Former Working Girl Will Be Queen Of Jordan

Press, Volume C, Issue 29509, 10 May 1961, Page 2

Former Working Girl Will Be Queen Of Jordan

Once Kings chose their brides from women of Royal blood. But not any more, it seems. Again and again in recent years kings have gone forth into the world and selected working girls to share their lonely eminence as heads of state, says a London correspondent Princess Soraya, former wife of the Shah of Persia, was a diplomat’s daughter. And the Shah’s present wife. Queen Farah. was the daughter of a politician. Prince Rainier of Monaco married the film-star daughter of an American businessman. King Baudouin of Belgium surprised the world by marrying Fabiola. daughter of a minor Spanish landowner. And now there is the engagement of Toni Gardiner to King Hussein of Jordan. Cinderella Toni’s Cinderella - like beginnings would seem to have surpassed those of all other Royal brides. She was born in a cottage, later lived

in a council house and helped to wash glasses in her father’, pub. As a teen-age girl she went dancing and rollerskating. She has held jobs as a typist and telephonist. But there is another side to Toni, which perhaps gives a clue to the way in which a commoner becomes a Queen-to-be. Take her names, Antoinette Avril. The parents who thought of those were obviously not going to be content with a lowly place in the world. Well Educated Toni’s father. Walter Gardiner. has become a career soldier and has done well. He holds the rank of lieutenant-colonel, has done service in Malaya, and (since January last year) with the British training mission ’ in Jordan. Toni's parents saw that their daughter got the best education they could mjn-

age. She went to a convent school in England, and a private school in Malaya. A pretty girl, she acquired charm and poise as well as education. In Jordan she worked as an English announcer for the local radio station and also for a film company now in Jordan making a film about Lawrence of Arabia. When Toni went to a party in Jordan, she was soon noticed by 25-year-old Hussein. And now she has become, as the Moslems put it. Muna al Husain—Hussein’s choice.