The story of the missing princess that attempted to escape Dubai.
The BBC has recently released a documentary about Latifa bint Mohammed Al Maktoum (the missing Princess of Dubai). The 33-year-old Princess is the daughter of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, also known as the ruler of Dubai. The documentary shows how and why Princess Latifa’s escape including a video she made before vanishing and interviews of people that helped her escape.
Background information.
Shutterstock.com Sheikh Mohammed
Princess Latifa was born on 5th December 1985, she is one of 30 children of Dubai’s ruler and Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum has three daughters called Latifa but the missing Princess in the middle of the three. Her father is the richest and most powerful rulers in the world therefore, Latifa has a “very restrictive” life. She is not allowed to drive, travel or leave Dubai. In her video she tells everyone how she has not been out of the country since 2000, she has an assigned driver who must know where she is and what she is doing. Latifa is not allowed to get in anyone’s car other than her drivers. She lived in a house with her mother and two sisters, it was a private house that looked more like a palace with many features you would not see in a “normal house”.
Sheikh Mohammed has a very known lifestyle in Dubai everyone knows what he drives every morning at what time, he is just about on the front of the newspapers every morning (in Dubai). He used his wealth to create the worlds biggest horse racing empire.
50 years ago, Dubai was a “dusty trading town” on the edge of the Arabian sea. Today, Dubai is seen as a glamorous and impressive city surrounded by oil rich cities; Dubai is one of the seven emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Dubai become a financial hub, but this was not until the 1970s when their oil kicked off and got the world’s attention. Dubai then did not hold back and went on to make it impressive. A small village grew into one of the most talked about wealthiest places on the earth.
Dubai
In Princess Latifa’s personal video she says, “I have to remember to say everything because this could be the last video, I make”, this shows the risk of the escape. Latifa goes on to explain she will be leaving Dubai “somehow”, she is “unsure of the outcome” but is 99% positive it will work. The video makes massive allegations about her life in Dubai.
In February 2018, Princess Latifa tried to escape but within days she was found and captured. She has not been seen since…
Latifa’s friend Tina is featured in this video as she supported Latifa with the planning. Tina first met Latifa when Latifa wanted to start skydiving, Tina is a trainer, so she was the person that helped her. When they first met Tina describes Latifa as “reserved” but “persistent”. Within weeks Tina and Latifa became very close and built up a lot of trust.
Latifa’s sister Shamsa Bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum escape.
In 2000, Sheikh Mohammed brought some of his large family to his £75 million home estate in Surry, UK. He was one of the biggest landowners in the UK, he has loads of bodyguards, private jets and much more around him, Latifa’s sister Shamsa Bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum hated this. In July 2002, Shamsa ran away from the Surrey estate; Latifa claims this is due to her not being able to have any freedom. She managed to hide from her father for seven weeks in Cambridge before being found and dragged into a car off the streets.
Latifa claims the men dragged her into a car, put her into helicopter to France then a private plane to Dubai. She also claims that her sister was drugged on the plane but due to it being private no one would have seen.
8 months after returning to Dubai, Shamsa managed to send a message to a UK lawyer about the alleged kidnap, the letter was then given to Cambridge police. Cambridge Police investigated this and established she had been picked up and was driven to the family estate in Surry; she then was flown by helicopter to the airport. Her father had many planes at the airport, so it was easy to get a plan to France then Dubai. The pilot of the plane said she has been flown to France at very late notice.
The police asked to speak to Shamsa, but the request was denied. In December 2001, the UK paper ‘The Guardian’ released the story, this is the first time it had been told. It is not known what happened to Shamsa when she got back to Dubai but Latifa makes some serious allegations of what happened. According to Latifa, Shamsa was drugged, locked in the palace prison and was not able to be seen by anyone for 8 years. Latifa said Shamsa was in a very bad way, she had to be led around by her hands as she would not open her eyes; she also claims Shamsa was given pills to control her and is surrounded by nurses who record everything she does, even when she wakes up.
The UAE.
The UAE governments have a lot of political leverage. Over many countries, it is said that they have one of the most equal societies in the middle east. In the UAE, if a woman is seen to be misbehaving, “wild” and not doing as they are told, she can be confined and punished to teach them a lesson.
Latifa’s escape.
At 16-years-old Latifa decided she wanted to escape, in 2002 she escaped but did not make it passed the border. She was caught and brought back to Dubai. Latifa told this in her video and said “They put me in prison and tortured me”; she then goes on to explain the beating and said how it went on for hours. Latifa claims she was detained for 3 years and 4 months before released aged 19.
Latifa said she did not trust anyone for years after being released, she just spent a lot of time with different types of animals but would not interact with people. It took her years to recover. A few years on she was able to hire tutors and gained AS levels at the age of 26. She also took up skydiving with her friend Tina, she joined the Dubai Skydiving Community, sometimes she would jump several times a day.
On the 13th February 2011, ten years after her first attempt Latifa decided she needed to escape again. She started to secretly plan her escape, to get away from her father’s minders she went to an internet café where she contacted former French spy, Hervé Jaubert. She sent as many as 200 emails planning her escape, but he needed confirmation that it was her and not a setup, this is when her friend Tina was involved. In 2017, Latifa told Tina about the plan and she agreed to help; Tina travelled 4 times to meet Hervé, so they could plan in detail. In her video Latifa calls Tina an “angel” for helping.
The plan was for Tina and Latifa to travel to Oman where they would take a dingy to meet Hervé in the international waters. The UAE controls many ports therefore, they planned to go to Goa, India just like Hervé did.
On the 19th of February, a week before the escape, Latifa made her video, it was recorded in Tina’s apartment. She then got Tina to send the video to her friends in case anything happened, if something was to happen, they had to release it to the public, so they would know what really happened to her.
24th February 2018, the morning of the escape. Latifa and Tina met outside a café at 6.30am; her driver dropped her off and saw Tina waiting. Tina and Latifa did before so no one would find it suspicious. Latifa then went into the bathroom where she changed and created a new look for herself. They then got in the car and drove to the coast of Oman where they took a didge to meet Hervé. They managed to meet Hervé but 2-3 days before the escape would be complete Hervé caught eye of ships and a plane that was following them.
On the 4th of March 2018 their boat was attacked, this is the last time Latifa was seen. She told the people who took her she would rather be killed on the boat than go back to Dubai. Latifa’s family say she is in Dubai, but no one has seen or heard from her since the day she was captured…
To watch the documentary to find out the full story, click here.
