She has recently become remarkable in a different way. Last week, it emerged that she became the latest notable instance of a growing trend in the Arab world: women fleeing their homes to seek shelter elsewhere. Princess Haya is at least the third royal known to have deserted Dubai’s ruling family, leaving the glittering city-state sometime this spring for the United Kingdom with her two children: Zayed, 7, and Al Jalila, 11. Sheikh Mohammed, who is also the vice president and prime minister of the United Arab Emirates, then filed a lawsuit against the princess in a U.K. court.

Everything about the story of Haya bint al-Hussein has always been remarkable. The half-sister of the current Jordanian king, Princess Haya has long been the most publicly visible and widely known of the six wives of Dubai’s ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. She was often seen by her husband’s side at regional and international functions, greeting dignitaries and delivering speeches—all highly unusual for the wife of a Persian Gulf ruler.

Everything about the story of Haya bint al-Hussein has always been remarkable. The half-sister of the current Jordanian king, Princess Haya has long been the most publicly visible and widely known of the six wives of Dubai’s ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. She was often seen by her husband’s side at regional and international functions, greeting dignitaries and delivering speeches—all highly unusual for the wife of a Persian Gulf ruler.

She has recently become remarkable in a diff