Juma is now expected to attend Sandhurst Royal Military Academy.

On January 27, 2016, Princess Aisha remarried to His Excellency Mr. Banayoti, according to the royal court statement.^[2]