Dubai Ruler to pay over £550m for Divorce Settlement

Dubai’s ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum must pay around £550 million in divorce settlements to his ex-wife and their two children.

It is believed to be the largest award of its kind ordered by an English court.

The money will be awarded to Princess Haya bint al-Hussein, who is the half-sister of Jordan’s King Abdullah.

Judge Philip Moor said most of the money awarded is to protect against the “grave risk” posed by the sheikh himself.

Princess Haya originally fled the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for England in April 2019 with her two children, alleging she was “terrified” of her husband.

Later in 2019, it was ruled that Mohammed had carried out a campaign of threats and intimidation that made her feel unsafe.

He previously abducted and mistreated two of his daughters from another marriage.

Judge Moor concluded:

“She is not asking for an award for herself other than for security.”

He also asked Mohammed, who is also the UAE’s Vice President and Prime Minister, to compensate his ex-wife for the possessions she lost as a result of the marital breakdown.

Mohammed will make a one-off payment of £251.5 million within three months for the upkeep of Haya’s mansions in the UK.

This will cover the money she claimed was for jewellery and racehorses, as well as her future security costs.

Dubai’s ruler will also provide £3 million towards the education of their children Jalila and Zayed, as well as £9.6 million in arrears.

According to the settlement, Mohammed will also pay £11.2 million a year for the children’s maintenance and for their security when they become adults.

These payments will be guaranteed through a £290m security held by HSBC bank.

While the sum is around £550 million, it is still less than half of the £1.4 billion that Haya had originally wanted.

Judge Moor said he would not give “carte blanche” to Haya’s financial claims, but would instead consider her demands “with a very clear eye to the exceptional circumstances of this case, such as the truly opulent and unprecedented standard of living enjoyed by these parties in Dubai”.

He added: “I remind myself that money was no object during the marriage.”

During the testimony, Haya said a large one-off payment would help remove the sheikh’s hold over her and their children.

She told the court: “I really want to be free and I want them to be free.”

Earlier in 2021, it was determined that Mohammed had ordered the phones of Haya and her lawyers to be hacked using the ‘Pegasus’ state security software.

But the sheikh’s lawyer, Nigel Dyer, said that “the mother’s financial claims, and the size of the relief that’s being sought, are quite unprecedented”.