
Princess Salma bint Abdullah of Jordan, 17, graduated from high school at the International Amman Academy (IAA) on Tuesday, 22 May. Her older brother, Crown Prince Hussein handed her, her diploma after doing a sibling secret handshake and a hug.
IAA is a bilingual school (Arabic and English), and the graduation ceremony was in English as the announcer could be heard congratulating the graduates in a video on Queen Rania’s Instagram story. Queen Rania founded the school in August 2004.
The Queen posted several images to her Twitter and Instagram accounts showing her pride at Salma’s graduation. One picture of Rania and Salma on the latter’s graduation day was accompanied by the comment, “Your smile alone could always, and will always, make my day.” A family photo posted the next day had the comment, “All grown up but you will never outgrow my heart… Incredibly proud of you, today, and every day.”
The Royal Hashemite Court sent their congratulations on Instagram with a photo of the King kissing his daughter on the cheek saying, “Warm congratulations to HRH Princess Salma!”
Her Majesty also posted a photo to her Instagram a couple of days ago of a young Salma graduating from pre-school saying that the Princess would “always be my precious little Salma.”
King Abdullah, Queen Rania, Crown Prince Hussein and Prince Hashem were all in attendance at the graduation ceremony; Princess Iman was absent, but the reason is unknown.
The Princess will celebrate her 18th birthday on 26 September – a day before her older sister Princess Iman will turn 22. Where she will attend university has not been revealed; however, both Hussein and Iman attended Georgetown University in the US, so it is highly possible she could follow in their footsteps.
Princess Salma is the third child of King Abdullah and Queen Rania. Her older siblings are Crown Prince Hussein and Princess Iman. She has one younger brother, Prince Hashem.
Her Royal Highness, a member of the Hashemite family, is a 42nd generation direct descendant of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad.
Her grandfather was His Majesty King Hussein (1935-1999), and her grandmother is the British-born Her Royal Highness Princess Muna al-Hussein. She also has a step-grandmother, the American-born Queen Noor, who was married to King Hussein at the time of his death from cancer.