Case No. FD20F00034-and-FD19P00380

deed, namely that they were not prepared only to be paid out of the proceeds of the litigation. 13. HRH has given financial disclosure at various points in the case. I propose to summarise her disclosure in one place at the conclusion of this section of my judgment, before I deal with the law, the evidence that I heard, my findings and my conclusions. She did, however, file a statement dated 4 June 2020 in support of her application for leave pursuant to Part III. She said that she was not attempting by her application to replicate the lifestyle the family had enjoyed in Dubai. She said she was fast eroding her capital trying to provide some semblance of what the children had been used to. She had no intention to claim in her own right, other than for the costs of security for the rest of her life, although she made the point that, after a marriage of 18 years that produced two children, she had a legitimate financial claim in her own right. She said that she could not apply in Dubai for reasons that are obvious and do not need further explanation. She added that she made the application just to avoid her budget being pared down on the basis that it was in part for her and therefore impermissible pursuant to Schedule 1 of the Children Act. She did say that, as the children get older, their security costs will increase due to the requirement for them to have their own separate arrangements. She added that she had had to sell clothes, jewellery, horses and handbags to manage. She accepted that a number of show jumping horses, described as “Team Harmony” horses were owned by her and that, in so far as the children’s money had been used to fund these purchases, she owed the money to the children. To give some idea of the standard of living during the marriage, she said that the family’s holiday costs at a hotel in Italy one summer were £631,000 with another €274,000 at a hotel in Greece. The flight costs were £210,000 to Greece; and £180,000 to Italy, due to the need to have a private plane for security reasons. A further £55,000 per week would be required for expenses, such as the hire of a private yacht. The children have a tutor who had charged £250 per hour for teaching and £200 per hour for preparation. Last year, HRH had purchased a fleet of five cars to enable the children and her to move around safely at a cost of £130,000 each plus VAT. These cars, however, did not have enhanced security. 14. HH served a Questionnaire on 12 June 2020 that ran to 40 questions set out over 12 pages of text. HRH responded to the salient points by way of a statement. On 22 June 2020, HH asserted immunity in relation to the Part III application. Two days later, on 24 June 2020, he made his first Open Offer. In her evidence, HRH had referred to budgets prepared by her Office in Dubai during the marriage that showed enormous levels of expenditure. HH asserted that there had only been two such budgets. He said that, although the 2019 budget was signed as agreed by HH and was in the sum of £72.9 million, only £7.4 m related to the children. He added that these historic budgets were not meaningful as HRH then had the status of the wife of the Ruler of Dubai, which she does not now have. He added that generosity, such as in relation to the children’s very substantial allowances, was discretionary, not a matter of legal obligation. He said he would meet the reasonable running costs of HRH’s home near Kensington Palace, which he put at £1.19 million pa and provide an education fund of £2.5 million. HRH should contribute because of the way she had stripped the children’s N bank accounts, which he then put at £55.8 million. He said that the question of how much had been spent on the children, how much had been misspent, and how much remained were issues in the case. He objected to paying a large sum of money upfront as capitalised child maintenance. Moreover, the costs of running HRH’s London office and her Jordanian office in Amman should be excluded. There were no horses owned by HRH. Some ran in her colours and were registered in her name but they were at all times owned and entirely financed by Godolphin. Zayed, then aged 8, did not own any cars. Zayed was, however, very fond of one particular car and HH would send that vehicle to London for Zayed. HH made the point that the President had, on 5 March 2020, refused to order him to disclose his legal fees. He asked what contribution Jordan was making to the cost of HRH’s security and questioned how the security budget could have gone up by so much when the final O figure was only £301,000 per month. He said that it is quite impossible to predict the position after the children attain their majority. The Beach Palace in Dubai was not owned by the children. It was registered in the name of HH The Ruler’s Court. He said that HRH had taken very significant belongings from Dubai to the UK in the run up to her move. There had been 66 shipments weighing 8,000kg and costing £70,000. 