Sheikh Muhammad's marriage to Princess Haya & her role in Dubai

[Royal Friend]

It's Royalty!

Has anyone ever given consideration that maybe she didn't have a choice in the matter?????? This is royalty and even today in many, many families, the bride and even the groom do not have much say. It's arranged by the parents or other family members to strengthen ties between factions, tribes, governments for political and/or dominence reasons.

The latest generation in some of the Western royal families are moving away from this but not all. Do you really think Charles wanted to marry Diana? How about the current Queen and her husband, Prince Philip (Greek royal family)? There are examples of marriages not being fixed, of course, but they tend not to be directly in the line of succession. And the Middle East still clings to tradition a bit more.....

 

[Little_star]

Has anyone ever given consideration that maybe she didn't have a choice in the matter?????? This is royalty and even today in many, many families, the bride and even the groom do not have much say. It's arranged by the parents or other family members to strengthen ties between factions, tribes, governments for political and/or dominence reasons.

The latest generation in some of the Western royal families are moving away from this but not all. Do you really think Charles wanted to marry Diana? How about the current Queen and her husband, Prince Philip (Greek royal family)? There are examples of marriages not being fixed, of course, but they tend not to be directly in the line of succession. And the Middle East still clings to tradition a bit more.....

True. I do remember at the time of the marriage, Time magazine speculated as much, although didn't say that outright.

 

[miss b]

the two dated at least a year prior to marriage. there are pics of them at horse sales. i don't know if it was arranged, but i get the feeling that this was two adults that had a say in the relationship. i think haya knew what she was getting into.

 

[dazzling]

the two dated at least a year prior to marriage. there are pics of them at horse sales. i don't know if it was arranged, but i get the feeling that this was two adults that had a say in the relationship. i think haya knew what she was getting into.

it wouldnt be an arranged marriage if they were dating. she is old enough to know what she was doing and where it was leading her to.

 

[Veram98]

In an interview with a German newspaper (published in April 2004; she is rather popular in Germany because she lived here for a while) she told the journalist that she met her future husband in 2001 at a horse event and was secretly engaged to him for three years before she asked her brother King Abdullah for permission to marry him. Only the day before her marriage she called the rest of the family to invite them. She asked her grandmother to provide for flowers and a cake. The dress for the marriage had been made for here by a small sewing works in Amman to keep it secret. The next day there was lunch in King Abdullah’s house. “That was it”.
She said that she is living with her husband like other couples, that she doesn’t think a lot about the fact that she is “the second wife”. “This is not an issue. Everybody can see that I am Sheikh Mohammed’s wife.” She concedes that before the marriage she took her time to think thoroughly about the step into a polygamous marriage. “The matter is not to possess somebody. I love this man, therefore I respect the fact that he had married somebody else before.” “What is better: to live like this or to divorce, to repudiate somebody, expel her from the family.”

http://www.wams.de/data/2006/04/16/874849.html

Sorry, my translation is far from being perfect.

Obviously the marriage was not an arranged one.

 

[sommone]

Ok...I don't understand what she means in the last sentence? Live like what? Expel her from whose family?

 

[miss b]

i think she is referring to hind. my understanding is that sheikha hind is very much in the picture. hind is not a cast off sort of wife. sheikh mo and she are very much still a couple. i love she said second wife. she is his third or fourth. obviously she was not important enough for mo to divorce hind or his other wife or wives.

 

[Veram98]

Ok...I don't understand what she means in the last sentence? Live like what? Expel her from whose family?

She wanted to say that it is better to live in a polygamous marriage than to banish one of the wifes - in this case Sheikha Hind - (or cast her out) from the family (of Sheikh Mohammed).

 

[miss b]

that is a pretty ballsy thing for her to say. from friends who have lived in dubai, sheikha hind is very much loved and respected. don't hear the same thing about haya. i don't think haya had anymore say whether hind went or stayed than i did. mo would have been an outcast if she booted hind.

 

[dazzling]

Sheikha Hind is a very respected women in Dubai, unlike Haya. She is not given any attention by the people, also to mention she mainly lives abroad its only when she has an event to attend shell be in Dubai. Also, she is trying very hard for people to accept her but no one is.

