The royal family of Jordan are a bit different from a traditional monarchy.

King Abdullah who has reigned since 1999 likes sky diving, rally driving, and is a trekkie and got to have a walk on role in Star Trek the Next Generation back in 1996, and helped with the film production team of the second Transformers movie.

Queen Rania (not to be confused with Prince Rainier of Monaco)  used to work for Apple Computer at their HQ in Cupertino, California as a software engineer before meeting the heir to the throne, she is originally from Kuwait and does a lot of charity work, has her own web site and is on Twitter.

They seem well liked and respected by the people of Jordan and by neighboring countries and have four children and live in Jordan’s capital of Amman but also have a place overlooking Petra as well.