15. I heard various applications in the case on 29 June 2020. I found that HH’s costs exceeded HRH’s costs and that, without legal fees funding, she would not reasonably be able to obtain appropriate legal services. I increased the interim provision for security to £445,000 per month from February 2020 to June 2020 and then to £470,000 per month, based on a new schedule which in part contained actual expenditure. Overall, this meant that the interim periodical payments rose to £529,000 per month and then to £554,000 per month, when the sum of £84,000 per month for HRH’s home near Kensington Palace was included. I also directed that HH pay education and medical costs. Turning to legal services funding, I made an order that HH pay £2 million to cover the position to the end of July 2020 on the basis the matter would be reconsidered at the PTR on 27 July 2020. I adjourned HRH’s application for security for costs and for financial disclosure from HH until the hearing on 27 July 2020. I made no order for HH to disclose his costs. 16. On 13 July 2020, HRH applied for a fund of £95 million to be paid by HH into court immediately to secure his periodical payments obligations. Four days later, on 17 July 2020, her new Head of Security, known throughout the case as Director 1, filed his first statement. He is ex-Army and he had never met HRH until June 2020. He had conducted a review of her security and its cost without seeing the earlier costings, although he then cross-checked his conclusions against the earlier figures. He considered that, although the threat level to HRH changes daily, it remains of a significant magnitude at all times. He exhibited his security assessment. He assessed the current threat level as “severe”. In other words, an attack is highly likely at some point, given the proven history of abduction. If there is a vulnerability in HRH’s security, the threat level rises to “critical”, which means an attack is highly likely in the near future. In addition to the main threat from HH, there ; plus the ever present risk of kidnap and ransom. He said that the team needed reinforced vehicles. These cost £450,000 each. In addition, there was a need for CCTV at the property at all times, a safe room and the like. There would have to be a revised assessment when the children became adults. In terms of costing, he put the budget then at an annual cost of £7,409,154 plus VAT, making a total of £8,496,000 but this excluded international travel which would increase the figure to £9,724,232. 17. HRH filed a statement dated 20 July 2020. She denied any misuse of funds. She said she had been the caretaker of the funds. HH’s presentation is artificial. He encouraged her to undertake a project for Team Harmony to enter show jumpers into the Olympics. In so far as she had spent some of the money on her own projects, it was no more than 1/3 rd which was her notional share. Although HH paid £14.2 million pa into Jalila’s account and £5.678 million into Zayed’s, it was all one fund. HRH had herself been paid £10.4 million pa in Dubai, which had completely ended when she came to this country. A retrospective audit involved unfair pressure, given that the family had been cut off completely in April 2019. She took HH through every page of the 2019 budget in Dubai before he signed it. HH had unilaterally removed the children’s ownership of the Beach Palace, Logo Island and the like. He had removed the children as beneficiaries of trusts. He had trusted HRH to deal with Godolphin by putting her in charge of a review of expenditure whilst they were still married . He offers no evidence to back his claims. HH had committed to finance a charity sponsored by HRH in Jordan to tackle extreme poverty there. It is known as TUA and £10 million had been spent on it during the marriage. She had to continue to support it after the separation. In the same way, HH had agreed to support relatives of HRH in Jordan , such as her brother, Prince Ali, who was financed to the tune of £400,000 pa. After the separation, she had to honour this commitment so she had given Prince Ali £4 million to cover the next ten years. This would enable him to pay the running costs of his home, Baraka Palace. Money had been invested by agreement on behalf of the children in a hotel in Dubai known as La Ville . Some £21 million had been paid over but it was not a success. A repayment schedule had been agreed. The first payment had been made but she was not sure if the other two payments had arrived. She said she received £15 million for the winnings of her horses in March 2018. She had placed $5 million of this in the R Trust. All Team Harmony horses belong to her. She had owned show-jumping horses pre-marriage. The Team had been run through Godolphin initially but it had been removed between 2016 and 2019 . By then, the horses had a low value so, with the agreement of HH, she had reinvested in horses during March/April 2018 with the intention that they would compete at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The total