In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate

Your Royal Highness My Dear Brother Prince Hamzah Bin Al Hussein, May God keep you,

I am pleased to extend to you my very best greetings and most sincere wishes for continued health, happiness and success, and to express my deepest affection and highest esteem to you as a brother, a Hashemite Prince and a sincere Jordanian soldier, keen to selflessly perform the call of duty. I have known these traits in you since you started your journey giving to our beloved country. I chose you personally five years ago from amongst all my brothers, including those who are older than you, to be Crown Prince and to be my support whenever necessary. I have been eager since I came to the throne of our beloved Jordan to reflect the true meaning of the position of Crown Prince as it is stated in the Constitution. This position is an honorary one that does not entail any authority or any responsibility.

Our beloved father King Hussein, may God rest His Soul, had reaffirmed to us before he passed away the importance of adhering to the honorary concept of the position of Crown Prince and we have abided by that throughout the past five years. Your holding this symbolic position has restrained your freedom and hindered our trusting you with certain responsibilities you are fully qualified to undertake.

And because the country needs the efforts of each and every one of us to work with utmost energy and capability especially during these difficult circumstances which the region and our beloved Jordan are going through, I have decided to free you from the constraints of the position of Crown Prince in order to give you the freedom to work and undertake any mission or responsibility I entrust you with, alongside with all our brothers, the sons of Al Hussein, and other members of the Hashemite Family. I trust that you will be a great help and support to me and to your brothers in the service of our beloved country and our one big Jordanian Family.

As for the position of Crown Prince, I will continue, guided by the Constitution and the good of our beloved Jordan and our noble Hashemite message, to give it my sincere attention.

I ask God to keep you and save you and give you success in the service of our dear country. Peace and God's mercy and blessing be upon you.

Your Brother
Abdullah Ben Al Hussein
Amman, 15 Shawwal 1425 Hijri
28 November 2004

Note: Despite its well-crafted language, this letter removes the threat that the son of Queen Noor, an American Christian who converted to Islam before her marriage to King Hussein, might become King of Jordan. Noor was born in Washington, DC and was christened Elizabeth. Her father, of Lebanese descent was a former CEO of Pan-American World Airways and a former US Assistant Secretary of Defense. She studied at Princeton University, met King Hussein while working on the development of the Amman International Airport and became his fourth wife on 15 June 1978. Though well loved by the King and popular, the growing Islamist movement in Jordan found her American background difficult to accept. Noor bore the King two sons and two daughters, of whom Prince Hamzah is the eldest. King Abdullah gradually removed all her progeny from positions of importance and this letter completes the operation. It may or may not presage a cooling off in the relations between Jordan and the United States.