| Princess Haya bint Al Hussein | |||||
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.jpg) Princess Haya in 2017 | |||||
| Born | (1974-05-03)3 May 1974 (age 51) Amman, Jordan | ||||
| Spouse | |||||
| Issue |
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| House | Hashemite (by birth) Al Maktoum (by marriage) | ||||
| Father | Hussein of Jordan | ||||
| Mother | Alia Toukan | ||||
| Jordanian royal family |
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| Extended royal family |
Haya and others |
Muna and others Princess Muna
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Alia |
Firyal and others |
Basma |
Nayef and others
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Princess Haya bint Al Hussein (Arabic:الأميرة هيا بنت الحسين; born 3 May 1974) is the daughter ofKing Hussein of Jordan and his third wife,Queen Alia. She is the half-sister ofKing Abdullah II.
Haya is a graduate of theUniversity of Oxford in England and an accomplishedequestrian. She represented Jordan at the2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney and is the two-term President of theInternational Federation for Equestrian Sports (FEI).
In 2004, Haya became the second official wife of the ruler of theEmirate of Dubai, SheikhMohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. They had two children, Sheikha Jalila and Sheikh Zayed. In 2019, Haya and Mohammed divorced, and she left Dubai with her children to reside in the United Kingdom. Legal proceedings between Haya and Mohammed before theHigh Court in London over custody of their children attracted considerable media attention. On 5 March 2020, a British court ruled thaton the balance of probabilities, Sheikh Mohammed, the absolute ruler of Dubai and the prime minister of the UAE, had abducted two of his daughters,Shamsa andLatifa, and had threatened Haya.[1] In March 2022, the court awarded sole custody of the couple's two children to Haya.[2]
Princess Haya was born inAmman, the capital of theHashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the daughter ofKing Hussein and his third wife,Queen Alia. She has a younger brother,Prince Ali bin Hussein born on 23 December 1975, and older sister,Abir Muhaisen (born 1973), the latter of whom was adopted by Haya's parents after her biological mother was killed by a plane crash at theirPalestinian refugee camp in Amman. In 1977, when Haya was 3 years old, her mother died in a helicopter crash. Her father died from complications related to non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in 1999, leaving the crown to her half-brother,King Abdullah II.
She was educated in the United Kingdom, where in 1985, she attendedBadminton School in Bristol, and later theBryanston School in Dorset. From 1993 to 1995, she was enrolled atSt Hilda's College, Oxford, from which she graduated with aBAhonours degree inphilosophy, politics, and economics (PPE).[3][4][5]
Princess Haya began horse riding internationally when she was 13.[6] In 1992, she took the bronze medal in individual Jumping at theseventh Pan Arab Games inDamascus, Syria, and in 1993 was named Jordan's athlete of the year.[6] Princess Haya was the first woman to represent her native Jordan in international equestrian sport and the only woman to win a medal in the Pan-Arab Equestrian Games.[7] Having trained for several years in Ireland and Germany,[6] she qualified for the2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney representing Jordan inshow jumping, where she was also her country's flag bearer.[8]
In 2007, Princess Haya became a member of theInternational Olympic Committee (IOC), and in 2010 became an appointee to the IOC's International Relations Committee, and has also served on the IOC Athletes' and Culture and Olympic Education Commissions.[6]
On 7 June 2008,New Approach, a three-year-old colt owned by Princess Haya, trained in Ireland byJim Bolger and ridden byKevin Manning, won theDerby Stakes. On 25 October 2008, her three-year-old colt,Raven's Pass, won the $5 millionBreeders' Cup Classic. After being named the European champion 2-year-old in 2007 and winning the 2008 Epsom Derby, New Approach was retired at the end of the 2008 racing season.[9] In 2009, due to her contribution to the equine world, she was made the first Patron ofRetraining of Racehorses.[10]
Princess Haya serves as president of the International Jordanian Athletes Cultural Association, which she founded to provide athletes with needed national incentive and support.[6]
Princess Haya participated in the 2002 FEI World Equestrian Games at Jerez de la Frontera in Spain,[8] and represented Jordan at the FEI General Assembly on several occasions.[6] She was elected president of theInternational Federation for Equestrian Sports (FEI) in 2006 for an initial four-year term in the FEI's first contested presidential race.[11] In 2010, she became the first sitting FEI president to be challenged in a re-election bid.[11] She succeeded, however, in winning a second and final four-year term, receiving 75 percent of the vote to soundly defeat her two European rivals.[12] Nonetheless, during the FEI's campaign to eliminatedoping and horse abuse in equestrian sport, Princess Haya's husband and stepson were both convicted by the FEI in 2009 for seriousdoping violations. Princess Haya ceded presidential powers to a senior colleague for the FEI disciplinary processes on the matter. She later complained that the issue would be used to "injure and damage the reputations of myself and my family".[13]