costs of these horses was €8.1 million although a further horse known as PSG Final was purchased in November 2018 for €7.2 m and one called Irenice Horta was bought for €5 million in November 2018. HH was fully aware. These horses were moved into an entity known as King Hussein’s Team in May 2019. Money from the children’s accounts in the sum of £13.6 million had been used to fund these purchases. PSG Final was sold in November 2019 for €7.1 million. The project is now at an end, so HRH will sell the remaining horses and repay the loans to the children in the sum of £13.6 million. During the marriage, HRH had agreed to fund a campaign by her brother, Prince Ali, to become President of FIFA. HH was aware of this and in agreement, although he may not have known it was called P T . Once the campaign was over, P T continued investigating corruption in sport , particularly football . HRH had continued to fund this at £110,000 per month. She then dealt with a number of payments that had been made to four security staff during the marriage. These individuals had blackmailed HRH over an affair she had with one of these four people. She accepted that some of the total money spent had come from accounts in the name of the children and she considers this to be her responsibility. To make ends meet, she had sold jewellery by this point for $1.6 million, although she has since had to sell far more. 18. HH made an application dated 21 July 2020 for a security expert to deal with the reasonable security needs and the costs of those needs for HRH, on the basis that, unlike the first application he made, this expert would only have access to the disclosed material. In consequence, there would be no risk to HRH’s security operation. There would be no contact with HRH or her premises and a confidentiality agreement would be signed. I approved this application on 27 July 2020. Indeed, Mr Cusworth QC, the lead advocate for HRH, did not oppose the application. As it has turned out, no report has ever been served by HH so the only evidence I have is that of Director 1 on behalf of HRH. At the PTR on 27 July 2020, I made a significant number of other orders. I dismissed HRH’s application for a payment into court of £95 million, taking the view that there was no jurisdiction to order such a payment. I did, however, order that, unless HH had put in place a bank guarantee in the sum of £95 million by 31 August 2020, he should provide a schedule of all his assets valued at £15 million or over anywhere in the world in which he had any kind of chargeable interest, with the location and approximate value of each asset. As it transpired, HH put in place the bank guarantee so he did not have to provide the disclosure. Finally, I dealt with the further legal services funding application of HRH. By then, she had outstanding costs of (£2.4 million) but £1.4 million had been outstanding at the time I had last dealt with the application. I therefore declined to make orders in relation to that element of the debt but I took the view that the other £1 million needed to be covered. I was also of the view that her costs going forward should be met in full. In consequence, I made an order that a sum of £5,834,000 be paid in six instalments, namely £1 million per month for five months with a final payment in December 2020 of £834,125. I should make it clear that every such interim order made either by myself or the President, whether for interim periodical payments or for legal services funding, has been met in full by HH in accordance with the orders made. 19. On 14 August 2020, HRH made her first Open Offer. The structure of the award she seeks has remained constant throughout, although the figures have changed as, on her case, more information has become available. She sought general maintenance for the children of between £13.6 million to £13.9 million for 11 years, reducing by 50% for the next four years. She sought that this sum should be capitalised at £155 million. Turning to security costs, she sought £8.1 million per annum for 15 years, capitalised at £103 million; thereafter, she sought £9.7 million for the rest of her actuarial life (capitalised at £152 million); followed by £8.8 million for the rest of the children’s actuarial lives (capitalised at £229 million). She asked for the restoration of the children’s allowances at £9.9 million each for 11 and 15 years respectively, capitalised at £223 million. She claimed an education fund of £3.04 million and existing capital costs of £15.7 million. At that point, total provision would have been £883 million of which £171 million would be paid direct to HRH; £485 million would be paid into a security trust; and £223 million into a children’s trust. Finally, she sought a future legal costs fund of £50 million. She asked for the return of all property to which she had access in April 2019, including horses, jewellery, clothes, rugs and paintings, as well as Zayed’s car collection and Jalila’s jewellery. 