She inherited from her father, Prince Talal bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud, his nonconformity and his outspokenness, and from her mother, her deceptive beauty: Princess Sara is an unconventional Saudi woman. She considers herself a "People's Princess," aiming to serve them "without discrimination".
When she was still a teenager, she often accompanied her father, who was renowned for his commitment to humanitarian causes, in his many visits to poor households worldwide.
''I learned to love others on the ground, by witnessing poverty and people's miseries,'' stated the princess to "Saudiwave,'' from London where she established her home with her children since 2007.
Sara had visited many countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America, as part of missions conducted by her father, who was considered as one of the leading philanthropists in the world, as Unicef's Special Envoy or as president of regional and international humanitarian organizations.
Honored by Lord Sebastian Coe
On the 17th of September, Sara was a star guest at the inaugural ceremony, conducted in Middlesex University, of ''The Lee Smith Foundation Molecular Biology Laboratory'', a multi-million dollar laboratory dedicated to the fight against cancer.
She celebrated the opening of the research lab with London Olympics supremo, Lord Sebastian Coe, one of the greatest British athletes of all time, and John Smith, president of the foundation - whose wife (Lee) had died in 1982 of leukemia at the age of 29.
Top hospitals along with eminent physicians and scientists - including the "Father of Immunology", Professor Ivan Roitt, and Professor Ray Iles, who is based in the Cancer Centre at Middlesex University in London - are working with the Lee Smith foundation.
"My role as 'Global Ambassador for the Charity,' includes attending events in order to raise money and awareness for the researchers and scientists who have made this break through. Our goal is to make the vaccinations against the 11 diseases they are working on, which are related to cancer, available to the public.
We are conducting research in order to save the lives of thousands of cancer patients, and / or to relieve the suffering of many patients using advanced therapy treatments, " explained Sara to "Saudiwave".
Six months ago, the princess lost her mother, Moudhi bint Abdel Mohsen Al Tamimi Al-Angari, who died of cancer in Saudi Arabia.
"I lost my mother from cancer a few months back so this encouraged me even more to participate with the charity to fight this horrible disease that effects so many of us. This for me is a way of grieving for my mother however also motivates me to involve myself further to the charity," said Sara.
Alongside Emma Nicholson
Sara actively contributes to charities and projects sponsored by the "Amar" Foundation, a charity founded in 1991, after the first Gulf War, at the initiative of Baroness Emma Nicholson.
The Foundation has provided assistance to hundreds of thousands of refugees and displaced persons in Iraq, where it performed many services, including raising funds for the construction of hospitals, and distributing thousands of tons of food, clothes and drinking water.
Since 1996, "Amar" has broadened its activities to countries like Lebanon and Pakistan. he Foundation collaborates with the WHO, UNESCO and UNHCR.
Sara in the service of civil society
Before leaving Saudi Arabia, Sara had chaired a charitable foundationhttp://www.dsca.org.sa/ that takes care of children with "Down syndrome", a congenital chromosomal disorder manifested particularly by a decline in cognitive ability. It is a condition in which extra genetic material causes delays in the way a child develops, both mentally and physically. It affects about 1 in every 800 babies.
In Saudi, the princess had also led a campaign aiming to improve the deplorable living conditions of detainees in prisons. She visited several prisons "with the direct support of the Ministry of Interior and under its supervision."
Sara boasts about having "established a group of doctors and specialists close to the government to present a project that has improved these conditions, in terms of health, education and vocational training.
"I am not a rebel!"
Sara, however, refuses to be called "the rebel princess," a nickname that was "stuck" to her by some Arab journalists reacting to a Western press agency’s news report, published in March 2005.
It was after she had denounced the ultra conservatives for being the cause of restrictions on women and called on the kingdom's government to confront them in order to empower women. It was considered as a rare gesture by a female member of the Saudi royal family.
"They (government) have to confront them," Princess Sarah said, referring to influential conservatives in Saudi Arabia.
She urged the government to "combat them" and proclaimed loudly that "women should be full partners" in the ultraconservative kingdom. "The government has to recognize us as an equal half of society... This equal half has rights," she affirmed.
Such rights go beyond driving and voting to include equal rights in "court, (especially) in divorce cases, trade, and in making schooling for women obligatory in every village in the kingdom," she said.
"I'm not a rebel. I do not want to outbid. I do not pretend that I have the ability to change the world. I want to change my world, slowly and quietly. I work for the good of all without any discrimination. I am the princess of the people. That's why I slammed the doors of the palace, "asserted Sara to "Saudiwave".
[Translated by Nesrine TRABELSI, www.saudiwave.com ]
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