Princess Haya Wife Mohammed bin Rashid Al
Maktoum: champion for women's rights.
An Olympic horse rider and a trailblazer for
women's rights, Jordanian royal Princess Haya
has long championed causes close to her heart
including youth and education.
In a highly unusual move, the half-sister
of Jordan's King Abdullah II attended a London
court Tuesday where she is locked in a legal
battle with her husband the ruler of Dubai.
She applied for a UK forced marriage protection
order relating to their children as well as
requesting their wardship, in addition to
calling for a non-molestation order relating
to herself.
The court also heard that her husband Sheikh
Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, the prime
minister of the United Arab Emirates, has
applied to the High Court for the summary
return of the children to Dubai.
Haya was reportedly his sixth wife, and the
70-year-old prince is believed to have more
than 20 children.
Now aged 45, Haya, the daughter of the late
King Hussein of Jordan, married her husband
in 2004 and told AFP a year later that she
believed Emirati women were "an example of
a modern Muslim woman".
"In my work and in our family gatherings I
have closely been watching women in the Emirates,
and I am in great admiration of them... and
I never fail to be amazed at the way in which
they combine modernity with Arab and Muslim
traditions," she said.
"They are proof to me that an Arab woman can
be modern without feeling the need to be Westernised."
The princess was appointed a United Nations
messenger of peace in 2007, and was the first
Arab and first woman to serve as a Goodwill
Ambassador for the World Food Programme (2005-2007).
She has long championed women's rights, telling
Emirates Woman magazine in 2016 that: "Women
need to realise their strength."
"So many great women before us and among us
have suffered greatly to carve a place for
us in modern society that is today better
than yesterday and will be better yet tomorrow
if women are allowed to achieve their potential,"
she added.
- Passion for horses -
Speaking of her husband, she professed: "Every
day I am amazed by the things he does. Every
single day I thank God that I am lucky enough
to be close to him."
She told the magazine that she also enjoyed
falconry, shooting and fast cars.
But it was her passion for horses and equestrianism,
along with poetry, that united Princess Haya
with the Dubai prince.
She headed Jordan's equestrian team before
her marriage and remains a keen rider -- something
which she has in common with the British royal
family, with whom she is reportedly close
friends.
Haya became one of the first women athletes
to represent her country at an international
level, winning a bronze medal at the Pan-Arab
Equestrian Games in 1992.
"We share a great passion for horses and equestrian
affairs, and that was actually one of the
main issues we shared in common when we first
met," Haya told AFP in 2005.
"As time passed, we soon realised that we
also share a passion for poetry and writing
as well, for Muslim and Arab history and culture,
and for preserving and enhancing our traditions.
Much of both of our work is dedicated to this
end," she said.
Late last year, Haya also hit the headlines
when she invited former UN human rights chief
Mary Robinson to meet with Sheikh Mohammed's
daughter Latifa, who was captured at sea in
March 2018 after trying to flee the UAE.
In a video uploaded to YouTube in March 2018,
Latifa, who was then 32, said she was fleeing
mistreatment and restrictions imposed by her
father's family.
- Oxford graduate -
Issues relating to youth, as well as health
and education, are dear to Haya.
"My work in these sectors is another way to
ensure that I am in touch with people at the
grassroots level, and this is of utmost importance
to me," she said.
Her mother, Queen Alia, was killed in a helicopter
crash in February 1977 as she was returning
from a visit to a health centre in southern
Jordan.
In her mother's memory, Princess Haya set
up Tkiyet Um Ali in 2003, the first food aid
NGO in the Arab world.
Born and raised in Jordan, Haya was educated
in elite British private schools and graduated
from St Hilda's College at the University
of Oxford with a degree in politics, philosophy
and economics.