20. The original timetable for the case had to be changed when it was brought to the attention of HRH that her mobile phone, the telephones of her PA and two of her security staff, and the telephones of at least two of her lawyers, namely Baroness Shackleton of Belgravia and Nicholas Manners, had been hacked. She sought a fact finding hearing as to the allegations and, in consequence, the President adjourned the listed Schedule 1 hearing from 12 October 2020 to the Easter Term 2021. In consequence, HRH applied for further legal services funding to cover the additional legal costs as well as further financial provision for security consequent upon the new allegations. In support of that, Director 1 filed a second statement dated 5 October 2020 in which he said that HRH needed urgent and necessary new capital expenditure, involving security upgrades to both HRH’s home near Kensington Palace and Castlewood in the sum of £615,300 as well as specific expenditure of £116,300; an upgrade to the lodge at Castlewood in the sum of £72,000; additional expenditure on electrical work at £19,000; and accommodation costs of £50,000, making a total of £872,000, of which £275,000 had already been spent. He also recommended a new post of Cyber Security Officer, as well as a private communications network for the telephone system operated by the security staff and technical surveillance counter measure sweeps. In the first year, the cost of this would be £514,200 but with an ongoing annual cost of £220,000. He also set out that HRH’s security operatives required to be paid at rates based on those of the pay of Special Forces, which include recruitment and retention pay at a daily rate. 21. On 14 October 2020, the President considered there was reasonable evidence that the phones of HRH and her team had, indeed, been hacked and, in consequence, it was reasonable for her to spend additional money on security on an interim basis. He increased my order by £42,833 per month to £596,833 per month as well as directing an additional sum of £152,663 to meet urgent capital expenditure on security. Sensibly, the parties agreed an increase in HRH’s legal services funding and the President made a consent order on 12 November 2020 in which the monthly payment was increased to £1.4 million per month until 3 April 2021, although HRH made the point that this involved compromise on both sides and would entail a shortfall on her legal fees of some £500,000. 22. Another issue then emerged. On 9 December 2020, the President found that there had been a deliberate course of conduct by HH to attempt to purchase a substantial property, known as Parkwood, situated adjacent to HRH’s Castlewood property in Egham. He found that information was withheld from HRH and that it would have had the effect of intimidating HRH to a “ very marked degree ”. HH’s case was that an offer had been accepted by the vendors on 19 September 2019 but the purchase had been paused due to the pandemic and that an eventual decision was taken to cancel the purchase when it became apparent that HRH was alleging it was harassment. The President and Chamberlain J had found, on 29 October 2020, that the doctrine of Foreign Act of State did not preclude the court from full investigation of the hacking issue. HH obtained permission to appeal the ruling on 10 December 2020, which led to the President making a further legal services funding order on 13 January 2021 in the sum of £943,236 to enable HRH to deal with the appeal hearing. 23. HH made a further Open Offer on 9 February 2021. The importance of this was that he accepted that, due to the special circumstances of this case, it was appropriate for the court to continue to make provision for the children’s security after they had attained their majority and ceased full-time education. The offer, therefore, was for general periodical payments for the children of £3.158 million per annum; and security payments of £3.6 million per annum payable indefinitely. The HSBC bank guarantee that was already in place in the sum of £95 million would continue and, unlike his previous proposal, would not decrease yearly as payments were made. He agreed the education fund of £3.04 million, which I believe I am right in saying is the only financial provision actually agreed between the parties in this case. On 19 March 2021, the President and Chamberlain J rejected HH’s claims for immunity in relation to the application made by HRH pursuant to Part III and an additional application she had made for financial provision pursuant to the inherent jurisdiction of the High Court. In the judgment, the court said that HH had not established, to the required standard of proof, immunity from civil jurisdiction for heads of government in respect of non-official (private) acts, although he had not expressly waived immunity. Again, HH sought to appeal this decision. On 23 March 2021, Peter Jackson LJ took the decision that the final hearing of the Schedule 1 application had to be adjourned as the judgment in relation to the hacking allegations had not, as yet, been handed down. As it turned out, this had the added advantage that it would be possible to hear HRH’s Part III application at the same time, if HH’s claims for immunity had finally been dealt with in all courts. 