A Dubai princess has dramatically announced her divorce on social media, breaking strict royal protocol in the Gulf city-state.

Sheikha Mahra, the daughter of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, Dubai’s ruler, recited the Islamic divorce vow, traditionally used by men to end a marriage, in an Instagram post.

The princess, 30, wrote in English: “As you are occupied with other companions, I hereby declare our divorce. I divorce you, I divorce you, and I divorce you.” Despite beginning the post with “dear husband”, she signs off, “your ex-wife”.

She used an Islamic phrase called the triple talaq, an oral divorce. However, this is not applicable to women.

“Under sharia law, for a Muslim wife to get a divorce she must file a divorce case, in which the court will first ask her to attend mediation sessions,” said Hesham El Rafei, a UAE-based legal expert.

“If unsuccessful the case will go to the judge, and the wife will need to prove a fault, ‘the blame game’.”

In most cases, he said a judge will reject the divorce and the wife will need to file a second separation case.

“Only here the court will likely grant a divorce. This process can take up to a year, unlike for expats in Abu Dhabi for example where no fault divorce is issued by the court in 30 days from only one court hearing.”

The young couple married in April last year and just nine weeks ago announced the birth of their first child.

However, just three weeks later, the young princess posted a photo on Instagram with her daughter captioned “just the two of us”, hinting at separation.

It has fuelled speculation that the account was hacked as such public statements of personal lives are strictly forbidden for not only members of the royal family, but among Emirati families where privacy is a key tenet of the tribal culture.

However, since the post was shared on the verified account, there have been no statements regarding the announcement. The Telegraph has also contacted the Dubai Media Office for comment.

Abdulkhaleq Abdulla, an Emirati political commentator, said the post on Instagram “violates lots of royal family code of conduct, let alone social norms” in what is a fiercely private society.

It is believed that Sheikha Mahra’s mother is not Emirati, making such behaviour slightly more acceptable. “She is definitely not local,” Mr Abdulla said, noting that the young royal “looks different… very liberal”.

The royal appeared on the front cover of Harper’s Bazaar Arabia seven months ago. However, being photographed in public is still taboo for women in the upper echelons or more conservative elements of Emirati society, not least without her hair covered.

The princess married her husband Sheikh Mana bin Mohammed bin Rashid bin Mana Al Maktoum, also a member of the Maktoum ruling family, in a lavish ceremony in Dubai.

He has no photographs of his wife and child on his Instagram account and on his last photo, seen shaking hands with his father-in-law, he has been bombarded with comments from the princess’s fans, risking the wrath of UAE law which forbids abuse on social media.

Men can have four wives at a time and can also remarry, but young Emirati women are increasingly rejecting the idea of their husband having multiple wives as society evolves.

Another daughter of Sheikh Mohammed, Princess Latifa, claimed three years ago that she was being held hostage by her father following a failed attempt to escape from Dubai in 2018.

In 2020, a London high court judge, Sir Andrew McFarlane, accepted as proven a series of allegations made by Princess Haya, the sheikh’s former wife, including that the sheikh ordered Latifa’s abduction, although his lawyers rejected the allegations.

The judge also found that the sheikh had “ordered and orchestrated” the abduction of Princess Latifa’s sister Shamsa while on a family holiday in England in 2000.