Dubai ruler and UAE Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum has been ordered by a U.K. court to pay his ex-wife, Jordan’s Princess Haya bint al-Hussein, $734 million in a divorce settlement.
This divorce settlement is one of the largest ever handed down by a British court and will be used to support Haya and the couple’s two children – Jalila, 14, and Zayed, 9.
As part of the settlement, which was made public on Tuesday, Justice Philip Moor ruled that Mohammed must pay Haya $333 million in the next three months, in addition to funds set aside for an education fund for the children.
Additionally, Judge Moor said that the biggest threat facing Haya and her children is from “[Mohammed] himself, not from outside sources.” He added that they needed “water-tight security.”
The ruling also sets aside $14.5 million a year to cover security costs.
Payments of more than $7 million each year, which are secured by a guarantee of more than $384 million, will be made to both children.
The Dubai ruler has also been ordered to pay his ex-wife $18 million for jewelry and $1.3 million for haute couture clothing that is missing from their home in the emirate, as well as $1.3 million for cars and $6.6 million for race horses. The costs of maintaining two multimillion dollar properties in the U.K. will also be covered.
The ruling also includes a provision for a budget to be set aside for holidays, as well as accommodations for a nurse and nanny, secure armored vehicles and the maintenance costs of maintaining ponies and other household pets.
The court’s ruling also detailed the alleged abduction of Mohammed’s two daughters – Princess Latifa and Princess Shamsa – and described the intimidation campaign launched by the Dubai ruler against his ex-wife.
Evidence shown to the court indicated that Mohammed threatened to remove their son Zayed from Haya’s care, and that she was told she would not see him again. He also allegedly told her that both children “do not need their mother any more.”
The court also found that the 74-year-old Dubai ruler had not been “open and honest with the court and that Haya had been placed in a position of great fear.”
It found that Mohammed had deliberately used his connections with the press to generate hostile coverage aimed at tarnishing her reputation and public standing. He had previously published poems considered by Haya to be threatening, including one entitled “You lived; you died.”
The court also heard evidence that Haya had paid four members of her security team nearly $8.8 million to keep them silent about her affair with Russell Flowers, a British bodyguard.
Details of the affair were heard in court earlier in the case, including allegations from the princess that she had received a threatening phone call from Mohammed about it at the time which left her feeling “terrified.”
Court documents detailed that Mohammed had divorced Haya via a “Talaq” – a legal term in Sharia law which means that a marriage is “repudiated” – on Feb. 7, 2019, without her knowledge at the time.
Mohammed was also found by a U.K. judge to have hacked Haya’s phone as well as those of her legal team after she fled to London amid a divorce and custody dispute.
The government of Dubai’s Media Office and the UAE Embassy in Washington D.C. did not respond to The Hill’s request for comment.
Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
