Princess Haya bint Hussein (Arabic: الأميرة هيا بنت الحسين; born 3 May 1974), commonly known as Princess Haya of Jordan, is the daughter of King Hussein of Jordan and his third wife Queen Alia, and the half-sister of King Abdullah II.
She is a graduate of Oxford University in England and an accomplished equestrian. She represented Jordan at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia and is the two-term President of the International Federation for Equestrian Sports (FEI). In addition, she engages in a variety of charitable activities.
In 2004, Haya became the sixth wife of the ruler of the Emirate of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. The Sheikh’s first wife, Hind bint Maktoum bin Juma Al Maktoum, remained first lady of Dubai. In June 2019, Haya left her husband in Dubai with her two children and is currently residing in her mansion in the United Kingdom, while conducting legal proceedings over custody of her children.[1]
She was born in Amman, the capital of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the daughter of King Hussein and his third wife, Queen Alia. She has a younger brother, Prince Ali bin Hussein born on 23 December 1975, and older sister, Abir Muhaisen (born 1973), the latter of whom was adopted by Haya's parents after her biological mother was killed by a plane crash at their Palestinian refugee camp in Amman. In 1977, when Haya was 3 years old, her mother died in a helicopter crash. Her father died from complications related to non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 1999, leaving the crown to her half-brother, King Abdullah II.
She was educated in the United Kingdom, where in 1985, she attended the Badminton School near Bristol, and later the Bryanston School in Dorset. From 1993 to 1995, she was enrolled at St Hilda's College, Oxford University, from which she graduated with a BA honours degree in philosophy, politics, and economics (PPE).[2][3][4]
Sports career
Princess Haya began horse riding internationally when she was 13.[5] In 1992, she took the bronze medal in individual Jumping at the seventh Pan Arab Games in Damascus, Syria, and in 1993 was named Jordan’s athlete of the year.[5] Princess Haya was the first woman to represent her native Jordan in international equestrian sport and the only woman to win a medal in the Pan-Arab Equestrian Games.[6] Having trained for several years in Ireland and Germany,[5] she qualified for the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia representing Jordan in show jumping, where she was also her country’s flag bearer.[7]
In 2007, Princess Haya became a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and in 2010 became an appointee to the IOC's International Relations Committee, and has also served on the IOC Athletes’ and Culture and Olympic Education Commissions.[5]
On 7 June 2008, New Approach, a three-year-old colt owned by Princess Haya, trained in Ireland by Jim Bolger and ridden by Kevin Manning, won the Derby Stakes. On 25 October 2008, her three-year-old colt, Raven's Pass, won the $5 million Breeders' Cup Classic. After being named the European champion 2-year-old in 2007 and winning the 2008 Epsom Derby, New Approach was retired at the end of the 2008 racing season.[8] In 2009, due to her contribution to the equine world, she was made the first Patron of Retraining of Racehorses.[9]
Princess Haya serves as president of the International Jordanian Athletes Cultural Association, which she founded to provide athletes with needed national incentive and support.[5]
International Federation for Equestrian Sports (FEI)
Princess Haya participated in the 2002 FEI World Equestrian Games at Jerez de la Frontera in Spain,[7] and represented Jordan at the FEI General Assembly on several occasions.[5] She was elected president of the International Federation for Equestrian Sports (FEI) in 2006 for an initial four-year term in the FEI's first contested presidential race.[10] In 2010, she became the first sitting FEI president to be challenged in a re-election bid.[10] She succeeded, however, in winning a second and final four-year term, receiving 75 percent of the vote to soundly defeat her two European rivals.[11] Nonetheless, during the FEI's campaign to eliminate doping and horse abuse in equestrian sport, Princess Haya's husband and stepson were both convicted by the FEI in 2009 for serious doping violations. Princess Haya ceded presidential powers to a senior colleague for the FEI disciplinary processes on the matter. She later complained that the issue would be used to "injure and damage the reputations of myself and my family."[12]
Princess Haya frequently appeared, along with her husband, at Royal Ascot, the Epsom Derby and other highlights of the English equestrian calendar; both are reported to be friendly with Queen Elizabeth II.[13]
Charity
Princess Haya is the first Arab and first woman to become Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations World Food Programme and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon appointed her a UN Messenger of Peace in 2007.[14]
