A princess should look like somebody who has just walked out of a fairy-tale,
the product of a childish imagination, in a flowing dress and a tiara. They
are not meant to wear jeans, a simple jumper and hardly any make-up. Yet HRH
Princess Haya of Jordan is the real thing, living in the real world where,
among other things, she is president of the international equestrian
federation (FEI), a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and
a UN Messenger of Peace.
In addition, she is also married to one of the most powerful men in the world
and it was her husband, Sheikh Mohammed, who, in celebration of the birth of
their daughter Jalila last December, gave her a racehorse. New Approach had
been the unbeaten champion two-year-old of 2007 and this year he won The
Derby carrying Princess Haya’s colours.
“When people come to the house,” she says, “I ask them if they have seen The
Derby. If they say ‘no’ , they can stay and watch it with me. The correct
answer is to say ‘no’ twice!”
She estimates she has watched the race “30 or 40 times”. “You watch it in
layers,” she says. “Looking at Kevin Manning [who rode New Approach] it was
incredible. We had a plan to stop the horse from making the running as he
always had done. When he was fighting for his head I thought that Kevin
would have gone to Plan B, but he didn’t. It was truly an amazing ride.”
A shared passion for horses was clearly the key to the budding relationship
between the 59-year-old Sheikh Mohammed and Princess Haya, 25 years his
junior. They also shared the experience of growing up in the East while
being educated in the West, and of being driven by competitive sport.
“I have always, funnily enough, been in-between generations,” says Princess
Haya. “Growing up in my family, doing sports, spending time with my father
[the late King Hussein of Jordan] and talking about politics meant that I
was always exposed to a difference of generations and topics.
“Until now I have always struggled, but recently I have come to terms with it
and been encouraged by people such as Kofi Annan [who appointed her as
Messenger for Peace], the IOC, and by the national federations who elected
me as president to the FEI. I think they have seen that I can be a bridge
between generations on subjects like hunger, humanitarian issues and sport.”
It is quite a portfolio and as if she wasn’t busy enough, Princess Haya the
sports-woman intends to make a return to international competition. She was
the first Arab woman ever to compete at world, continental and Olympic level
in showjumping and now, just months after the birth of her first child, she
is planning a return to the ring.
“I want to compete at London 2012 for Jordan,” she announces as we walk around
her husband’s Dalham Hall Stud in Newmarket. “I have to be competition fit
and I have too much respect for the sport not to be ready. I feel more sure
of myself on a horse than anywhere else in the world.
“The experience of losing my own mother means that I get anxious about getting
in a helicopter. Sometimes I get nervous in a car, but on horses, I feel at
home.”
Her mother, Queen Alia, died in a helicopter crash in Amman, Jordan, before
Princess Haya’s third birthday. Her father died in 1999 of complications
related to nonHodgkin’s lymphoma. For 47 years he had ruled Jordan and in
1994 succeeded in negotiating peace with Israel.
The princess had been apprehensive about becoming a parent in her thirties but
she has found inspiration from her daughter: “When I see her with Sheikh
Mohammed, he’s such a good father and they are so in love with each other,
it reminds me of my father. I love motherhood and I could give up everything
and just do this. I’d love 10 more.”
I point out that this would play havoc with her Olympic plans, but there is
always the sense with Princess Haya that nothing is impossible. She has the
influence and the means to make a difference, but she also has the attitude
and is critical of the current enthusiasm for a cause, any cause. For the
willingness of everyone to “do their bit for ‘chari-dee’”.
“Charity has become a fashion,” she explains. “There are so many people out
there who do it for the right reasons and this is hard to say because you
want as much help as possible but the duplication of effort and overheads is
taking money away from the people who count.”
Her point is made. She is not afraid to give her opinion, even if it may upset
a few people, and this makes her a complex woman. As she said of watching a
race, you need to break it down in layers. On the surface: sweet, naive,
fresh and beautifully mannered. One layer down: intelligent, eloquent,
sparky and willing to challenge authority. A further layer: nervous of
speaking in public, self-con-scious and occasionally insecure. At her heart:
passionate about the issues that matter to her and the people she holds
dearest.
In many ways, she has found her ultimate match in Sheikh Mohammed. He will
never say that anything cannot be done, but will find a way to achieve the
impossible. He will encourage and empower her and yet, as with her father,
he is focused on matters of state so often that, I suspect, she has to fight
for his attention.
As for sport, seen by so many as a trivial addition to our lives, a luxury to
be enjoyed during time off from real work, she has no doubt of its
significance. “There are three basic human requirements: to eat, to sleep
and to breathe. But I would add another: to move. My father used to say that
his job was to create peace but he knew that something had to fill that
vacuum, that men needed an activity and sport was the answer. Even in
refugee camps, and I have seen this, you can give people food and stability,
but you have to give them activity as well.
“Sport is also the one thing that empowers and embraces women as one of its
values, in management and in competition. It’s not just rhetoric, it
genuinely does give women a platform. Sport does far more for women in the
Islamic world than politics ever could and I am probably an example of that.
Because I did it, girls all over the Middle East and the Gulf were
encouraged to compete.
“When Western politicians were talking about freeing women from the veil,
sport was doing just that. They are not judged as women in the world of
sport because it is sexless. They can give their family pride, give their
nation pride and they are allowed to become heroes. That goes hand in hand
with education. There will then be less early marriages, they are more
likely to be qualified and they will have a choice in life.”
Herein lies the reason that the princess has committed so much of her time to
the IOC and to the FEI. She believes in the power of sport to improve the
lives of millions of individuals and in the ethos of the Olympic movement.
She is inspired by (IOC president) Jacques Rogge, by his notion of the Youth
Olympics and by Sebastian Coe and the thinking behind the London bid, which
she believes will change the face of sport and bring it back to the centre
of people’s lives.
She may maintain that she gets nervous speaking in public, but there is little
doubt that the princess has found her voice and that she is not afraid to
use it.