Princess Haya frequently appeared, along with her husband, atRoyal Ascot, theEpsom Derby and other highlights of the English equestrian calendar; both were reported to have been friendly withQueen Elizabeth II.[14]
Princess Haya is the firstArab and first woman to becomeGoodwill Ambassador for the United NationsWorld Food Programme and UN Secretary GeneralBan Ki-moon appointed her a UN Messenger of Peace in 2007.[15]
She foundedTkiyet Um Ali (TUA), the first Arab NGO dedicated to overcoming local hunger, in her native Jordan, which provides food assistance and employment opportunities to thousands of poor families. In November 2012, Tkiyet Um Ali announced a campaign to quadruple the number of its beneficiaries to reach 20,000 families living under the food poverty line, aiming to meet the UNMillennium Development Goals on hunger by 2015. Tkiyet Um Ali (TUA) is intended to expand to reach all Jordanian families with insufficient income to meet basic food needs. In addition, Dar Abu Abdullah (DAA) and TUA announced a strategic partnership[16] for a parallel jobs creation program to help TUA beneficiaries become more self-sufficient.[17]
Princess Haya chaired Dubai'sInternational Humanitarian City, which is the world's largest operational center for the delivery of aid, both in emergencies and for long-term development. Ten UN agencies and nearly 40 non-government organizations are members of the IHC which has supported relief efforts all over the globe, including for Syrian refugees affected by civil war, for East Africans during the last drought,[which?] in Pakistan during the 2009 floods, and to Afghanistan and Yemen. The IHC has also hosted UN and NGO staff evacuated during emergencies and civil unrest.
She was an ambassador for theWorld Food Programme from 2005 to 2007,[18] and then appointed a UN Messenger of Peace in July 2007 by Secretary-general Ban Ki-moon. She was a founding member of former secretary-general Kofi Annan'sGlobal Humanitarian Forum based in Geneva, and writes editorials and articles on hunger, nutrition and the UN Sustainable Development Goals which have appeared in the LondonTimes,Le Figaro, theGlobe and Mail, andLa Repubblica. In August 2012, she supported the 2012 United Nations' World Humanitarian Day in Dubai.[19] Under her patronage, Dubai twice hosted the Global Meeting of the World Food Programme and is increasingly a center for United Nations and regional meetings on development and humanitarian aid.
Relief and charitable programmes in Jordan also benefitted from the support of the princess'sconsort, Sheikh Mohammed, specifically the King Hussein Cancer Foundation, the Haya Cultural Centre and the "Reading Nation" campaign.[20]
Princess Haya has followed in her father's footsteps in giving her support to the charitable foundation "Anything is possible", set up in the name of King Hussein to advance education for girls, including the project "The Maiden Factor", established by sailorTracy Edwards with the relaunch of her yachtMaiden in 2018.[21][non-primary source needed][22]
She is a member of the Honorary Board of theInternational Paralympic Committee.[23]
On 10 April 2004, Princess Haya marriedSheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the vice president and prime minister of theUAE and Ruler ofDubai, as his second and junior wife. The marriage ceremony was held at al-Baraka Palace inAmman.[24][25]
On 2 December 2007 in Dubai, Princess Haya gave birth to her first child, Sheikha Al Jalila bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.[26] The baby's birth coincided with theUnited Arab Emirates' 36th celebration of itsNational Day, on 2 December.[27] On 7 January 2012, she gave birth to her second child, Sheikh Zayed bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.[28]
She resides in a home inKensington Palace Gardens. As an envoy of theEmbassy of Jordan, she is able to remain in the UK and is granted diplomatic immunity and protection under theVienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.[29]
On 7 February 2019, Sheikh Mohammed divorced Princess Haya underSharia law, though she was not informed at the time. The date was the twentieth anniversary of the death of her father, King Hussein of Jordan.[30] By early 2019, Princess Haya had become suspicious of the transportation of two of her stepdaughters, SheikhaShamsa and SheikhaLatifa, back to the United Arab Emirates,[31]
On 15 April 2019, Princess Haya left Dubai with her children Sheikha Jalila and Sheikh Zayed to reside in the United Kingdom. The topic attracted immense media coverage all over the world.[32] She was reported to have applied for asylum in Germany, and the British newspaperThe Times reported that she had been escorted by a German diplomat to Germany.The Times reported that Sheikh Mohammed allegedly posted a poem onInstagram, in Arabic and English, accusing his wife of treachery and betrayal and also threatening her.[32][33][34][35][36]
On 14 May 2019, Sheikh Mohammed commenced proceedings in England and Wales under the inherent jurisdiction of theHigh Court of Justice seeking orders for the children to be returned to the Emirate of Dubai.[37][38][39] On 30 July 2019 at the High Court, Princess Haya issued applications for the children to be made Wards of Court, and for aforced marriage protection order (FMPO) with respect to Sheikha Jalila, and for anon-molestation order for her own protection.[40][39] All of the orders were granted.
