A Night with Her Majesty Queen Rania

After my major 'royal fever' disappointment last month: Will and Kate went to Figi or something like that for their honeymoon...B.O.R.I.N.G. {I think it had something to do with the 'minor' world event that played out in Afghanistan the day after their wedding. World events never have good timing.}

Anyway, It was all redeemed last night!

We had the privilege of attending the graduation of the Red Sea Institute of Cinematic Arts {RSICA} at a beautiful resort here in town.

AND.

Her Majesty Queen Rania attended to celebrate with the graduates and hand them their diplomas!

Fun Facts about RSICA: In 1989 Steven Spielberg was directing "Indiana Jones 3" in Petra. He became friends with Prince Abdullah {who became King in 1999}. Later His Majesty sought Spielberg's advice on setting up the first MFA program in Cinematic Arts for the MENA region. In 2006 a partnership was established with the University of Southern California of Cinematic Arts and in 2008 the school was started in Aqaba, Jordan.

Here are my observations after reflecting upon this delightful experience:

1. Security was not that tight. I actually had major doubts that she would be attending because of the low security. I mean, there were a few secret police sitting in the audience. {nice looking men sitting in the audience, nicely dressed...alone...with no date...too obvious}. We had to go through the normal hotel security to get in. And she, of course, showed up with her security entourage {which were just more nicely dressed men...who could probably bench press me a few times}. But, hey! She is the Queen of an Arab country. I found it endearing that security was not nuts.

She was sitting in the front row next to the balding guy, in front of the priest with the big hat and long hair.

2. She was not the main speaker. In fact she did not speak publicly at all. She sat in the audience. She walked up on stage at the end to hand the graduates their diplomas. She shook some hands and squeezed the cheeks of some babies and then was off. She did not make herself the main attraction. The ceremony was full of the personality of the film school and the creative, accomplished graduates. She is the Queen of an Arab country! And it was not about her. It was about her honoring the graduates.

The beautiful Queen Rania is standing in the middle in the white dress

3. She spent a few minutes talking to the graduates. Can you imagine what this must have meant to them? After the photo that was snapped above, she turned and quietly talked to many of the graduates. The ceremony was still going on and we all just waited as she personally took time to do this. That was classy to me. She did not just show up to shake hands. She showed up and made an effort to personally congratulate them.

4. She was elegantly simple. This came across to me in the low security and the way she honored the graduates. She just did not make a big deal of herself. She was dressed in a simple summer dress. Her hair was down. She came, she watched, she left. Simple said a lot about her.

Image by Nasser Ayoub from jordantimes.com

5. What a country! Since we moved here years ago, I had a goal of actually meeting the Queen some day. This country in the size of Indiana! And I didn't think my goal was too unreasonable. Last night I got a step closer. I still would love to meet her and speak with her. In fact, during the ceremony I ran through some ideas of what I would say if I had the chance to meet her. I figured I would have time for 7 words max. This is what I came up with:
You are just so cute. {lame}
Will you introduce me to Will and Kate? {too selfish}
I watch you all the time on youtube. {sounds too creepy stalker-ish}
Thank you for what you do for arab women. {too obvious}
God give you and your family strength as you lead this country. {true, but she probably hears that all the time}

So, this is what I settled on:
Queen Rania. You rock. {I figured this may be the perfect opener for a great conversation!}