| Princess Ameerah al-Taweel | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1983 Saudi Arabia |
| Residence | Riyadh, Saudi Arabia |
| Nationality | Saudi Arabia |
| Occupation | Princess, Businesswoman |
| Title | Her Highness |
| Religion | Islam |
| Spouse | Al-Waleed bin Talal |
Princess Amira al-Taweel (born 1983) is Vice-Chairwoman of the Board of Trustees and Head of the Executive Committee of the Alwaleed bin Talal Foundations. HH Princess Ameerah supports a wide range of humanitarian interests in both Saudi Arabia and around the world. The Foundation is an international, non-profit organization dedicated to supporting programs and projects aimed at poverty alleviation, disaster relief, interfaith dialogue and, perhaps most importantly at this time in our history, women’s empowerment.
Princess Ameerah, the only wife of Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, Chairman of Kingdom Holding Company, travels extensively on behalf of the Alwaleed bin Talal Foundations in an effort to better understand the most pressing challenges facing our world. In visiting NGO’s and other aid and development organizations, she aims to improve and promote the image of Saudi women as she represents the Foundations, implementing projects and conducting field service trips.
Abroad, the Princess has inaugurated the “Alwaleed Bin Talal Village” orphanage in Burkina Faso and traveled to Pakistan to provide aid and relief to the country’s flood victims. Together with HRH Prince Philip Duke of Edinburgh, Princess Ameerah also formally opened the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Centre of Islamic Studies at the University of Cambridge, where she accepted from Prince Philip an 800th Anniversary Medal for Outstanding Philanthropy. Most recently she has spearheaded a relief mission to Somalia, where she and her husband, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal oversaw the distribution of Foundations sponsored aid.
Princess Ameerah has spoken out publicly in the US on NBC’s Today, CNN International and NPR, as well as in Time magazine and Foreign Policy Magazine in support of both women’s right to drive in her country of Saudi Arabia and the broader issue of women’s overall empowerment to contribute fully in Saudi society. Noted for her forward thinking and compassionate and nuanced approach to revolution in the Middle East, she has been featured in Newsweek, The Daily Beast, Huffington Post and was recently interviewed by Piers Morgan. She spoke in a special session at the 2011 Clinton Global Initiative, entitled, Voices for Change in the Middle East & North Africa, in which she discussed her views on the current movements for change in the region with President Clinton. Her self-described approach to reform is one of “evolution not revolution” and it is this positive and determined perspective that defines her view of the future of her country.
Princess Ameerah is a magna cum laude graduate of New Haven University with a degree in Business Administration. She is also a member of the Board of Trustees of Silatech , an international youth employment organization with a focus on youth empowerment in the Arab world through the creation of jobs and greater economic opportunities, and by working to find new and innovative approaches to the challenge of unemployment in the region.
In 2010, Princess Ameerah received the ITP Special “Humanitarian Award” on behalf of the Alwaleed bin Talal Foundation at the Arabian Business Achievement Awards ceremony. [1][2]