On 11 December 2019, in the High Court of Justice Family Division, Royal Courts of Justice, London, the Rt Hon SirAndrew McFarlane,President of the Family Division, said he would "evaluate the risk of either or both of the children being removed from their mother's care and taken to Dubai against her will".[39]
On 5 March 2020, the High Court found,on the balance of probabilities, that Sheikh Mohammed had orchestrated the abductions of two of his other children.[41] The judge accepted the allegations that in 2000 Mohammed ordered the unlawful abduction of his daughter SheikhaShamsa from the United Kingdom to Dubai.[31] On two occasions, in 2002 and 2018, Mohammed ordered and orchestrated the forcible return of his daughter SheikhaLatifa to the family home in Dubai. In 2002, the return was from the border of Dubai with Oman, and in 2018 it was by an armed commando assault at sea near the coast of India.[31] Sheikha Shamsa and Sheikha Latifa were, following their return to the custody of their father's family, allegedly deprived of their liberty. The judge also found allegations of physical abuse amounting to torture, previously made by Sheikha Latifa in a video, to be credible.[31]
The High Court also accepted that Sheikh Mohammed had conducted a campaign, by various means, with the aim of harassing, intimidating or otherwise putting Princess Haya in great fear from the end of 2018.[31] Princess Haya was subjected to intimidation and abuse, including having a gun placed on her pillow twice and threats to be taken to a remote prison.[31]
Early in the court proceedings, Sir Andrew McFarlane described the sheikh as "a man of international prominence whose position and international standing justify a high level of respect". In March, writers forThe Guardian reflected upon that contextualisation, commenting: "After McFarlane's explosive conclusions, it is unclear whether his flattering description still holds."[42]
On 6 October 2021, the High Court found that agents of Sheikh Mohammed used thePegasus spyware tohack the phones of Princess Haya, her solicitors including BaronessFiona Shackleton,[43] a personal assistant and two members of her security team in the summer of 2020 "with the express or implied authority" of the sheikh. The spyware's developer,NSO Group, itself had contacted an intermediary in August 2020 to inform Princess Haya of the hacking, of which Sheikh Mohammed denied knowledge. The judgment referred to the hacking as "serial breaches of (UK) domestic criminal law", "in violation of fundamental common law andECHR rights", "interference with the process of this court and the mother's access to justice" and "abuse of power" by a head of state. It was also revealed that Sheikh Mohammed attempted to purchase a property near to Princess Haya's home, that "if anyone chose to use it, it is in prime position for direct or electronic surveillance". Princess Haya told the court: "It feels as if I am being stalked, that there is literally nowhere for me to go to be safe from [Sheikh Mohammed], or those acting in his interests. It is hugely oppressive."[44]
On 21 December 2021, Princess Haya was granted full custody of her children. The High Court ordered Sheikh Mohammed to pay a lump sum settlement of £251.5 million to Princess Haya in addition to £5.6 million-a-year for each of their two children and an upfront payment of £290 million as guarantee.[45] The sheikh also removed an online poem, titled "You lived, You Died", which had been perceived as a threat by Princess Haya.[45] In March 2022, the High Court declared that Princess Haya had been a victim of "domestic abuse", and she was announced as the sole person in charge of the children's schooling and medical care.[46] Sir Andrew McFarlane said Sheikh Mohammed "consistently displayed coercive and controlling behaviour" against family members who went against his will.[47]
Jordan: Grand Cordon with Brilliants of theSupreme Order of the Renaissance, Jordan, 30 January 2006.
France: Officer of theLegion of Honour, France, 26 September 2014.[48]
Generations are numbered by descent fromAbdullah I. | ||
| 1st generation | | |
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| 3rd generation |
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| 4th generation | ||
| 5th generation | ||
1Princess of Jordan by marriage 2Former queen consort given the title of princess upon divorce 3Princess of Jordan by birth and marriage | ||
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