Talal was born in Mecca as the eldest son of Abdullah bin Hussein and his wife Musbah bint Nasser.

Abdullah was a son of Sharif Hussein of Mecca, who led the Great Arab Revolt during World War I against the Ottoman Empire in 1916.

[3] He was educated privately before attending the British Army's Royal Military College, Sandhurst, from which he graduated in 1929 when he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Cavalry Regiment of the Arab Legion.

Abdullah I was killed by a Palestinian amid rumours that he had been planning to sign a peace treaty with the newly established state of Israel.

On 20 July 1951, Prince Hussein travelled to Jerusalem to perform Friday prayers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque with his grandfather, King Abdullah I.

King Talal is also judged as having done much to smooth the previously strained relations between Jordan and the neighbouring Arab states of Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

Talal has been described by his cousin Prince Ra'ad bin Zeid in a 2002 interview as having "very anti-British sentiments", caused by Britain's failure to fully comply with their agreement with his grandfather Sharif Hussein ibn Ali in the McMahon–Hussein Correspondence to establish an independent Arab kingdom under his rule.

[10] Furthermore, at the time of the succession crisis that occurred after King Abdullah I's assassination, Talal was described by contemporary Egyptian and Syrian press as a "great patriotic anti-imperialist" in contrast to his half-brother Naif, who also sought the throne, and was denounced as "weak-minded and entirely subservient to British influence".

[11] A year into Talal's reign, Arab Legion intelligence officer Major Hutson reported that Amman was "seething with a rumor to the effect that the Legion, or Cabinet, intend on handing over West Jordan to Israel and that King Talal was deported by the British for refusing to agree".

Furthermore, PM Abu al-Huda received reports that Talal was attempting to challenge the government with the help of "private individuals" and an "officer in the Arab Legion".

[14] This led Abu al-Huda into summoning both houses of parliament to an "extraordinary session", requesting their approval of a motion dictating that Talal be deposed for "medical reasons", specifically "schizophrenia".

Glubb Pasha particularly commended this as he noted that Arab countries were presently "unfit for full democracy on the British model".