Prince Zeid bin Ra'ad

Prince Zeid Ra’ad Zeid Al-Hussein born 26 January 1964 in Amman, Jordan to Prince Ra'ad bin Zeid head of the Royal house of Iraq and pretender to the Iraqi throne and his wife Margaretha Lind (Majda Raad). He is Jordan's Ambassador to the United States and non-resident Ambassador to Mexico. He was previously the kingdom’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations; a post he held six and a half years (2000-2007).

Education and career

He was educated at Reed's School, Surrey before gaining a B.A. in 1987 from the Johns Hopkins University, and a Ph.D. from Christ's College, Cambridge in 1993.

Prince Zeid had been Jordan's ambassador to the United Nations from 2000 until 2007, and was previously Deputy Permanent Representative since 1996. In September 2002 he was elected the first president of the Assembly of States Parties of the International Criminal Court, the governing body of the court. He served in this position until November 2005, when he was succeeded by Bruno Stagno Ugarte of Costa Rica.

At 42 he was the youngest candidate running for the position of Secretary-General.

In the straw poll of Security Council members held on September 28, 2006, Prince Zeid received 3 countries' votes to encourage his candidacy, 6 to "discourage" while 6 expressed no opinion.

Marriage and children

Prince Zeid was married on the 5 July 2000 at Amman to Sarah Butler. Together they have two children:

*HH Prince Ra'ad - born May 17 2001
*HH Princess Hala - born March 132003

External links

* [http://www.washdiplomat.com/ambprof/Jordan.html The Washington Diplomat Newspaper - Ambassador profile ]
* [http://www.4dw.net/royalark/Iraq/iraq3.htm Royalark]