Jordan's Princess Raiyah marries Roald Dahl's grandson Ned Donovan in small UK ceremony

Jordan's Princess Raiyah bint Al Hussein, 34, has married Roald Dahl's grandson, Ned Donovan, 26, in an intimate ceremony in the UK.

Guests sat at a distance from one another while the couple were formally married in order to adhere to social-distancing advice.

The couple were due to marry in Jordan in April, however plans were put on hold because of the coronavirus pandemic.

They didn't announce the date of their ceremony, but the bride tweeted pictures and thanks to well-wishers on Tuesday, July 7. In the message she wrote: "God willing we look forward to celebrating in Jordan once the situation allows".

Princess Raiyah is the daughter of the late King Hussein of Jordan and Queen Noor of Jordan, and is the half-sister of King Abdullah II of Jordan, who gave his blessing to the marriage.

Queen Noor attended the ceremony, Jordan's ambassador to the UK, Omar Nahar, was also there, as were members of the Donovan family.

Queen Noor of Jordan, with her daughter Princess Raiyah and Ned Donovan on their wedding day. Arabian Royal Agency

The couple got engaged on October 26, 2019, and a royal statement at the time read: "The Royal Hashemite Court extends its sincere congratulations to Her Royal Highness Princess Raiyah and to Mr Donovan on this occasion."

The grandson of beloved British children's book author, Roald Dahl, Donovan is a freelance journalist, and has contributed to The Spectator, New Statesman and The Telegraph. His mother is Tessa Dahl and his father is entrepreneur, Patrick Donovan.

Guests sat at a distance from one another while the couple were formally married in order to adhere to social-distancing advice. Arabian Royal Agency

Ned Donovan took the name Faris after converting

Donovan converted to Islam before the wedding, and took the name Faris. He is currently learning Arabic.

"I recently completed an intensive Modern Standard Arabic course, which taught me two things: that my Arabic is not very good, and that I will keep trying to improve it," he previously wrote on his website.

"Primarily my interests lie in Asia, specifically the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent."

Princess Raiyah studied at Edinburgh University in Scotland, where she earned an undergraduate master's degree in Japanese studies. She also holds a master's degree in Japanese literature from New York's Columbia University and is currently a PhD candidate in pre-modern Japanese literature at UCLA.

Take a look at the style evolution of Queen Rania of Jordan here:

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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”