Hussein of Jordan: The survivor king

In 1970, King Hussein of Jordan survived after gunmen opened fire on his motorcade close to his summer palace. The king remained unharmed, but his driver was wounded. It wasn’t the king’s first near-miss.

Before being crowned, Hussein survived another attempt when his grandfather, King Abdullah, was assassinated by a Palestinian gunman in 1951. Hussein was saved when a medal deflected a stray bullet. And there were other attempts. One would-be assassin used nose drops poisoned with acid. Another time, a cook was given poison to put in the king’s food.

Many of the attempts were because of his pro-Western stance and his efforts to control Palestinian guerrillas. Jane Wilkinson has been through the BBC archives to find out more about the ‘survivor king’, who tells his story in his own words.

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(Photo: King Hussein, 1970. Credit: Fred Ihrt/LightRocket via Getty Images)