 

[Veram98]

The article mentions explicitely only two wives and calls her the sheikh’s "First Lady, but not the only wife on his side".

I can’t help thinking that she is the "modern First Lady of Dubai" for Westeners and Sheikha Hind is Mo’s most prominent wife for the Emiratis. If the other 1-2 are still his wives or divorced I do not know.

If Haya accepted this arrangement because she loved him so much or because she is now able to play a prominent role on the international scene is difficult to say.

 

[dazzling]

i love she said second wife. she is his third or fourth. obviously she was not important enough for mo to divorce hind or his other wife or wives.

Who would admit that they are a second, third or fourth wife? But to my understanding she is the fourth. Sheikh Mohammed would not leave Sheikha Hind. Their marriage was on the rocks some years back, he did anything he could to save it.

The article mentions explicitely only two wives and calls her the sheikh’s "First Lady, but not zhe only wife on his side".

I can’t help thinking that she is the "modern First Lady of Dubai" for Westeners and Sheikha Hind is Mo’s most prominent wife for the Emiratis. If the other 1-2 are still his wives or divorced I do not know.

First Lady? intresting since she is not the first official wife. I assume the west press refers to her as that since she is with Sheikh Mohammed in public and is allowed to be photographed, that would lead to their impression as the First Lady of dubai.

 

[clymène]

Haya has just arrived in Dubai, she can not be as much loved as any other sheikha. But it's just that the hashemite family seemed and seems to be such a modern one! I wonder what king hussein would have thought if he was still alive about his daughter marrying sheikh Mohamed. Well, you never know, it may be an arranged marriage. Maybe the two of them were introduced on purpose, started dating and then got married, and then the person who introduced them got what she was looking for.
Haya may not be telling the truth in this interview, who knows.
But these are just my speculations... Anyway I just can't understand why she went on with this man...

 

[miss b]

if you polled the western world, i am sure there would be a small percentage of people who would recognize princess haya's picture or name. most probably could care less about her. western press just doesn't know how to deal with it, so they stick first lady after her name. sheikha fatima is considered the first lady of the uae. there is no first lady of dubai, and if there was, that title would go to sheikha hind. posters from the uae might want to verify this statement or disagree with it. that is my understanding from my friends in the uae.

 

[Veram98]

I think it's obvious that she is in love with him and she would not be the first (modern) woman doing strange things just for love.

He is obviously a polygamous man used to be married to several wives. Maybe he is even able to love more than one woman. IMO one further reason to marry her (besides love?) was that he wanted to have his own QRania-LallaSalma-Asma-al-Assad like First Lady to the outside world to enhance his standing as a modern ruler for the Western world, all the investors and tourists from there. Sheikha Hind with her family connections and prestige in Dubai and the UAE is part of the inner power structure there and consolidates his rule in this way. He is a very clever man.

 

[dazzling]

if you polled the western world, i am sure there would be a small percentage of people who would recognize princess haya's picture or name. most probably could care less about her. western press just doesn't know how to deal with it, so they stick first lady after her name. sheikha fatima is considered the first lady of the uae. there is no first lady of dubai, and if there was, that title would go to sheikha hind. posters from the uae might want to verify this statement or disagree with it. that is my understanding from my friends in the uae.

Yes that its correct. Sheikha Fatima is referred as "the first lady". But as other rulers wifes, they are not.
I think the western press would reffer Sheikha Hind as the first lady if she was out photographed with her husband but she isnt, so Haya got the title. I think her press office should make something cleared up because its not a small mistake which can be repeated over and over. Not to forget at the FEI opening at Aachen, she was reffered to princess of jordan and dubai, no correction was done when it shouldve.

I think it's obvious that she is in love with him and she would not be the first (modern) woman doing strange things just for love.

He is obviously a polygamous man used to be married to several wives. Maybe he is even able to love more than one woman. IMO one further reason to marry her (besides love?) was that he wanted to have his own QRania-LallaSalma-Asma-al-Assad like First Lady to the outside world to enhance his standing as a modern ruler for the Western world, all the investors and tourists from there. Sheikha Hind with her family connections and prestige in Dubai and the UAE is part of the inner power structure there and consolidates his rule in this way. He is a very clever man.