She founded Tkiyet Um Ali (TUA), the first Arab NGO dedicated to overcoming local hunger, in her native Jordan, which provides food assistance and employment opportunities to thousands of poor families. In November 2012, Tkiyet Um Ali announced a campaign to quadruple the number of its beneficiaries to reach 20,000 families living under the food poverty line, aiming to meet the UN Millennium Development Goals on hunger by 2015. Tkiyet Um Ali (TUA) is intended to expand to reach all Jordanian families with insufficient income to meet basic food needs. In addition, Dar Abu Abdullah (DAA) and TUA announced a strategic partnership[15] for a parallel jobs creation program to help TUA beneficiaries become more self-sufficient.[16]
Princess Haya chairs Dubai's International Humanitarian City which is the world's largest operational center for the delivery of aid, both in emergencies and for long-term development. Ten UN agencies and nearly 40 non-government organizations are members of the IHC which has supported relief efforts all over the globe, including for Syrian refugees affected by civil war, for East Africans during the last drought[which?], in Pakistan during the 2009 floods, and to Afghanistan and Yemen. The IHC has also hosted UN and NGO staff evacuated during emergencies and civil unrest.
She was an ambassador for the World Food Programme 2005-2007,[17] and then appointed a UN Messenger of Peace in July 2007 by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. She was a founding member of former Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Global Humanitarian Forum based in Geneva, and writes editorials and articles on hunger, nutrition and the UN Sustainable Development Goals which have appeared in the London Times, Le Figaro, the Globe and Mail, and La Repubblica. In August 2012, she supported the 2012 United Nations' World Humanitarian Day in Dubai.[18] Under Her patronage, Dubai has twice hosted the Global Meeting of the World Food Programme and is increasingly a center for United Nations and regional meetings on development and humanitarian aid.
Relief and charitable programmes in Jordan have also benefitted from the support of the princess's consort, Sheikh Mohammed, specifically the King Hussein Cancer Foundation, the Haya Cultural Centre and the 'Reading Nation' campaign
Princess Haya has followed in her father's footsteps in giving her support to the charitable foundation "Anything is possible", set up in the name of King Hussein to advance education for girls, including the project "The Maiden Factor", established by sailor Tracy Edwards with the relaunch of her yacht Maiden in 2018.[20][non-primary source needed]
She is a member of the Honorary Board of the International Paralympic Committee.[21]
Personal life
On 10 April 2004, Princess Haya wed Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. The marriage ceremony was held at al-Baraka Palace in Amman.[22][23]
On 2 December 2007 in Dubai, Princess Haya gave birth to her first child, Sheikha Jalila bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.[24] The baby's birth coincided with the United Arab Emirates' 36th celebration of its National Day, on 2 December.[25] On 7 January 2012, she gave birth to her second child, Sheikh Zayed bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.[26]
On 7 February 2019 her husband divorced her under Sharia law, though she was not informed at the time. The date was the twentieth anniversary of the death of her father, King Hussein of Jordan.[27]
On 30 June 2019, she left Dubai with their children Jalila and Zayed and with £31 million, claiming to be in fear for her life.[28] She was reported to have applied for asylum in Germany, and the British newspaper The Times reported that she had been escorted by a German diplomat to Germany. The Times reported that Sheikh Al Maktoum allegedly posted a poem on Instagram, in Arabic and English, accusing his wife of treachery and betrayal.[28][29] The Times also stated that she was now living with her two children in a mansion near Kensington Palace had sought asylum in the United Kingdom, and was asking for a divorce and preparing for a legal battle in the High Court of Justice.[30][31][32][33]
On 5 July 2019, Princess Haya was sued in the High Court of Justice by her husband, petitioning for custody of their children.[34][35] On 30 July 2019 at the High Court, she filed for the sole custody of their two children, for a forced marriage protection order (FMPO) and a non-molestation order.[36] The next court proceedings and initial deliberations were scheduled on 11 November 2019.[37][needs update]
Honors and awards
Grand Cordon with Brilliants of the Order of the Renaissance (Jordan, 2006)
Officer of the Legion of Honour, France, 26 September 2014[38]
2015 Hunger Hero Award, United Nations World Food Programme, Davos, Switzerland, 22 January 2015
She is a graduate of Oxford University in England and an accomplished equestrian. She represented Jordan at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia and is the two-term President of the International Federation for Equestrian Sports (FEI). In addition, she engages in a variety of charitable activities.
