Princess Haya awarded £554 million in Britain’s biggest ever divorce settlement

(CMR) The ex-wife of the billionaire ruler of Dubai has been awarded £554m in Britain's biggest ever divorce settlement. Princess Haya bint Hussein will receive a lump sum payment of £251m from one of the world's richest men, Sheikh Mohammed Al Maktoum.

The bulk of the lump sum will cover security costs to keep the princess and her children, Jalila, 14, and Zayed, 9, safe from kidnap.

The prince must also provide a £290m HSBC bank guarantee for his children, which includes an £11m annual maintenance payment, as well as ongoing security costs for them as adults, £3m to cover their education and £9.6m in maintenance arrears.

According to the BBC, the settlement also provides Princess Haya with sums to cover the cost of running two multi-million pound properties – one next to London's Kensington Palace and her primary residence in Egham, Surrey.

Lawyers for the princess had argued tight security was needed to keep her and the children safe from her ex-husband.

Princess Haya fled from Dubai to Britain with her children in 2019, saying she was in fear of her life, after discovering Sheikh Mohammed had previously abducted two of his other daughters – Sheikha Latifa and Sheikha Shamsa – and rendered them back to Dubai against their will, the BBC reported.

Princess Haya allegedly paid out £7million to ‘blackmailers' on her security staff to keep secret her affair with her British bodyguard, Russell Flowers, which led to the breakdown of her marriage.

The judge declared that there was a ‘clear and ever-present risk' to the princess and her two young children and that Sheikh Mohammed was the ‘main threat to her.'

The £554m figure awarded by Mr. Justice Moor is more than 100 million more than the previous highest settlement of £450m made in 2016 to the ex-wife of Russian oligarch Farkhad Akhmedov.