Ra'ad bin Zeid

Ra'ad bin Zeid (رعد بن زيد; born 18 February 1936) is the son of Prince Zeid of the Hashemite House and Princess Fahrelnissa Zeid (Fakhr un-nisa or Fahr-El-Nissa), a Turkish noblewoman.

Raad's paternal first cousin once removed was Faisal II, the last king of Iraq, who was killed at the age of 23 in a bloody coup d'état on 14 July 1958 (Crown Prince Abd-al-Illah was also killed).

Following the revolution, Prince Zeid, Raad's father, was recognized as the Head of the Royal House of Iraq by his remaining agnatic co-heirs of Jordan.

They continued to live in London, where the family resided during the coup, as Zeid was the Iraqi ambassador there.

He was educated in Alexandria, Egypt, and at Christ's College, Cambridge, where he graduated BA in 1960, promoted to MA in 1963.

After receiving his Cambridge degree, Raad was appointed as Chamberlain of the Royal Court of Jordan, in Amman, and afterwards worked there in civil administration and charitable organizations.

He was an aide and a close confidant of his cousins kings Hussein and Abdullah II of Jordan.

Prince Raad married at Södertälje, Sweden, 30 June 1963 (civil), and at the Royal Palace, Amman, on 5 August 1963, Swedish-born Margaretha Inga Elisabeth Lind, henceforward known as Majda Ra'ad, President of Al-Hussein Society and Director of Bandak Foundation, born in Arboga on 5 September 1942, daughter of Sven Gustav Lind and wife Carin Inga Birgitta Gunlaug Grönwall, daughter of Eugen Assar Alexius Grönwall and wife, Signe Maria Svensson, and an illegitimate descendant of the House of Vasa through King Charles XI of Sweden.

They have five children:

Prince Raad's position as the head of the Royal House of Iraq was in contention with Sharif Ali bin al-Hussein (a descendant of Hussein of Hejaz's granddaughter, sister and male cousin, but not in male line from king Hussein) who was another pretender to the Iraqi throne and the leader of the Iraqi Constitutional Monarchy, until the latter's death on 14 March 2022.

His father died on October 18, 1970, leaving him in charge of the former Royal Houses of Iraq.

Ra'ad has lived in London and Paris.

Raad was born in Berlin, where his father was Iraqi ambassador at the time.

He is an agnatic grandson of king Hussein of Hejaz, his father prince Zeid being king Hussein's youngest son.

As such he is a first cousin of kings Talal of Jordan and Ghazi of Iraq.

Raad himself succeeded his father as all such at the latter's death in 1970 in exile in France.