Princess Haya steps down as equestrian president

Jordan’s Princess Haya is stepping down as president of the International Equestrian Federation (IEF).

The princess – who is married to Sheikh Mohammed Al Maktoum – says deciding not to seek a third four-year term as head of the governing body has been the ”hardest decision” of her life, but she feels raising her family and her humanitarian work for Gaza must come first.

She said: ”The factors that have led to my decision are, for me, impossible to ignore. I committed to a two-term limit, and that commitment still weighs heavily on me.”

While Haya described the sports community as ”family”, the princess – whose mother was Palestinian” – pointed out that the people of the Middle East ”are also my people and my family”.

During her stint as president, in the last two years alone Haya directly brokered almost £150 million in commercial sponsorship and provided the FEI’s new office building in Lausanne, Switzerland with 75 permanent staff members.

Her departure in December will also herald the end of her International Olympic Committee membership, and as it doesn’t pass to her successor, she set up an FEI-Olympic liaison council earlier this year.

So far, only Swiss financier Pierre Genecand was in the running to take over as president, and others now have only three weeks to declare and less than four months to campaign.