Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Jordan this week brought renewed focus to the ties between India and the royal Hashemite Kingdom. On Monday, PM Modi held delegation-level talks with King Abdullah II bin Al Hussein at the Al-Husseiniya Palace in Amman. The discussions covered bilateral relations, regional stability, and counter-terrorism cooperation.
Beyond diplomacy, Jordan’s royal family has its own fascinating connection to the Indian subcontinent through Princess Sarvath El Hassan, born Sarvath Ikramullah in Calcutta in 1947.
Who Is Sarvath Ikramullah?
Sarvath Ikramullah was born in Calcutta (now Kolkata) into the influential Suhrawardy family, a prominent Bengali Muslim lineage, in British-ruled India only weeks before partition.
Her father, Mohammed Ikramullah, served in the Indian Civil Service and later became Pakistan’s first Foreign Secretary. Her mother, Shaista Suhrawardy Ikramullah, was one of Pakistan’s first female parliamentarians and an ambassador to Morocco.
She was educated in Britain and raised amid her father’s diplomatic postings across Europe and South Asia. She first met Prince Hassan bin Talal of Jordan’s Hashemite dynasty in London through overlapping diplomatic circles.
Born In India, Married In Pakistan
On August 28, 1968, Sarvath Ikramullah married Prince Talal in Karachi, Pakistan. The ceremony saw a mix of Pakistani, Jordanian, and Western traditions. The couple settled in Amman, raising four children – Princesses Rahma, Sumaya, and Badiya, and Prince Rashid.
Crown Princess Of Jordan
Princess Sarvath served as Crown Princess of Jordan from 1968 until 1999. Throughout her tenure, she championed education, social welfare, and female empowerment. She co-founded the Amman Baccalaureate School, Jordan’s first bilingual International Baccalaureate institution, in 1981. She also established the Centre for Special Education (1974) and the Princess Sarvath Community College (1980), which focused on vocational training for young women and the disabled.
She became Jordan’s first woman to earn a black belt in taekwondo, served as Honorary President of the Jordanian Badminton Federation, and spearheaded humanitarian initiatives, including a 1991 Gulf War appeal that raised over $1 million in medical supplies for Jordan and Iraq.
In 1999, King Hussein designated his son, Prince Abdullah, as heir apparent, ending Prince Hassan’s tenure as Crown Prince.
Global Recognition
Princess Sarvath’s work has been recognised internationally. She received the Woman of Peace Award in 1995, the Grand Cordon of the Renaissance in 1994, Pakistan’s Hilal-i-Imtiaz in 2002, and honorary degrees from the University of Bath (2015) and the University of New Brunswick.
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