A London court awarded the ex-wife of Dubai’s ruler a divorce settlement of more than 550 million pounds (equivalent to more than $728 million), in a rare case that pulled back the curtain on the luxurious lifestyle of one of the world’s richest and most discreet families.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, 72 years old, the prime minister of the United Arab Emirates, divorced Princess Haya bint Al Hussein, 47, the daughter of Jordan’s late King Hussein, in 2019. Two months later, Princess Haya took their two young children to England and sued Sheikh Mohammed in the High Court in London.
She was awarded a lump sum of £251.5 million, to be paid within three months, and annual payments including for the maintenance of an £87.5 million estate near Kensington Palace in West London and about £277,000 for show horses.
The court also ordered Sheikh Mohammed to fund budgets for their two children, ages 9 and 14, including for education and security. The judge said he determined the children faced the greatest security threat from their father, besides the threats of terrorism and kidnapping given their status.
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The court found reasonable evidence that Sheikh Mohammed was “the probable originator” of the hacking during the proceedings of phones belonging to Princess Haya, members of her staff and at least two of her lawyers, Nicholas Manners and Baroness Shackleton of Belgravia, a sitting member of the House of Lords. The court previously found that Sheikh Mohammed had ordered and orchestrated the abduction of two of his other children, forced them to return to Dubai and detained them there.
The Dubai Media Office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
The judge awarded the princess roughly £13.7 million in compensation for lost jewellery and £1 million for haute couture. The judge also ruled that Sheikh Mohammed should make a roughly £5.3 million payment on the princess’ home near Kensington Palace now, instead of in 2026, and that he should pay about £1.9 million for a kitchen extension, pizza oven and kitchen curtains in the princess’ home.
“I remind myself that money was no object during the marriage,” the judge wrote in the ruling, adding that the cost to renovate the London home “was many times that when the property was not nearly as central to the children’s lives as it is today.”
Write to Allison Prang at [email protected] and Stephen Kalin at [email protected]
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Kwa mtu ya level yake he exhibited signs of oneitis,hizi ni mambo gani za kukimbizana na bibi na kukidnap and lock up your own kids in the middle of an ocean. Hizi scandal zimemuharibia jina sana that’s what the west use against you and he knows he needs them.
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[I]Imagine if the super-rich in the world chose to distribute their wealth differently …. The “modest” 1million for clothes alone could have such an impact on those who have literally nothing in this world. I don’t doubt she is frightened, and with good reason. But money like this is obscene when you think of the millions of people in the world who don’t have food, clothing, or shelter …
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I grew up in the UAE, so it’s funny how basically none of the media or newspapers there are covering this story but literally cover everything else.
Not to mention the affairs the wife was having behind his back. Can’t have the ruler look like a fool!