An English court has ordered ruler of Dubai to pay his ex-wife, a staggering sum of $728 million in one the largest divorce settlements in the country.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum was told he must pay Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein, a half-sister of Jordan’s King Abdullah II, a lump sum of £251.5 million and provide a bank guarantee of £290 million to cover the children’s maintenance and security as adults.
The total amount the children receive could be more or less than 290 million pounds, depending on factors including how long they live and whether they reconcile with their father.
The settlement includes 11 million pounds a year to cover security costs for Princess Haya and the children while they are minors.
The 72-year-old ruler of the emirate of Dubai has been locked in a lengthy and bitter legal battle with his 47-year-old former wife, who lives in London with their two children, aged 13 and nine.
Judge Philip Moor said the massive settlement was partly to ensure security, due to the risk of the children’s abduction by their father, who is also vice-president and prime minister of the United Arab Emirates.
The family “need water-tight security”, the judge said, adding: “The main threat they face is from (Sheikh Mohammed) himself”.
Haya, 47, fled to the UK in 2019 and sought custody of her two children through the British courts. The princess, who is the daughter of the late King Hussein of Jordan, said she was terrified of her husband, who is alleged to have ordered the forced return to the Gulf emirate of two of his daughters.
Sheikh Mohammed, 72, is also the vice president and prime minister of the United Arab Emirates and a major horse breeder. The founder of the successful Godolphin horse-racing stable, he is on friendly terms with Queen Elizabeth II.
Haya, a graduate of Oxford University, is also a keen equestrian and competed in show jumping for Jordan at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
A separate British family court judge ruled in October that Sheikh Mohammed had authorised the hacking of Princess Haya’s phone during their legal battle.
McFarlane earlier ruled that Sheikh Mohammed had conducted a campaign of fear and intimidation against his estranged wife and ordered and orchestrated the abduction and forced return to Dubai of two of his adult daughters: Sheikha Shamsa in August 2000 and her sister Sheikha Latifa, in 2002 and again in 2018.
The divorce bill eclipses the 450 million pound settlement awarded Tatiana Akhmedova in her 2016 split from Russian billionaire Farkhad Akhmedov, at the time cited as Britain’s most expensive divorce.
Tuesday’s settlement includes a holiday budget of 5.1 million pounds, an annual sum of just over 450,000 pounds for the children’s staff and around 275,000 pounds for their animals, including two ponies and a horse.
It is possible, but rare, for financial divorce settlements to be appealed in England.