Hussein of Jordan was succeeded by his eldest son, Abdullah II. Hussein was born in Amman on 14 November 1935 to Crown Prince Talal and Princess Zein Al-Sharaf. Hussein was the eldest among his siblings, three brothers and two sistersPrincess Asma, Prince Muhammad, Prince Hassan, Prince Muhsin, and Princess Basma. During one cold Ammani winter, his baby sister Princess Asma died from pneumonia, an indication of how poor his family was thenthey could not afford heating in their house. Hussein was the namesake of his great-grandfather, Hussein bin Ali (Sharif of Mecca), the leader of the 1916 Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire.
Abdullah II of Jordan Hussein's regent during the 1990s but this duty was mainly performed by Hussein's younger brother, Crown Prince Hassan. Abdullah led his father's delegation to Moscow for talks in 1987. He frequently visited The Pentagon in Washington, where he lobbied for increased military assistance to Jordan. The prince joined his father on trips to visit Hafez Al-Assad in Damascus and Saddam Hussein in Baghdad (before the 1990 Gulf War). Abdullah commanded military exercises during Israeli military officials' visits to Jordan in 1997, and was sent to hand-deliver a message to Muammar Gaddafi in 1998. King Hussein frequently traveled to the United