Succession to the Jordanian throne is regulated by Article 28 of the Constitution of Jordan. It consists of the line of people who are eligible to succeed to the throne of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.
The throne currently passes according to agnatic primogeniture, which can be changed by decree. Thus, only male descendants of Abdullah I of Jordan, born to Muslim parents, can ascend the throne.
The king has the right to appoint one of his brothers as heir apparent. If the king dies without a son or appointed brother, the throne devolves upon the person whom the National Assembly selects from amongst the descendants of Hussein bin Ali, King of Hejaz, the founder of the Arab Revolt.
A person can be barred from succession by royal decree on the ground of unsuitability. His descendants would not be automatically excluded.
King Hussein's brother, Prince Muhammad, was the heir presumptive to the throne until the birth of Hussein's eldest son, Abdullah. Abdullah was his father's heir apparent from his birth in 1962 until 1965, when Hussein decided to appoint his 18-year-old brother Hassan as heir apparent because of the unstable situation at the time.[1]
Shortly after his marriage to Queen Noor, King Hussein instructed his brother to appoint Prince Ali (Hussein's eldest son from his marriage to Queen Alia) as his heir apparent. However, by 1992, he had changed his mind. Besides his own sons, Hussein seriously regarded his nephew, Prince Talal bin Muhammad, as his possible heir. Finally, on 25 January 1999, shortly before his death, Hussein proclaimed Abdullah his heir apparent again and was succeeded by him on his death.[2]