Dubai ruler must pay princess £554 million in royal divorce case

London: Dubai's ruler was ordered to provide his estranged wife and their children at least £554 million ($734 million) in the largest financial award the UK family courts have ever seen.

A London judge ordered Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum to pay Princess Haya Bint al-Hussein £251.5 million within three months to cover security and lost items like jewellery and clothing. He must also make annual payments of around £11 million toward costs for his children while they are in education, which will be secured by a £290 million bank guarantee, the judge ruled. The remaining millions account for backdated sums and a learning fund.

This would provide Princess Haya with a "clean break" from the Sheikh following their divorce, Judge Philip Moor said in a ruling published on Tuesday.

He said the Sheikh, who didn't give evidence in the case, has brought the unusually high award for security on himself after another judge found that he ordered the hacking of phones belonging to her and her legal team.

The total amount the Sheikh will have to pay to his family is likely to be much higher because of the annual security costs he must pay directly to his children after they've completed education.

The Sheikh said in a statement that he "has always ensured that his children are provided for." Lawyers for Princess Haya declined to comment on the ruling.

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 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.

London's family courts have been a popular destination for high-value legal fights, with judges typically prepared to order a more equal share of a couple's assets. Before Tuesday's decision, the largest publicly known judge-ordered award in a divorce was £450 million to the wife of billionaire Farkhad Akhmedov — though the two settled with a payment of less than one-third of that amount.

Over the past two years, London's courts have played host to a number of explosive allegations and rulings concerning the Dubai royal family.