24. The delay meant that, on 14 April 2021, HRH made a further application for interim provision, to provide three armoured vehicles at a cost of £1,350,000; £1,257,000 for summer holidays (including additional costs of security for those holidays in the sum of £550,000) and for further legal services funding. On 23 April 2021, HH accepted the justification for the new application, offering £500,000 for a summer holiday for HRH and the children, together with further legal fees funding of £2.5 million, payable at the rate of £500,000 per month. I heard the application on 27 April 2021. I made provision for legal fees funding at the rate of £1 million per month up to and including 3 October 2021. I awarded interim financial provision in the sum of £1.9 million, comprising £1 million for summer holidays (including the costs of security during the holidays) and £900,000 for two armoured vehicles, as against a request for funding for three on an interim basis. I dismissed HRH’s application for increased security provision and for financial disclosure from HH. I extended the final hearing of her financial claims from five to ten days. I listed a further hearing to determine whether she should be granted permission to make a claim for herself pursuant to Part III of the 1984 Act but to be subject to HH’s appeal as to immunity. 25. The President delivered his hacking judgment on 5 May 2021. The allegation was that HH had utilised software known as Pegasus, from the Israeli based group, NSO, to hack into the various mobile telephones. It was asserted that the software, which is intended for use by sovereign states against terrorists, can, amongst other things, track the location of the telephone; read text messages and emails; listen to calls; and access contact lists. The President heard expert evidence and set out the way in which the alleged hacking had been brought to the attention of HRH’s lawyer, Baroness Shackleton. He said that NSO only provides the software to Governments and it had terminated the contract of the customer involved, although it was not able to identify that customer. The President found to the required civil standard of proof that all six telephones had been successfully infiltrated or subjected to attempted infiltration by the Pegasus software. Moreover, in relation to HRH’s mobile telephone, the hackers had managed to extract a very substantial amount of data, namely 256 MB. In addition, there had probably been successful hacking of Baroness Shackleton and Mr Manners. HH was the probable originator of the hacking and no other person comes close as a likely instigator. He had previously used his State apparatus to achieve his aims and had harassed and intimidated HRH. The President added that these findings were of the utmost seriousness and the opposite of building trust. Inevitably, on 25 May 2021, he made an injunction preventing the use of any information obtained by HH from the hacking but, as HH continues to deny any involvement in such hacking, the simple fact of the matter is that this injunction has little to which it can really apply. I do, however, make it clear that all his English legal advisers tell me, and I entirely accept, that they have made very careful checks to see if there is any information they have that could have come from such a hack and they have concluded that they do not believe they have any such information. I of course accept the point made in reply by HRH that they cannot be absolutely certain about this but I accept they have acted with complete propriety and due diligence in this regard, particularly in this trial where all Mr Dyer’s detailed questioning of HRH was based on the documents disclosed in the proceedings. 26. the phones of HRH, her legal advisers, and various associates were hacked through the use of Pegasus software and that this surveillance was carried out by the servants or agents of HH and with his express or implied authority .” 27. I dealt with HRH’s application for permission to apply for financial provision following an overseas divorce on 27 July 2021. Shortly before the hearing, on 21 July 2021, HH’s solicitors wrote that he would not oppose leave being granted subject to two conditions, namely that the claim would be limited solely to her claimed security needs for the remainder of her lifetime and that HH would not be required to give any financial disclosure on the basis that he can meet any reasonable order. He also sought an order dismissing her application pursuant to the inherent jurisdiction of the High Court. HRH’s solicitors replied on 23 July 2021, saying that conditions to the grant of leave were neither appropriate nor justified. Her position, that she will not seek substantive provision for herself other than for her security, remains unchanged but