British diplomat acted ‘on behalf of Dubai ruler’

A SENIOR British diplomat intervened on behalf of the ruler of Dubai just months after his exwife Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein fled to London in fear for her life, the High Court heard.

Edward Oakden – the British ambassador to Jordan since 2015 – approached Princess Haya’s brother, Prince Ali of Jordan, last July, “threatening, in effect, to render Her Royal Highness persona non grata”, the princess’s lawyers claimed at a private hearing last year.

Princess Haya’s barrister Charles Geekie QC described Mr Oakden’s alleged approach as an “extraordinary intervention”, adding that it “can only, we say, have come about as a result of pressure from Dubai”.

The allegation was made in November during Princess Haya’s legal battle with the vice-president and prime minister of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum,

70, over their two children, Al Jalila, 12, and Zayed, eight.

It can be reported for the first time after the Supreme Court this week rejected a last-ditch attempt by the sheikh to prevent publication of damning High Court judgments ordered by the most senior family judge in England and Wales.

Sir Andrew McFarlane found

Lawyers for Princess Haya on Ambassador Edward Oakden’s intervention.

Sheikh Mohammed conducted a “campaign of fear and intimidation” against Princess Haya, forcing her to flee to London with their two children last April.

The judge also found Sheikh Mohammed “ordered and orchestrated” the kidnap and forcible detention of two of his adult daughters from another marriage almost two decades apart.

Sheikha Shamsa, then 19, was abducted in Cambridge in August 2000, while her sister Sheikha Latifa was forcibly returned to Dubai twice, in 2002 and again in 2018.

In his ruling, Sir Andrew stated Princess Haya had initially contested the High Court’s jurisdiction in relation to Sheikh Mohammed’s application for the summary return of their two children to Dubai.

But he said that on July 16 2019, Princess Haya “abandoned her claim to diplomatic immunity... in part, she asserts, as a result of extreme pressure...by the father (Sheikh Mohammed)”.

It can now be reported that Mr Oakden allegedly approached Princess Haya’s brother less than two weeks prior to her abandoning her claim to diplomatic immunity. In November, Mr Geekie said Mr Oakden had told Prince Ali in early July: “Either your sister’s diplomatic immunity is withdrawn for the purposes of this case... or we request the Jordanian government withdraw her as a diplomat.”

Threatened to render Her Royal Highness persona non grata.