12 April 2004	Monday	21 Safar 1425

AMMAN, April 11: Jordan's Princess Haya, daughter of the late King Hussein and half-sister of King Abdullah II, was engaged here to Dubai's Crown Prince General Mohammed bin Rashed Al Maktoum, the palace announced.

The ceremony at the palace on Saturday was attended by the king and male members of the royal family, notably Crown Prince Hamzeh, half-brother of the princess, Prince Faisal, brother of the king, and Prince Ali, the princess' brother. Sheikh Mohammad is also defence minister of the United Arab Emirates.

Born on May 3, 1974, the princess is the elder of two children from the third marriage of Hussein. Her mother was Alia Toukan, a Jordanian of Palestinian origin who died in a helicopter accident in February 1977.

Her father, who died in February 1999, married four times: in 1951 to his cousin Princess Dina with whom he had a daughter; in 1961 with an Englishwoman Toni Gardiner who became Princess Mouna and with whom he had four children, including the present king; then in 1972 to Alia Toukan, and finally in 1978 to Lisa Balabi, an American of Lebanese origin, who became Queen Noor, with whom he also had four children. -AFP