Princess: Stepping Out of the Shadows, стр. 59

Dr Meena was the main speaker at that educational conference. Never shall I forget my first impression. She was a slight figure, dressed in a doctor’s white coat. She was an attractive woman but totally natural, as she did not adorn herself or make use of any beauty products – she wore no jewellery other than a simple watch. Unlike most Saudi women, her hair was cut in a short bob.

When I was first introduced to Dr Meena, I soon realized that she was not impressed by the fact I was a princess. If anything, she was almost indifferent to my status, which is a reaction I rarely see, for most people in the world are entranced by royalty. They really should not be, for royal titles tend to be unearned and most who are royal have inherited their title and the enormous wealth that goes along with it without lifting a finger. I would prefer people to be impressed with those who have earned their just rewards – or who have used their education to enhance the lives of the less fortunate in our society.

While I did not know enough about Dr Meena to have an opinion, once she began speaking I was immediately impressed by her knowledge, her common sense and her ability to inspire her audience.

While I expected that a Saudi woman who had earned a medical degree would have been born in a wealthy, professional or business-class Saudi family, with Dr Meena this is not the case. She was born into an extremely deprived family in one of the poorest regions of Saudi Arabia, Al-Kharj. She was the last of four daughters.

In Saudi Arabia, any woman who gives birth only to daughters is scorned by her family and neighbours. This happened to Dr Meena’s mother. But their true nightmare began when her father became so enraged by the birth of yet another daughter that he plotted to bury his fourth daughter alive in the nearby sands. That sinister plan was halted when a wise uncle heard that his brother was in danger of murdering all four daughters. That uncle intervened and saved four lives.

That’s when Dr Meena’s father divorced his wife and decided to abandon the entire family. He delivered his wife and four daughters to his in-laws and left them there to fend for themselves.

There was more bad news when Dr Meena’s grandparents actually obstructed the doorway with their bodies; cruel and heartless, they struggled to keep their daughter and four granddaughters from entering their home.

Heartbreakingly, the young mother and her four little girls were unwanted by all.

Only the intervention of Dr Meena’s oldest sister saved the situation. The young girl was only six years old but was very clever, and their bleak and difficult life had helped to develop an inflexible resolve in her. While blocked outside the house, and longing to get inside, that young girl remembered the tale she had heard in the village about a camel’s willpower. She was told that once the camel’s nose is in the tent, the camel is in, for the body will soon follow. The young girl fought with all her strength to get a toe into the house, which she believed was equivalent to the camel’s nose in the tent. She wrapped her little body around her grandmother’s legs until she was able to pass through beneath her grandmother and collapse on the sand floor. That’s the moment when Dr Meena’s mother used her last bit of strength to hold tight to her small children and newly born infant and rush in behind her oldest daughter. Once inside the house, the young mother refused to leave.

Over time everything was sorted out, but there was always misery in that home where the parents were so selfish that they felt no responsibility to save their own flesh and blood. After the grandmother died of natural causes, the grandfather became more amiable because he knew, selfishly, that he would need his daughter and granddaughters to take care of his needs in his old age.

Although Dr Meena was born poor when it came to possessions, she was born with an extremely high IQ and had immense common sense, which for me is an important treasure that will take most people much further in life than a bulging bank account. The combination of these two mental attributes won the young Dr Meena many awards and even earned her a scholarship to college and medical school. She was top-ranked in her field. Despite endless obstacles, Dr Meena triumphed over most women who are born with every resource.

Once she was in a solid financial situation, she used all the funds she earned above what were necessary for her upkeep to help other girls born into poverty. She is an unselfish and enlightened young woman.

From that day, I sought a friendship with Dr Meena. She was less keen to be friends with a princess and it took some time before she discovered the work that I do in order to help young women pursue their educational goals. However, once she came to know the real Princess Sultana, she accepted my extended hand of friendship. And from that time we have combined our resources to assist many young women in need of escape from abusive situations and have helped them to gain an education.

Today, I was excited to be hearing from Dr Meena. I quickly answered my phone to learn that she was reading a Reuters article printed in one of the British newspapers delivered to her in the kingdom by a close friend. Much to her despair, the article was reporting on the numerous protests against our beloved Crown Prince Muhammad regarding the war in Yemen and the rise in arrests in the kingdom for human-rights abuses, the very subject I had been mulling over all morning.

Dr Meena is a huge fan of our king-to-be. As she frequently says, ‘He