that is a voluntary position. In relation to her connections with this country, she relied on a statement filed by HH’s previous solicitor, Lady Ward dated 21 June 2019 in which she set out HRH’s close connections with the UK, including her education here in Bristol, then at Bryanston in Dorset, and finally at Oxford University; the horses that are based here; and the fact that HRH had spent between 91 and 114 days here each year since 2015. Further reference was made to various statements of HRH in which she referred to HRH’s home near Kensington Palace being purchased in 2016 at her request; that they considered the UK their home; that HH’s racing operations are based here; that HH has multiple businesses here; and that the children’s mother tongue is English. HRH also said that it had never been her intention to make an application for financial provision in her own right but that she sought the costs of her security as their mother and primary carer, to include the costs of her security after the children are independent. Her main statement in support of the application was dated 4 June 2020. It made the point that the children need to know that their mother is safe. She added that she was foregoing her own legitimate claims following an eighteen-year marriage that produced two children. She made the point that it is logical to hear the Schedule 1 application and the Part III application together. She said her own resources are tied up, mostly in providing housing for the children; or are required to meet her needs; or have already been sold. 28. On 27 July 2021, I was quite satisfied that I should give HRH permission to make her application pursuant to Part III on the basis that there was more than sufficient connection with this country. Whilst I accepted that I had power to impose conditions on the grant of leave, pursuant to s13(3) of the 1984 Act, I rejected HH’s contention that I should do so. I was clear that HRH should be held to her concession but I did not want any unnecessary dispute as to whether a particular head of her claim involved personal benefit and was thus not permitted by a condition I had imposed. In particular, I was concerned that it might be said that her claim in relation to her horses and jewellery might involve such personal benefit. Second, I was clear that I should not impose any condition as to disclosure. If disclosure became necessary, I had to have the ability to order it. Having come to this determination, I did, nevertheless, refuse to direct any disclosure by HH but, on this occasion, on the basis that HH is able to pay any order sought by HRH, fully capitalised as cash within three months of my so ordering. By doing so, I removed the word “reasonable” although I consider this is a distinction without a difference as, by definition, any order that I make must be reasonable in so far as it is not successfully appealed. I dismissed HRH’s application pursuant to the inherent jurisdiction of the High Court. I was clear that there was no need for such an application as I had full jurisdiction to make any financial order I needed to make within Part III. I considered that the application pursuant to the inherent jurisdiction was fraught with jurisdictional difficulty. Indeed, I very much doubted that there was jurisdiction to make such an order. After all, if there was, there would have been no need to pass either Part II of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 or Part III of the Matrimonial and Family Proceedings Act 1984. Finally, I was clear that I should hear both the Schedule 1 claim and the Part III claim together at this hearing. 29. I heard the Pre-Trial Review on 9 September 2021. I made a declaration that HRH was a vulnerable witness but I rejected Mr Cusworth’s submission that she should not be cross-examined by Mr Dyer QC on behalf of HH. I did, however, set out ground rules for the cross-examination, including that the questioning was to be directed to the quantum and structure of the award and was only to be based on information and documents within the court bundles, to avoid any suggestion it might be based on material illegally hacked from her telephone or those of her lawyers. I made provision for the evidence of Director 1 to be taken in such a way as to ensure that his anonymity was not jeopardised. It was also to be limited to matters in the court bundle and was not to undermine HRH’s security arrangements. Finally, I made a further legal services funding order by consent in the sum of £1, 1 33,333 per month for October, November and December 2021. Happily, as I told the advocates at the time, this was almost exactly the quantum of provision that I myself had provisionally had in mind when I had read the papers. This provision takes the litigation beyond this financial hearing to cover further hearings before the President when he is dealing with the welfare of the children. I made some modest further directions, to include short Scott Schedules of the personal items being sought by HRH.