I get your point, but i disagree when you say " to enhance his standing as a modern ruler for the Western world" because a man does not need to be modern with having a wife who accompines you to events and so on. A person is modern in the way he thinks and deals with things. A person marries when they want and not to please the western world.

 

[Veram98]

I hope that his first reason to marry her was love (while he loved Sheikha Hind, too?). But she was not only the cute girl Haya (she really is). Other things certainly helped: that she is a Hashemite and royal princess and somebody he could take with him, somebody who is able to play a role on the international scene (and not only at home like his other wive(s), who prefer the traditional role of an Arab woman).

 

[CasiraghiTrio]

Princess Haya is the public wife, the "trophy" as it were. She brings a lot of good reputation and PR to the royalty and business of Dubai, especially because of her international renown in the equestrian field, where the Dubai royalty has large, various, far-reaching investments. She is the only wife who has any public role, as I can see it so far. She is a beautiful, Westernized, educated princess, a sort of Queen Rania, as Veram says; she makes Dubai look very good from an international perspective.
That is what she brings to the table.
But what is in it for her? Money?
I understand fully that the Dubai family has billions, much more than Haya's family, but still, she was doing quite well even though now she certainly is wealthier. The money is a weak argument for what she has gained, in my opinion. The money is not likely to be the sole explanation. It might be a factor, but cannot possibly be the whole story. She had money, yet wanted more? I don't know....She must gain much more, but what? Love? While I don't doubt these two like and respect each other, I find it difficult to believe they are a fairy-tale love story. The arrangement is too convenient from a business standpoint to be romantic in nature.
Any other/more ideas?

Not to forget at the FEI opening at Aachen, she was reffered to princess of jordan and dubai, no correction was done when it shouldve.

In the European royal houses, if you are born a Princess of X, then you are a Princess of X for life. Even when you marry and take your husband's title, becoming Princess of Y, you remain Princess of X and Y. For example, Princess Caroline of Monaco remained a Princess of Monaco when she married the Prince of Hanover, so it is fine to say Caroline of Monaco, the Princess of Hanover, or HRH the Princess of Hanover.
Is that not the case in the UAE royalty or Jordanian royalty? Haya is not a Princess of Jordan for life, but was only Princess of Jordan before her marriage?
Her Dubai title seems to be her lesser title anyway. As Princess of Jordan, she is HRH, whereas it seems the Dubai royalty is only HH. Please correct me if I am wrong. I am just learning about the Dubai royalty.

 

[dazzling]

In the European royal houses, if you are born a Princess of X, then you are a Princess of X for life. Even when you marry and take your husband's title, becoming Princess of Y, you remain Princess of X and Y. For example, Princess Caroline of Monaco remained a Princess of Monaco when she married the Prince of Hanover, so it is fine to say Caroline of Monaco, the Princess of Hanover, or HRH the Princess of Hanover.
Is that not the case in the UAE royalty or Jordanian royalty? Haya is not a Princess of Jordan for life, but was only Princess of Jordan before her marriage?
Her Dubai title seems to be her lesser title anyway. As Princess of Jordan, she is HRH, whereas it seems the Dubai royalty is only HH. Please correct me if I am wrong. I am just learning about the Dubai royalty.

Thanks for clarifying the X and Y thing and i understand where they get it from but it is not done that way in this region.

Yes correct HRH is her tiiel in the UAE the titles are HH. Haya's title is higher than HH (i hope someone can correct me, but im pretty sure that it)

As in press in the Area/region she is refferred too as wife of sheikh Mohammed not as jordan and dubai princess. So maybe the west adapted their syatem of refferring titles to Haya when it does not happen in the arab world.

 

[Joumana]

Thank you very much for the article.

I realy wonder what does she mean with:

she told the journalist that she met her future husband in 2001 at a horse event and was secretly engaged to him for three years before she asked her brother King Abdullah for permission to marry him. Only the day before her marriage she called the rest of the family to invite them.

Was she secretely engaged without the knowledge of her family?

