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Amy Sood

Dubai’s ruling royal family has kept silent in the days since princess Sheikha Mahra bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum appeared to publicly divorce her husband on Instagram – the latest in a series of personal scandals to rock the emirate’s monarchy.
The explosive social media post, uploaded to the princess’ verified account on Wednesday, left little ambiguity about the state of her marriage. “Dear husband, as you are occupied with other companions, I hereby declare our divorce,” Mahra, 29, proclaimed, invoking the controversial Islamic “triple talaq” practice that has enabled men to instantly end marriages verbally.
The princess, who is the daughter of Dubai’s billionaire ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, also deleted all photos with her husband, 25-year-old Emirati businessman Sheikh Mana Bin Mohammed Al Maktoum, on her profile.
Their grand wedding last year had been celebrated across glossy magazines like Grazia and Harper’s Bazaar Arabia.
The couple announced on Instagram in May that they’d had a daughter.












View this post on Instagram























A post shared by Shaikha Mahra Mohammed Rashed Al Maktoum (@hhshmahra)



With no official statements from the Dubai or UAE governments, or from Sheikh Mana himself, analysts say the princess’ very public airing of her marital grievances has “tied the hands” of her powerful father and others.
“I don’t think there will be any public display of consequence,” said Mehran Kamrava, a professor of government at Georgetown University in Qatar. “No doubt, the ruling family will try and minimise any future publicity from now on and engage in damage control.”
The incident marks the latest personal scandal to rock Dubai’s ruling family, whose members have increasingly found their private lives thrust into the public spotlight in recent years.
The princess’s father, Sheikh Mohammed, has also faced intense media scrutiny over his own high-profile divorce with his sixth wife, Princess Haya bint al-Hussein of Jordan, which played out in British courts.
In April 2019, Princess Haya fled the Gulf emirate, claiming she had become terrified of her husband’s threats and feared for her safety. The divorce proceedings concluded in late 2021 with Sheikh Mohammed agreeing to a record £554 million (US$714 million) settlement and relinquishing legal guardianship of the former couple’s children.

Another headline-grabbing incident involved one of Sheikh Mohammed’s other daughters, Sheikha Latifa, who was reported to have attempted fleeing Dubai in 2018 using an inflatable boat and then a yacht in international waters.
However, she was said to have been intercepted by Indian coastguards and subsequently returned to Dubai. Latifa has alleged that she was a captive of the Dubai royal family, while her father maintains she was abducted in 2018 and required rescue from a yacht off the Indian coast.
According to Georgetown University’s Kamrava, these past scandals help explain why Mahra used social media to maximise public scrutiny fn her marital situation.
“The ruling Al Maktoum family in Dubai has been one that is somewhat accustomed to public scandals of this nature,” Kamrava said.
“I think it is within that context that the daughter of the ruler has declared her divorce in such a public way to ensure that this gets maximum exposure,” he added, noting that the announcement being in English would also be a conscious decision by the princess to amplify its reach.

The social media post and public announcement of the divorce “ties the hand of the leadership, her father and others, so that there’s no room for return,” Kamrava said.
The “triple talaq” practice that the princess appeared to invoke in her social media post has been banned in several countries, including India. It has customarily enabled men to instantly divorce their wives by verbally stating “I divorce you” three times.
This Week in Asia reached out to the Dubai government’s media office for comment, but had not received a response at time of publication. There have been no official statements issued by the Dubai or UAE governments, nor from Sheikh Mana himself, regarding the princess’s public announcement of their divorce.


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Sheikha Mahra bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum appeared to invoke the controversial ‘triple talaq’ practice in her explosive post


Sheikha Mahra bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum appeared to invoke the controversial ‘triple talaq’ practice in her explosive post.
