King Talal - Definition and Overview

King Talal bin Abdullah (February 26, 1909 - July 7, 1972) was King of Jordan from July 20, 1951 until forced to abdicate due to health reasons (he suffered from schizophrenia) on August 11, 1952. Talal had ascended the Jordanian throne after the assassination in Jerusalem of his father Abdullah, of which his eldest son, Hussein, was also a near victim. Hussein formally succeeded his father in 1952 (but did not reign immediately, as he was not yet 18 years old).

Born in Mecca in 1909, in 1934 he married Zein al Sharaf Talal. He attended the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst from which he graduated in 1939.

During his short reign he was responsible for the formation of a liberalised constitution for the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, which made the government collectively, and the ministers individually, responsible before the Jordanian Parliament. The constitution was ratified on January 1, 1952. King Talal is also judged as having done much to smooth the previously strained relations between Jordan and the neighbouring Arab states of Egypt and Saudi Arabia.