 

[miss b]

i have heard that the wedding was very hush-hush which i find odd. notice the only child at the wedding was sheikh hamdan bin mo. he didn't realize he was going to a wedding. he was supposedly told that it was an official (meaning business) trip. haya said after the wedding that they were going to have a huge wedding celebration in dubai within the coming months. it was rumored that things turned sour when mo returned. his children were not happy especially not rashid. big wedding celebration has never happened. as far as haya being a trophy wife, are we looking at the same woman?

 

[Humera]

I'd like to request that everyone be careful about airing any rumours and commenting on Princess Haya's private life. None of us can claim to know for certain the circumstances surrounding her marriage to Sheikh Muhammad.
Please also refrain from resorting to name-calling and using terms like "trophy wife." So far I haven't edited or deleted anything because I didnt think the phrase was used in a deliberately offensive manner. But just keep in mind that the Forums is not the place to demean royal figures.

Humera
Royal Family of Dubai Moderator

 

[TamaraKhan]

Thank you very much for the article.

I realy wonder what does she mean with:


Was she secretely engaged without the knowledge of her family?

This means in other words she was Sheik's mistress or girlfriend who dated him for three years before marriage,because I won't call a secretive relationship as engagement,but she's trying to embelish the things,as it's not very good thing to be a mistress or to have an intime relationships in muslim culture before marriage I guess.

Originally Posted by magnik
Yes Humera I wrote that she is still with her father's name. I'm only curious is what about "of Jordan" as she is a wife of the Ruler of Dubai?

originally posted by dazzling

what do you mean "of jordan"

I think she meant since Haya is now the wife of Dubai's ruler and the "1st lady" of Dubai (even if I don't agree for this nomination),she might keep her title of princess,but without "of Jordan",like Rania for example she's palestinian born in kuwait,but she's the Queen of jordan,nobody calls her Queen Rania of Palestine or of Kuwait where she was born,or the royal born women,Queen Sofia of spain,she's a Greek Royal,but she's not called Queen Sofia of Greece,or Princess Sofia of Greece before being a Queen or Spain when General Franco allowed the spanish the royal family to back to Spain.

 

[CasiraghiTrio]

In an interview with a German newspaper (published in April 2004; she is rather popular in Germany because she lived here for a while) she told the journalist that she met her future husband in 2001 at a horse event and was secretly engaged to him for three years before she asked her brother King Abdullah for permission to marry him. Only the day before her marriage she called the rest of the family to invite them. She asked her grandmother to provide for flowers and a cake. The dress for the marriage had been made for here by a small sewing works in Amman to keep it secret. The next day there was lunch in King Abdullah’s house. “That was it”.
She said that she is living with her husband like other couples, that she doesn’t think a lot about the fact that she is “the second wife”. “This is not an issue. Everybody can see that I am Sheikh Mohammed’s wife.” She concedes that before the marriage she took her time to think thoroughly about the step into a polygamous marriage. “The matter is not to possess somebody. I love this man, therefore I respect the fact that he had married somebody else before.” “What is better: to live like this or to divorce, to repudiate somebody, expel her from the family.”

http://www.wams.de/data/2006/04/16/874849.html

Sorry, my translation is far from being perfect.

Obviously the marriage was not an arranged one.

This interview does make it seem very much like Haya fell in love with him. At the risk of being a devil's advocate, however, one could argue that the purpose of the article/interview was, after all, to convince readers that it is a love marriage. From what I can see so far, Haya and Sheikh Mohammed have a very nice friendship, but honestly I don't see it as more than a friendly business arrangement. Haya is the public wife, the "ambassador to the West" if you will. It's only a bonus for them that they share interest (hers of the heart, his of the financial) in equestrian sports and enjoy each other's company.

 

[miss b]

everyone keeps saying the she is is known to the western world. that is not true. queen rania is very popular in the states. she fits the mold of a fashion icon. think princess diana. i have seen queen rania on talk shows. most recently, oprah. she comes across as very articulate and informed. i have seen interviews with haya on you tube and other sites. she comes across as very "girlie" and uninformed. not impressed at all. she talks like a 12 year old. giggles at inappropriate moments. she must have graduated at the bottom of her class at oxford. i do not see the woman that her credentials state she is.

