A princess aged 11 was being lined up for a forced marriage to the notorious crown prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed Bin Salman, the court heard. Sheikh Mohammed Al Maktoum reportedly discussed the agreement in February 2019 which would have seen his daughter Princess Jalila – aged 11 – married to Bin Salman. The case was brought to light by the girl’s mother, Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein, in a British court yesterday, as part of the marital feud between her and Al Maktoum. Princess Haya fled the UAE last year and filed for a divorce in the UK; she said the planned nuptials were a key reason why she ran away. The billionaire ruler of Dubai has previously been accused of kidnapping his daughters; in 2000, Sheikha Shamsa Al-Maktoum tried to escape from her father’s $130 million estate in Surrey, UK, when she was 18-years-old. Shamsa was found in nearby Cambridge and forcibly returned to Dubai where no news has since been heard about her and where she is said to have been imprisoned and beaten. Years later, in 2018, her sister Latifa tried to escape, crossing the border into Oman and then travelling 40 kilometres on a rubber boat, before meeting a former French Navy officer named Jean-Pierre Herve Jaubert who was waiting for her on his yacht. They sailed to Goa in India, where an Indian-UAE commando unit intercepted the yacht, abducted Latifa and imprisoned the crew. The court also heard of Princess Haya’s alleged extra-marital affair with her personal bodyguard – a former British soldier named Russell Flowers – with whom she fled. Throughout their two-year affair she allegedly showered him with gifts and even a home in the English county of Suffolk where he stayed after their affair was revealed. He is now said to be in hiding, however, fearing for his life.