Royal Appeal.(Queen Rania of Jordan's Youtube videos regarding middle eastern stereotypes)

Byline: Photographed by David Bailey

Whether at a U.N. delegation or on YouTube, Queen Rania's persuasive style is changing attitudes. Vicki Woods meets a thoroughly modern monarch.

Amman, Jordan. I'm watching YouTube in my hotel: A swan-necked Arabian beauty with fabulous brows and luscious dark hair is talking to someone off-camera. "In a world where it's so easy to connect to one another, we still remain very much disconnected," she says, and this is because of "common stereotypes" and "misconceptions" about the Arab world. "I've been surprised by some of the questions I've been asked about the Arab world and the Middle East: Do all Arabs hate Americans? Can Arab women work? Are there any YouTubers in Jordan?" Shot in black-and-white (which imbues her with a silvery Hollywood glamour), the video is jumpily edited, apparently unscripted. When a cell phone shrills, she grins and keeps talking. "Send me your stereotypes," she says, "and I'll try to break them down, one by one." This is Queen Rania of Jordan's YouTube channel. The video, lasting a minute and 46 seconds, is mesmerizing. Last time I looked, 1,597,046 views, but it's been up since last March and copied over and over.

YouTube gave Queen Rania a Visionary Award, which she accepted by sending a pitch-perfect spoof of David Letterman's Top Ten list, flipping cards from her desk as she counted down the reasons for starting her own channel: "Number ten, because I didn't have enough friends on Facebook"; "Number nine, because anything Queen Elizabeth can do, I can do better"; "Number five, because I couldn't get past an audition in front of Simon Cowell"; "And the number-one reason? Because suspicion, intolerance, and mistrust are driving us apart."

Over breakfast, I scan the The Jordan Times, which front-pages Rania on protocol duty at the airport: President of Lebanon and his wife welcomed by king and queen of Jordan. The first lady of Lebanon wears a matronly striped skirt and a jacket buttoned up to the neck. Rania of Jordan looks like she's in a different movie: Her curvy, oyster-colored, soft wool jacket with three-quarter sleeves, cinched with a black belt over a soft-pleated black skirt, is perfectly proper and regal, but this is an outfit for a best-dressed list. The 38-year-old queen is modern, hip, andher Lanvin stilettos notwithstandingdemure.

"Her Majesty is expecting you," says the royal court official meeting my car in the palace compound. "The interview will be in Her Majesty's office. She hopes you don't mind waiting here a few minutes." "Here" is an anteroom plastered with huge state-portrait photographs: Their Majesties King Abdullah II and Queen Rania Al Abdullah of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, she solemn in black velvet, both heavy with diadems, sashes, and decorations; His Late Majesty King Hussein, father of the present king (and of modern Jordan), in military uniform. Majesty hangs pretty heavy, and a slight social anxiety flickers in me: Damn, I'm wearing pants. I'm a Brit by birth; we know about majesty's arcane power to make sane people do strange, stiff, period-movie thingsyou've seen Helen Mirren in The Queen. Men bow, women curtsy. You can't curtsy in a pantsuit.

"Her Majesty will see you now."