 

[CasiraghiTrio]

Well, I live in the US, and I don't pretend that Haya has anything like Queen Rania's publicity, but on the same token, Haya has been well-known to me long before she married into the Dubai family. She has international standing in the equestrian world, has competed in the Olympics and numerous other sporting competitions for show jumping. Now she is the FFE president. For a man like Sheikh Mohammed who has huge investments in the equestrian world (obviously, nothing more than horse racing, but not limited to it) that is important. But far beyond the financial, business aspects, I think they just share an affinity there. She said they met at a horse event. The equestrian world brought them together and it is probable that it is their favorite point of conversation, the bonding point if you will.

Yes, I think she competed in the Sydney Olympics, no?

You guys all make good points about the comparisons. As miss b said a few posts up, Haya can't be compared to Queen Rania, who really is the "Lady Di" of the Arab world. Nor can the Arab royalty be compared to the
European royalty. The media tries, but even so, they compare it with the view in mind that the European ways are somehow better. The Western media tends to portray Jordan as better because it is more like the West than other Arab countries. But that is a very narrow-minded view.
The fact that Sheikh Mohammed ("Mo," as you call him) even has a Westernizing agenda, or at least a Westernizing PR campaign for the international perspective, proves that the only way to truly succeed on the international business/finanacial arena is to be "more like the West."
So I think that is guiding all of his actions because finance and business is the most important thing for him. Haya is very popular in Europe, I think, because she has spent so much time there, she is very European, she was educated there, and she has so many European jet-set friends.
It reminds me of Peter the Great in a sense. Even he married a woman (his second wife) who was from the foreign ghetto of Moscow, very Westernized in her views, and she was part of his plan to open up a "window to the West" for Russia.
Peter and his Catherine were true lovers. Maybe Haya and "Mo" are a "great love story" too. It's possible. It is hard for me, coming from Western perspectives, to understand a love marriage that is polygamous(sp) but there again, I reveal my ignorant, limited view. Just because I have no experience with it and I truly cannot understand it....

 

[magnik]

Yes, she was in the Sydney Olimpic 2000. More http://www.princesshaya.net/profile.shtm

 

[Veram98]

my comment was regarding the olympics. didn't she also compete in the olympics? i think she carried the jordanian flag into the arena. that is where she did not place. i think the olympics have stiffer competition than the pan arab games. people that really follow the competitive jumping say she is an okay jumper not anything great. haya tends to embelish her accomplishments. if you read her interviews and compare them to what really happened, they are worlds apart. there are many videos of her on the forums. i have watched all, and she does not come across very well. immature, silly, come to mind. remember this is not a 19 year old girl. this is a 30 or 31 year old woman. royal friend, found your insight interesting regarding haya/mo, love story of the century.

She obviously is not a really great rider. During the Olympics in Sydney her horse refused two times at the jump and she fell to the ground.

I saw her once on TV discussing in a talk show with others, she was younger then, about 25. I liked her, she seemed to be a very pleasant young lady but maybe not the most intellectual woman on earth.

The love story of the century - hmm, certainly not, but the way she looks at him shows me that she is in love (something I have my problems to understand). This is my opinion and I see therefore no reason to doubt her words concerning this matter, but others are of course free to believe that she was forced or pushed into this marriage.

 

[Zonk]

Well..I guess that depends on your definition of great! She was great enough to make the Olympic team..and not many people can do that.

It always amazes me (and this isn't directed to you Veram98 because others have commented on this in other threads) that some people try to lessen the accomplishments of some who compete at the Olympics but don't necessarily win. Don't get me wrong...while I am sure its truly a thrill to win at the Games....for some of the participants the ultimate satisfaction is because they actually compete in the Games.

 

[CasiraghiTrio]

Veram, I am coming to agree very much with your assessment of her being at the very least "in like" if not love. I lean strongly now toward it being her choice, although I maintain that people and events around her had their own share of influence, which is normal, of course. Who is not guided to some extent by their family, their friends, their circumstances, even, and perhaps especially, in marriage?
Moreover, I grant one possible argument to those in favor of polygamous marriages: It is common for men and women who are deeply in love with their spouses to have affairs, therefore why can't it be so that a person cannot love multiple spouses? He could be very much in love with Haya, thus making the business advantages that much easier to jump onto. No one can say it's not possible. Anyone who says a person can only be in love with one person does not know much yet about life.