The Daring Book for Girls - Andrea J. Buchanan [11]
An Equestrian Princess
Her Royal Highness Haya bint Al Hussein—also known as Princess Haya—was born in 1974 and grew up in the royal family of Jordan. Her father is the late King Hussein, and her mother is Queen Alia Al Hussein. She attended St. Hilda’s College in Oxford, England, studying politics, philosophy, and economics. She is an avid sportswoman who competes in equestrian sports (horse competitions being a popular royal pastime), including the 2000 Summer Olympics at Sydney.
In 2004, when she was thirty, Princess Haya married His Highness Sheik Muhammed, the Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, and moved to that vibrant city in the United Arab Emirates to be with him. In her role as princess, Haya leads many humanitarian efforts. She advocates for children’s right to play and for health care, and served as the first woman ambassador to the United Nations hunger relief program.
A Champion Fighter Princess
Her Highness Sheikha Maitha bint Muhammed al-Maktum has not traveled the standard princess-and-horses route. Born in 1980 to Sheik Muhammed bin Rashid Al Maktum of Dubai and the United Arab Emirates, Maitha has followed her passion for the martial arts and is a karate champion.
Princess Maitha has won gold medals at Tae Kwon Do championships, competes in international karate championships, and was named the Arab world’s best female athlete.
An Everygirl Princess
Mary Elizabeth Donaldson fits the image of the ordinary girl who becomes a royal princess. Born in Australia in 1972, she grew up on the island of Tasmania, where her father was a math professor. She played field hockey and swam, and after graduation from college, she worked for an ad agency and in public relations.
She met her future husband, Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark, at a pub in Sydney; he was in town for the 2000 Olympics. In 2004 they had a grand wedding—800 guests at the Copenhagen Cathedral—and Mary Elizabeth became the new princess of Denmark. They have since had two children: Prince Christian, born in 2005, and Princess Isabella, born in April 2007.
An Unassuming Princess
Most people know that Prince Charles is the eldest son of Queen Elizabeth, the reigning Queen of England, and know of Charles’ famous late wife, Diana. However, not as many people talk of Charles’ only sister, Anne—which is just how she wants it. Anne was born in 1950, and her full title is HRH The Princess Anne Elizabeth, Princess Royal, which denotes that she is the eldest daughter of the Queen.
Although she has not abdicated her royal status, she has led a very unassuming life outside the public eye. When she married, her first husband declined to take a royal title, even though it is considered common to do so. She chose not to pass on royal titles to her children, Peter and Zara, in order to protect them from the spotlight that hovers over children in the British royal family.
A Young Lady Princess
The youngest girl of the British royal line has also sidestepped the title Princess. Born in 2003 to Prince Edward (Charles’ younger brother) and his wife Sophie, who are also known as the Earl and Countess of Wessex, little Louise was given the title Lady instead.
The princess title is still legally hers, and when she comes of age, she can fully adopt it if she wishes.
A Rediscovered Princess
And here’s one final princess story, that of Sarah Culberson, born in 1976. Her mother and father met in college in West Virginia, fell in love, and had Sarah, but they put her up for adoption just two days after she was born. When she was twenty-two and living in San Francisco, Sarah hired an investigator to find her birth parents. She learned that her mother, a native West Virginian, had died of cancer many years before, but that her father was a royal member of the Mende Tribe in Bumpe, Sierra Leone. He was of the line of Paramount Chief, and as his long-lost daughter, Sarah was officially a princess.
Now that she has claimed her title, Sarah’s life as a princess isn’t about horses and galas. Sierra