Hussein, Crown Prince of Jordan being King Hussein's eldest son; the King had appointed his younger brother Prince Hassan as heir designate in 1965. Shortly before his death on 7 February 1999, the King replaced Hassan with Abdullah. When Abdullah became king, he named his younger half-brother, Prince Hamzah, as heir designate on his accession. On 28 November 2004, King Abdullah removed Hamzah from his title as crown prince. Though the title of crown prince was left vacant, the Constitution of Jordan provides for agnatic primogeniture, meaning the monarch's eldest son is automatically first in the line of succession to the Jordanian throne unless decreed
History of Jordan regarded as illegal and void by the Arab League and others. It was recognized by Britain, Iraq and Pakistan. The annexation of the West Bank more than doubled the population of Jordan. Both Irbid and Zarqa more than doubled their population from less than 10,000 each to more than, respectively, 23,000 and 28,000. King Abdullah's eldest son, Talal of Jordan, was proclaimed king in 1951, but he was declared mentally unfit to rule and deposed in 1952. His son, Hussein Ibn Talal, became king on his eighteenth birthday, in 1953. The 1950s have been labelled as a time of "Jordan's