Sheikh your money, honey
Dubai princess wins record $1bn divorce payout
LONDON: The multi-billionaire ruler of Dubai has been ordered by a British court to pay his youngest wife and their two children a record $A1bn divorce settlement.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, 72, was found to pose a serious security risk to his former wife Princess Haya bint al-Hussein, 47, the sister of the King of Jordan.
The princess fled to London in fear for her life in 2019 with their two children – Jalila, now 14, and Zayed, 9 – after her husband discovered that she was having an affair with her male bodyguard.
The settlement includes a lump sum payment of $466m, a bank guarantee of $540m and education and security costs. Legal bills in the case have surpassed $260m. The princess, who was the youngest of the sheikh’s six wives, did not want a share of her husband’s enormous wealth for herself but sought $2.6bn maintenance for their two children, their security costs and compensation for assets he had seized.
Princess Haya, who is now a senior diplomat at the Jordanian embassy in London, told the family division of the High Court that she was being “hunted and harassed” by her former husband and that the risk from Dubai would continue even after he dies.
The sheikh said he had no intention of harming Princess
Haya, despite the High Court having ruled that he had abducted two of his adult daughters – the princesses Latifa and Shamsa – because they tried to escape his control.
The court also ruled that the sheikh was responsible for hacking the phones of Princess Haya and her lawyers.
High Court judge Sir Phillip Moore, in his ruling, has allocated $20m a year for the security of Princess Haya and her children.
He ordered that the sheikh provide $540m bank guarantee and a backdated $19m to provide lifetime security for the princess and the children until they have completed their education.
The judge told the sheikh to pay the $466m lump sum for child maintenance and to compensate for the loss of jewellery, haute couture clothing and horses, plus $5.6m for the children’s private education.
A spokesman for the sheikh said: “He has always ensured that his children are provided for. The court has now made its ruling on finances and he does not intend to comment further.” The couple were married in 2004 and the sheikh had given the princess $19m a year and their children a total of $38m. He divorced her under sharia law without her knowledge in February 2019. Princess Haya has said she feels “hunted” and lives in fear of her ex-husband trying to kidnap her children.