Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein
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Princess Haya of Jordan (Arabic: ھيا), born May 3, 1974 is one of King Hussein I of Jordan's daughters and the junior wife of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum's two wives.
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[edit] Family
Princess Haya's father was Hussein bin Talal (November 14, 1935 – February 7, 1999), the King of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan from 1952 to 1999.
Her mother was Alia Baha ed din Toukan (1948–1977), the third of the king's four wives. Queen Alia died in a helicopter crash in Amman, Jordan, and Jordan's main airport was named Queen Alia International Airport in her honour.
Princess Haya is the first of two children King Hussein had by Queen Alia; she has a younger brother, Ali (born 1975), and an older adopted sister, Abir, (born 1972, adopted 1976). She also has several half-brothers and half-sisters, among them the reigning king Abdullah II of Jordan.
[edit] Education
Princess Haya studied in Britain, where she attended Badminton School for Girls in Bristol, Bryanston School in Dorset and later St Hilda's College, Oxford University, from which she graduated with a BA Honours degree in P.P.E. (Politics, Philosophy, and Economics.)
[edit] Sports & activities
Princess Haya is an avid sportswoman. She participated in the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney Australia representing Jordan in show jumping, where she was also the flag bearer for the Jordanian delegation, and regularly takes part in equestrian events. She has been elected as president of the International Equestrian Federation for a standard four year term ending in 2010[1]. Princess Haya was also selected as a member of the international athletes commission at the International Olympic Committee.
On June 7, 2008, New Approach, the three-year-old colt owned by Princess Haya, trained in Ireland by Jim Bolger and ridden by Kevin Manning, won the Derby Stakes, the world's premier Classic race for thorughbred race horses, over one and half miles at Epsom Downs. Princess Haya was able to lead the horse into the winning enclosure, accompanied by Sheikh Mohammed.
Princess Haya has engaged in a range of humanitarian activities and founded Tikyet Um Ali, the first Arab NGO dedicated to overcoming hunger, in her native Jordan and now serves as Chairperson of Dubai International Humanitarian City. She was appointed a UN Messenger of Peace in July 2007 by Secretary-General Ban-Ky Moon and earlier was the first woman and first Arab to serve as an ambassador for the World Food Programme (2005-2007). She is a founding member of Former Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Global Humanitarian Forum based in Geneva [1]. ][2] and serves on the boards of many other non-profit organizations.
[edit] Marriage
On April 10, 2004, Princess Haya married Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai, becoming his junior wife; his senior wife is Sheikha Hind bint Maktoum bin Juma Al Maktoum, with whom he has fourteen of his seventeen children.
On December 2, 2007 in Dubai, Haya gave birth to her first daughter, HH Sheikha Al Jalila bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. [3] The baby's birth coincides with the United Arab Emirates' 36th celebration of National Day. [4]
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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