UK court orders Sheikh Mohammed to pay $734 million divorce settlement to Princess Haya, who fled in 2019 after he was accused of imprisoning his daughter

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UK court orders Sheikh Mohammed to pay $734 million divorce settlement to Princess Haya, who fled in 2019 after he was accused of imprisoning his daughter
Princess Haya and Sheikh Mohammed are seen attending the 2017 Epsom Derby.Mark Cuthbert/UK Press via Getty Images
  • A UK court awarded Princess Haya $734 million Sunday in her divorce from Sheikh Mohammed.
  • Haya fled to the UK in 2019 after learning Mohammed was accused of imprisoning one of his daughters.
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Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum must pay a £554 million ($734 million) settlement to his ex-wife Princess Haya, a UK judge ruled.

Haya and Mohammed, the emir of Dubai, separated in 2019 after he learned she was having an affair with Russell Flowers, her British bodyguard, the court heard during proceedings.

She fled to the UK that year with the two children, now 14 and 9, she shared with Mohammed after learning he was accused of imprisoning one of his other children, Princess Latifa, because she tried to escape.

After Haya left, Mohammed published a poem titled "Affection in Your Eyes" in which he wrote, "We have an ailment that no medicine can cure."

As part of the settlement, Justice Philip Moor ruled that Mohammed must pay Haya £251 million within three months and that he must set up an education fund worth £3 million for the children.

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Moor said Mohammed must pay £13.6 million for Haya's jewelry, £1 million for haute-couture clothing, £1 million for cars, and £5 million for racehorses.

The ruling by Moor also laid bare the extent of the couple's wealth and said Haya tried to bribe her security staff to keep her affair secret from her husband.

The judgment said that in her attempt to stop her husband finding out about Flowers, Haya paid bribes to "blackmailers" in her security staff who threatened to leak the affair to her husband.

To fund the payments, Haya took $9.3 million from the bank accounts of one of her children, the judgment said.

"I was scared, and that was the money available in that account," she previously told the court.

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The security staffers who the judgment said received the payoffs were identified as Mr. A, Mr. B, and Mr. C.

The judgment said Mr. A received $3.3 million, while Mr. B and Mr. C shared $5.9 million.

"These individuals had blackmailed HRH over an affair she had with one of these four people," the judge wrote. "Nobody should be blackmailed and HRH must have been very frightened at this point."

The judgment also shed light on the vast wealth that both parties had access to. It said:

  • While married, Haya and Mohammed spent £2 million on strawberries in one summer.
  • Their two children had an allowance of £10 million each per year.
  • While married, Haya was given an £83 million annual allowance.
  • In court proceedings, Haya asked the court to help her retrieve €74 million ($83 million) worth of clothing and £20 million worth of jewelry that Mohammed had in his possession.
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