To say that Saudi Princess Taja Hakim led a sheltered life would be the understatement of the century. Born on November 9, 1989, to Saudi Prince Ahmed Hakim and his Lebanese-born wife Princess Aamina Ali, the young Arabian Princess bred in metropolitan Riyadh was destined to live all over the place. Her parents spend most of their time between the Republic of Lebanon, England, the United States of America and the Confederation of Canada. They only spend their summers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, mainly because The Great King likes to have his family around him in the City of Jeddah come summertime, as per ancient tradition.
Living in the West has taught Princess Taja Hakim much about the world, and about herself. In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, women weren't allowed to drive, play sports, or leave the house without a male chaperone. The Kingdom was the most conservative place on God's green Earth. And yet, in the Republic of Lebanon, where Christians and Muslims had a joint government that shared power, women could be police officers, soldiers, political party leaders, lawyers and doctors. The modern-day Republic of Lebanon was an Arab country that was so far ahead of all others when it came to women's rights and religious freedom that it was considered the envy of the Middle East. It was in the City of Baalbek, in southern Lebanon, birthplace of her mother, that Princess Taja Hakim first learned to drive.
For higher education, her parents sent her to some of the most prestigious universities in the Western world. Taja Hakim moved to the City of London, England, to attend Oxford University. After one semester, she dropped out, citing irreversible boredom. Her exasperated parents sent her Canada, hoping that the bland social and political climate of that nation would placate the Saudi Princess antics. Thus, Taja Hakim came to the City of Ottawa, Province of Ontario. Princess Taja Hakim enrolled at Carleton University, to study civil engineering. This would be her final school, as decreed by her parents. As soon as she graduated from Carleton University's civil engineering program, Taja Hakim was expected to do away with silly pursuits and embrace the responsibilities that went along with her rank and title.
Being a royal wasn't all about fun and games, travel and lavish spending. Responsibility was a big part of it and not even Taja Hakim, the wildest of all Saudi royals, could escape that. She would be whisked back to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia where her father would arrange for her a marriage with a suitable gentleman of royal Saudi lineage, as befitting a beautiful young Saudi woman of her rank. The Princess fate was sealed by the intricacies of power struggles in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. She could have anything she wanted except control of her destiny, as was the fate of all women living under patriarchal Islam.
Sitting on her bed inside her residence on the Carleton University campus, Princess Taja Hakim felt bored. Clad in a red T-shirt featuring the iconic Mister T and dark blue sweatpants, she looked like any ordinary young woman in a dorm on a Wednesday night. Yawning, Taja got up and stretched, then walked over to her laptop. She logged onto her Facebook account, the top secret one which only her friends knew. The arrival of a Saudi Princess in Ontario, Canada, caused a stir last year. The Canadians were used to royalty, but European royalty for the most part. Princes and Princesses from Monaco, England and elsewhere in the European Union came to Canada from time to time. The Canadians were especially enamored of British Royalty. They had a real fetish for the Queen of England and her progeny, especially Prince William and his commoner bride, Princess Kate.
Saudi royalty was something else altogether in the eyes of proper Canadian society. For starters, the Saudi royalty's myriad men and women were filthy rich and actually had political power, unlike the few royals of England, Sweden and Monaco, who were just figureheads. The shopping and traveling antics of Saudi royals were notorious worldwide. Wherever they went, excess followed. All that oil money had to be spent somewhere, and the young men and women from Saudi Arabia's most powerful families weren't shy about spending it. Whether in New York, Toronto, Amsterdam, Paris, London or Vienna, they only stayed in the best hotels, drove the best cars and put American billionaires to shame with their lavish spending. Saudi royals were new money for the most part, after all. And none of them could match Saudi Princess Taja Hakim when it came to excess and extravagance.
Taja Hakim's six-foot-one, lean and athletic figure, coupled with her bronze skin, long curly black hair and bronze eyes made her a darling of the international media. The young woman with the looks of a Hollywood starlet, the body of an Olympic athlete and the mindset of a conniving Diva simply dazzled them. Hollywood studios begged her to appear in their movies. Artists begged her to pose for portraits. Always she declined. Last year, she scandalized much of Saudi society when pictures of her in a bikini at a beach in Los Angeles, California, were taken by the paparazzi. Now, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has a strict moral and social code, one which not even the royals could escape indefinitely. They got mad at Taja because she never wore a burka or even a hijab while outside Saudi Arabia. She loved showing her hair and her figure by going bare-headed, usually clad in skin-tight outfits. Scandalous? Indeed.
Taja Hakim knew that many of the Kingdom's conservative-minded citizens viewed her as nothing but a piece of filth who escaped punishment for her cavalier attitude and wild deeds because of her rank and family name. The Great King was fond of Princess Taja Hakim, and her family, and while he favored them, no one in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia or elsewhere in the Muslim world would dare touch them. To do so would condemn the doer of said misdeed to a swift death, and only if the Great King and his people were feeling merciful. Taja Hakim knew her position was precarious, but she refused to bow down to fate and circumstance. She wanted to live her life, even if it got her killed.
If anyone knew what she was up to tonight, Taja Hakim knew she'd be a dead woman for sure. Not even the Great King would be able to save her if people found out. And yet, she wanted this more than anything. Three discreet knocks on her door. The young woman practically jumped, feeling her heart thundering in her chest. She took a deep breath, then opened the door. Standing before her was a tall young woman. Her friend and classmate Juanita McBride. Smiling brightly, Taja welcomed her friend into her not so humble abode, a dorm meant for four girls which the Carleton University administration saw fit to bestow upon her because she was royalty and was paying the big bucks. Juanita smiled wolfishly at Taja, and the two hugged tenderly. Taja briefly kissed Juanita, then closed the door behind them.
Taja Hakim smiled at Juanita McBride, drinking the sight of the woman who stole her heart. Juanita, the five-foot-ten, self-described "chubby but funky" African-American gal from the City of Boston, Massachusetts. The first and only person whom Princess Taja Hakim of Saudi Arabia had ever loved. Juanita looked real good in a black leather jacket over a blue T-shirt featuring Bob Marley, black sweatpants and sneakers, her long, neatly dreadlocked hair tucked under a green and white Boston Celtics cap. Juanita licked her lips, smiled cockily then pulled Taja close to her. Gently, they embraced and kissed again.