The eye-watering lifestyle that led to claim for £1.4bn

FROM racehorses to diamonds and haute couture clothes, lavish spending and gifts kept lawyers in the case arguing for weeks.

Princess Haya had asked the court for a total of £1.4billion to provide for her children and their security costs, and to compensate her for racehorses, cars and other valuables she said were owed to her.

She told the judge her £20million jewellery collection in Dubai would have filled his courtroom and that her wardrobe of designer clothing had cost £63million.

The former Olympic showjumper claimed that up to 400 racehorses from her ex-husband’s Godolphin stables had run in her name, including the 2008 Epsom Derby winner New Approach, which she said had been a gift from him to her after the birth of their first child.

Haya said he had given her £15million in prize money after the 2018 Dubai World Cup as a reward for help in hosting his guests, adding:

‘Incredibly generous’

‘It was an incredibly generous thing for Sheikh Mohammed to do.’

She said she was ‘spoiled with wonderful gifts’ during her 15-year marriage to one of the world’s richest men. But her life of opulence turned to terror when he discovered her affair with her bodyguard and the princess said she had left most of her possessions behind when she fled to Britain.

She told the court she had sold horses, jewellery, cars and gold to pay bills and had considered selling paintings, but had not wanted her children to see gaps on the walls and realise what had happened.

She did not ask the court for a share of her ex-husband’s wealth but sought maintenance payments for their children and for compensation of more than £19million for racehorses. She also wanted £52million for clothing and jewellery as compensation for items she had left behind.

Sheikh Mohammed’s lawyers attacked some figures as ‘absurd’ and said some jewellery and clothing had been returned to her.

They insisted all of the racehorses were owned by the sheikh’s Godolphin racing operation, which the court accepted. Before their 2019 divorce, Haya was given an £83million annual budget for household spending in Dubai and a £9million allowance, the court heard.

Their children received allowances of more than £18million a year and around 80 staff worked for Haya and the two youngsters. They also had access to a Boeing 747 and a £300million superyacht.