5. Hussein of Jordan
Hussein bin Talal ruled Jordan as it’s King from 1952 until 1999. He experienced his first assassination attempt at the age of 15 when he was walking with his grandfather. A man opened fire on the pair, killing Hussein’s grandfather but Hussein was not hit. Hussein followed the gunman who turned and fired directly at Hussein. Luckily a medal that he had been wearing, a gift from his grandfather, deflected the bullet.
In 1957, a royal adviser Ali Abu Nuwar attempted a coup against the young king with the financial support of Egypt. Hussein was alerted to the coup plans and was able to gather his loyal troops to stop it. In 1958, while flying his own airplane in Switzerland, two Syrian Mig-17 appeared beside him. They ordered the King to land at Damascus and tried to force him down when he refused. Luckily Hussein and his co-pilot out maneuvered the Syrians.
More assassination and coup attempts followed. One plan was to have the cook put poison in the King’s food, but he was found out when he first tested his poison on the palace cats. Another plan was to put acid into the King’s nose drops. Another was a bomb in the King’s office which ended up killing the Prime Minister instead. After the Six-Day war Jordan was rife with angry Palestinians who wanted their own country, and there was fighting between Palestinian factions and loyal Jordanians.
When the King went to see the fighting for himself his Jeep became caught in machine gun fire. His guards threw him into a ditch for cover but he returned to the Jeep when he realized he had left his beret behind. He ordered his men to drive the jeep out of the area. King Hussein faced more assassination attempts as he navigated Arab and world politics where his choices would always anger one side or the other.