Abdullah bin Hussein, the man who never expected to be king, will be crowned in Jordan today in a traditional Arab ceremony, formally assuming the title of King Abdullah II. His great grandfather, the founder of the kingdom and of the Hashemite dynasty, was King Abdullah I.
The king and Palestine-born Queen Rania will then drive through the streets of the capital and receive 500 guests at Raghadan palace - modest ceremonies for a modest king in a small kingdom.
Although the eldest son of the late King Hussein, Prince Abdullah (37) was not groomed to succeed to the throne because his mother was British rather than Arab. Instead Prince Abdullah was trained for a career in the army.
But in the four months since he was sworn in, King Abdullah has confounded critics and charmed veteran politicians, media commentators and the people of Jordan. He has reconciled differences with Arab rulers, who had distanced themselves from his father, and impressed Western political leaders with his pragmatism and readiness to tackle Jordan's urgent economic problems.
"He is doing much better than anyone expected," said Mr Abdullah Hasanat, editor of the Jordan Times. "He has good advisers and depends on them. He does not use big words [as did his uncle, former Crown Prince Hassan] and says things in simple terms which people can understand," Mr Hasanat said.
"And he has begun to discreetly warn [embers of the Jordanian establishment] against corruption, cliques and nepotism, evils draining the scarce resources of the country."
On the home front, King Abdullah quickly formed a new government to implement wide-ranging reforms. He mollified Prince Hassan, who was deeply humiliated by his dramatic dismissal as Crown Prince in January.
On Sunday King Abdullah pressed deputies in parliament, opening an extraordinary session, to speedily enact his economic and administrative restructuring programmes so that Jordan might soon meet the entry requirements of the World Trade Organisation.
On the regional front, Jordan regained admission to the Arab fold after a decade of cool relations with Syria, Lebanon, the Gulf states and Saudi Arabia. Some credit for this should go to Crown Prince Abdullah, the heir to the Saudi throne, who constantly campaigns for Arab unity. Apparently King Hussein, on his deathbed, appealed to the Saudi prince to advise the young, untutored Abdullah.
It is significant that Crown Prince Abdullah visited Amman last week, days ahead of today's ceremonies.
During these four eventful months, King Abdullah made peace with the Syrian President, Mr Hafez al-Assad, who boycotted King Hussein after he concluded a peace treaty with Israel in 1994. Syria promptly began pumping drinking water to Jordan.
In return, King Abdullah has been trying to heal the 16-year breach between Mr Assad and the Palestine president, Mr Yasser Arafat. And King Abdullah restored relations with Kuwait, disrupted in 1991 after King Hussein opposed the war against Iraq.
King Abdullah has lobbied vigorously for a cancellation of Jordan's $7 billion external debt. Last month he visited European capitals and Washington to appeal for "forgiveness", not rescheduling.
The kingdom is desperate for early relief because its economy has stalled, unemployment stands at 30 per cent and more than one-third of the people live below the poverty line. On Monday Tokyo informed Jordan that it could not dismiss a $1.2 billion debt because to do so would violate Japan's constitution.
Jordanians are now pinning their hopes on the coming G8 summit. Half is owed to banks and half to governments. Of the latter, $800 million has been rescheduled so Jordan is asking forgiveness for the remaining $2.7 billion owed to governments.
In a politically astute move, King Abdullah declared support for NATO's bombing campaign against Yugoslavia while other Arab rulers dithered. Last week he offered to contribute Jordanian troops to the Kosovo peace force.
It is no coincidence that the ceremonies today, designated as Throne Day, precede tomorrow's commemoration of the first World War Arab revolt against Turkey, led by King Abdullah I.