Jordan's Madaba city names square after Princess Rajwa

Jordanian Crown Prince Hussein and Saudi-born Rajwa Al Saif were married last week

A poster of Crown Prince Hussein and Rajwa Al Saif at a workshop in Madaba. Reuters

A Jordanian city has named a square after the newly declared Crown Princess Rajwa, who became a member of Jordan's Hashemite monarchy last week.

The Civil Defence Square in Madaba, about 30km south of the capital Amman, will now be known as Princess Rajwa Square to mark the wedding.

King Abdullah II conferred the title of princess on Rajwa Al Saif, a Saudi national whose mother is related to Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, soon after her marriage to his son in Amman on Thursday. The ceremony was attended by Arab and Western royalty, but the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed did not attend as Jordanian officials had expected.

Princess Rajwa, whose family is among the wealthiest in Saudi Arabia, studied architecture in the United States. Crown Prince Hussein said that a school friend had introduced the couple.

King Abdullah said last month that “friendship and co-operation” have developed between “Prince Mohammed and our son Al Hussein”.

The constitution does not assign any role to the crown prince, but the authorities have promoted the wedding on Thursday as a sign of continuity in the kingdom, ruled by the Hashemite monarchy for 24 years.

All significant powers in Jordan lie with King Abdullah, who succeeded his father, the late King Hussein, in 1999.

Madaba, part of the Biblical kingdom of Moab, named a forest after Crown Prince Hussein last month.

Madaba has become almost connected to Amman, and desertification and construction have destroyed a significant portion of farmland in the area. The city still has several Ottoman-era buildings as well as a Byzantine Church.

The church contains a mosaic floor map of areas in the Mediterranean and the Levant, which are among the most popular tourist attractions near Amman.