When Queen Rania visited the Taj Mall in Amman for lunch in 2014, it was crowded with members of the Jordanian upper crust, drinking frappés as they shopped at royal favourites Burberry and Armani.

Now the hulking glass shopping centre is half-empty, its customers driven away by a crippling economic crisis that has sparked an outpouring of fury. Jordan’s royal family and glamorous queen are in the firing line.

“We’re suffering, and the royal family don’t give a crap,” said Asma, a 19-year-old shop assistant, as she stared into an empty store in the Taj Mall. “They have to reduce their spending and their costs, because they have to at least look like they’re with the people. But they don’t.”

The turmoil of the Middle