Antoinette Avril Gardnier was the second wife of King Hussein of Jordan and mother to the current sovereign, King Abdullah II of Jordan. She was born in Suffolk, England in the spring of 1941 and is a mother to 4 children (Prince Faisal, born in 1963, and twin princesses Aisha and Zein born in 1968). She was a caring mother and a devoted wife, but she was also strongly committed to her people. As queen she could not ignore the terrible Six-Day War in 1967 against Israel, and the conflict with Palestine soldiers in 1970. Without doubt they were dramatic moments for Jordan as a nation.

She was the only child of Military Engineer, Walter Percy Gardiner and Doris Elizabeth Sutton. In 1960 her father was sent to Amman as a Lieutenant Colonel of the British Military Mission in Jordan. It was there that she met King Hussein with whom she married in May 1961. Following her marriage she converted to Islam and took the name Muna al Hussein. Since then she carried out extensive social work to help the disadvantaged and, particularly, Jordanian women.

In 1962 she founded the College of Nursing (which bears her name) and the first official school of Allied Health Professionals. She herself became a nurse and motivated Jordanian families to send their daughters to the new school. She has maintained an active relationship with Cheshire Home,

a rehabilitation and residential centre for people with physical disabilities. She is the President of the Jordanian Nursing Council and also Honorary Advisor to the World Health Organisation’s Collaborating Centres for Nursing Development. She is largely responsible for the magnificent relations that the academic institution maintains with Jordanian universities.

Abdallah was 10 years old when his parents divorced in 1972. His mother provisionally left Jordan and the young prince stayed with his father, although he often travelled to Great Britain where he would spend long periods at Saint Edmund's School in the county of Surrey. In this manner, Princess Muna -who currently lives in Jordan- always kept close contact with her children.

On 10 June 1993, Abdallah married Rania Al Yassin, a Jordanian of Palestinian descent (the current queen enjoys strong popularity among Palestinians in Jordan). They have two children: Prince Hussein, born 28 June 1994, and Princess Iman, born 27 September 1997. They are Muna's grandchildren. The virtual new monarch, a kind-mannered woman of medium height who shows compassion to her subordinates, maintains strong friendships with various princes from the Persian Gulf who she meets regularly.