In 2004, Haya became the sixth wife of the ruler of the Emirate of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. The Sheikh’s first wife, Hind bint Maktoum bin Juma Al Maktoum, remained first lady of Dubai. In June 2019, Haya left her husband in Dubai with her two children and is currently residing in her mansion in the United Kingdom, while conducting legal proceedings over custody of her children.[1]
She was born in Amman, the capital of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the daughter of King Hussein and his third wife, Queen Alia. She has a younger brother, Prince Ali bin Hussein born on 23 December 1975, and older sister, Abir Muhaisen (born 1973), the latter of whom was adopted by Haya's parents after her biological mother was killed by a plane crash at their Palestinian refugee camp in Amman. In 1977, when Haya was 3 years old, her mother died in a helicopter crash. Her father died from complications related to non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 1999, leaving the crown to her half-brother, King Abdullah II.
She was educated in the United Kingdom, where in 1985, she attended the Badminton School near Bristol, and later the Bryanston School in Dorset. From 1993 to 1995, she was enrolled at St Hilda's College, Oxford University, from which she graduated with a BA honours degree in philosophy, politics, and economics (PPE).[2][3][4]
Sports career
Princess Haya began horse riding internationally when she was 13.[5] In 1992, she took the bronze medal in individual Jumping at the seventh Pan Arab Games in Damascus, Syria, and in 1993 was named Jordan’s athlete of the year.[5] Princess Haya was the first woman to represent her native Jordan in international equestrian sport and the only woman to win a medal in the Pan-Arab Equestrian Games.[6] Having trained for several years in Ireland and Germany,[5] she qualified for the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia representing Jordan in show jumping, where she was also her country’s flag bearer.[7]
In 2007, Princess Haya became a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and in 2010 became an appointee to the IOC's International Relations Committee, and has also served on the IOC Athletes’ and Culture and Olympic Education Commissions.[5]
On 7 June 2008, New Approach, a three-year-old colt owned by Princess Haya, trained in Ireland by Jim Bolger and ridden by Kevin Manning, won the Derby Stakes. On 25 October 2008, her three-year-old colt, Raven's Pass, won the $5 million Breeders' Cup Classic. After being named the European champion 2-year-old in 2007 and winning the 2008 Epsom Derby, New Approach was retired at the end of the 2008 racing season.[8] In 2009, due to her contribution to the equine world, she was made the first Patron of Retraining of Racehorses.[9]
Princess Haya serves as president of the International Jordanian Athletes Cultural Association, which she founded to provide athletes with needed national incentive and support.[5]
International Federation for Equestrian Sports (FEI)
Princess Haya participated in the 2002 FEI World Equestrian Games at Jerez de la Frontera in Spain,[7] and represented Jordan at the FEI General Assembly on several occasions.[5] She was elected president of the International Federation for Equestrian Sports (FEI) in 2006 for an initial four-year term in the FEI's first contested presidential race.[10] In 2010, she became the first sitting FEI president to be challenged in a re-election bid.[10] She succeeded, however, in winning a second and final four-year term, receiving 75 percent of the vote to soundly defeat her two European rivals.[11] Nonetheless, during the FEI's campaign to eliminate doping and horse abuse in equestrian sport, Princess Haya's husband and stepson were both convicted by the FEI in 2009 for serious doping violations. Princess Haya ceded presidential powers to a senior colleague for the FEI disciplinary processes on the matter. She later complained that the issue would be used to "injure and damage the reputations of myself and my family."[12]
Princess Haya frequently appeared, along with her husband, at Royal Ascot, the Epsom Derby and other highlights of the English equestrian calendar; both are reported to be friendly with Queen Elizabeth II.[13]
Charity
Princess Haya is the first Arab and first woman to become Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations World Food Programme and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon appointed her a UN Messenger of Peace in 2007.[14]
She founded Tkiyet Um Ali (TUA), the first Arab NGO dedicated to overcoming local hunger, in her native Jordan, which provides food assistance and employment opportunities to thousands of poor families. In November 2012, Tkiyet Um Ali announced a campaign to quadruple the number of its beneficiaries to reach 20,000 families living under the food poverty line, aiming to meet the UN Millennium Development Goals on hunger by 2015. Tkiyet Um Ali (TUA) is intended to expand to reach all Jordanian families with insufficient income to meet basic food needs. In addition, Dar Abu Abdullah (DAA) and TUA announced a strategic partnership[15] for a parallel jobs creation program to help TUA beneficiaries become more self-sufficient.[16]
Princess Haya chairs Dubai's International Humanitarian City which is the world's largest operational center for the delivery of aid, both in emergencies and for long-term development. Ten UN agencies and nearly 40 non-government organizations are members of the IHC which has supported relief efforts all over the globe, including for Syrian refugees affected by civil war, for East Africans during the last drought[which?], in Pakistan during the 2009 floods, and to Afghanistan and Yemen. The IHC has also hosted UN and NGO staff evacuated during emergencies and civil unrest.
