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Runaway Princess Bride Could Prove Politically Explosive for Gulf Royals

Jamie Dettmer

   A divorce case in London later this month featuring Sheikh Mohammed bin
   Rashid al-Maktoum, Dubai's billionaire ruler, and his runaway estranged
   wife is likely to cast a highly unflattering light on one of the Arab's
   world richest families, according to analysts.

   It also may help solve a two-decades-old mystery of how a teenage
   daughter of the sheikh was bundled back to the Gulf after she fled from
   a family home in the English countryside with plans to pursue a life
   independent of the Emirati royals.

   The divorce case against 45-year-old Princess Haya bint al-Hussein is
   due to start in Britain's high court at the end of the month. The
   princess is one of the Dubai ruler's six wives and the daughter of the
   late King Hussein of Jordan. She fled to London with her two children
   and now reportedly is hiding out with them in a $100 million home in a
   posh west London neighborhood on a street known as Billionaires' Row.

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