Jordan's Prince Hussein renounces his title over disagreements with king

"For honesty to God and conscience, I see no other option but to renounce and abandon the title of prince". With this statement, Prince Hamza bin Hussein, half-brother of King Abdullah III of Jordan, declined his royal title, just one year after the plot led by Hussein against his brother. The reason for his resignation, he said, was that his values were "not in line with the modern approaches, trends and methods of the country's institutions".

In this vein, the now ex-prince stated that after what he had witnessed in recent years, he had "come to the conclusion that my personal convictions and the constants that my father instilled in me, and to which I strived hard in my life to adhere, are not in line with the modern approaches, trends and methods of our institutions. I had the great honour to serve my beloved country and my dear people in this capacity during the years of my life and I will remain as I have always been and as long as I live loyal to our beloved Jordan". 

The former prince's abdication comes at a turbulent time for the Hashemite kingdom's royal family. Last March, Hussein again apologised for the mutiny he had organised against the monarch a year ago, which led to him being placed under house arrest, according to the Jordanian Royal Court.

In this context, in early April 2020, the former crown prince was arrested after several allegations from abroad accused him of carrying out a "plot" aimed at destabilising Abdullah III's rule. Following his arrest, Hussein was placed under house arrest and even stated in a video that he was not allowed to "go out and communicate or meet with people because some meetings where he had been present had been critical of the government or the king".

At the time, Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi indicated that Prince Hamza "did not represent an immediate threat but was involved in efforts to fuel popular discontent with the deterioration of the Jordanian economy and tried to present himself as an alternative ruler", something that failed after the arrest of those responsible.

In addition to "not agreeing with the same values", King Abdullah III withdrew the title of crown prince from his half-brother in 2004 in order to appoint his son, Prince Hussein bin Abdullah, as heir to the throne four years later.

However, legal proceedings against him ended when he swore allegiance both to his brother and to the values upheld by the Jordanian constitution. However, Hussein's resignation now reflects that his apology was driven by political motives rather than royal sentiment. At the time, the Jordanian king declared that this crisis was "the most painful of his 22 years of rule", highlighting the internal crisis plaguing the Royal Court.

In a new letter to King Abdullah III, former Prince Hussein acknowledged that he had made a 'mistake' and took 'responsibility for his actions and offences towards Jordan and the King', including 'the incidents' arising from the sedition case. However, this did not affect his "loyalty" to Jordan, as he made clear in his letter.

Hussein's arrest was followed by a series of arrests of 16 people allegedly involved in the case. Weeks after the arrests, the Royal Court announced his release following "a plea for forgiveness from several of the detainees". However, the head of the Jordanian Royal Court, Basem Ibrahim, and the member of the Royal Court, Sharif Zaid Hussein, were sentenced to 15 years in prison, a sentence that has not been overturned.