She was an ambassador for the World Food Programme 2005-2007,[17] and then appointed a UN Messenger of Peace in July 2007 by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. She was a founding member of former Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Global Humanitarian Forum based in Geneva, and writes editorials and articles on hunger, nutrition and the UN Sustainable Development Goals which have appeared in the London Times, Le Figaro, the Globe and Mail, and La Repubblica. In August 2012, she supported the 2012 United Nations' World Humanitarian Day in Dubai.[18] Under Her patronage, Dubai has twice hosted the Global Meeting of the World Food Programme and is increasingly a center for United Nations and regional meetings on development and humanitarian aid.
Relief and charitable programmes in Jordan have also benefitted from the support of the princess's consort, Sheikh Mohammed, specifically the King Hussein Cancer Foundation, the Haya Cultural Centre and the 'Reading Nation' campaign
Princess Haya has followed in her father's footsteps in giving her support to the charitable foundation "Anything is possible", set up in the name of King Hussein to advance education for girls, including the project "The Maiden Factor", established by sailor Tracy Edwards with the relaunch of her yacht Maiden in 2018.[20][non-primary source needed]
She is a member of the Honorary Board of the International Paralympic Committee.[21]
Personal life
On 10 April 2004, Princess Haya wed Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. The marriage ceremony was held at al-Baraka Palace in Amman.[22][23]
On 2 December 2007 in Dubai, Princess Haya gave birth to her first child, Sheikha Jalila bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.[24] The baby's birth coincided with the United Arab Emirates' 36th celebration of its National Day, on 2 December.[25] On 7 January 2012, she gave birth to her second child, Sheikh Zayed bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.[26]
On 7 February 2019 her husband divorced her under Sharia law, though she was not informed at the time. The date was the twentieth anniversary of the death of her father, King Hussein of Jordan.[27]
On 30 June 2019, she left Dubai with their children Jalila and Zayed and with £31 million, claiming to be in fear for her life.[28] She was reported to have applied for asylum in Germany, and the British newspaper The Times reported that she had been escorted by a German diplomat to Germany. The Times reported that Sheikh Al Maktoum allegedly posted a poem on Instagram, in Arabic and English, accusing his wife of treachery and betrayal.[28][29] The Times also stated that she was now living with her two children in a mansion near Kensington Palace had sought asylum in the United Kingdom, and was asking for a divorce and preparing for a legal battle in the High Court of Justice.[30][31][32][33]
On 5 July 2019, Princess Haya was sued in the High Court of Justice by her husband, petitioning for custody of their children.[34][35] On 30 July 2019 at the High Court, she filed for the sole custody of their two children, for a forced marriage protection order (FMPO) and a non-molestation order.[36] The next court proceedings and initial deliberations were scheduled on 11 November 2019.[37][needs update]
Honors and awards
Grand Cordon with Brilliants of the Order of the Renaissance (Jordan, 2006)
Officer of the Legion of Honour, France, 26 September 2014[38]
2015 Hunger Hero Award, United Nations World Food Programme, Davos, Switzerland, 22 January 2015
