For this week's Flashback Friday, we take a look back at the iconic cover of Queen Rania of Jordan posing on the tenth anniversary of her reign with husband King Abdullah in 2009. HELLO!'s international managing editor Juliet Herd had the honour of meeting the queen, who spoke from the heart about how she had grown into her royal role.
Juliet recalls: "Queen Rania couldn't have been more gracious or accommodating when we visited her at the Royal Hashemite Court in the Jordanian capital Amman for our exclusive cover photoshoot. She gave generously of her time for both the interview and shoot and happily changed outfits and posed in different locations, inside and out, at the royal court, where both she and her husband King Abdullah have their own suite of offices.
© Photo: HELLO!"The Queen perfectly embodies the modern Arab woman, and has used her position to do trail-blazing work in support of women's and children's rights - tackling taboo subjects such as domestic violence and child abuse. While we were there, she arranged for us to visit a women's refuge and a school for girls, supported by her charity, the Jordan River Foundation.
"What struck us was how down-to-earth and natural the Queen was; she didn't stand on ceremony and you could see how much she adored her children - and was adored by them. She hugged her little boy Prince Hashem, then only four, when he arrived to have his photo taken with her, and she also did her best to coax him to look at the camera.
"Of course, she looked absolutely stunning in all the different outfits - from Gucci and Lanvin to a local dressmaker, but she had zero ego when it came to trying them on and was relaxed about what she wore."
