Row over Vogue Arabia cover featuring Princess of Saudi Arabia

A Vogue cover photo of a Saudi princess behind the wheel of a red convertible has ignited a heated debate following a string of arrests of women’s rights activists.

The Vogue Arabia June issue front cover.

Photograph: Tasneem Al Sultan/Vogue Arabia

The image of Princess Hayfa bint Abdullah al-Saud on the Vogue Arabia June issue cover became the object of critique.  The image featured the princess seated in the driver’s seat wearing leather gloves and high heels for June edition was published as the kingdom prepares to lift over a decade driving ban on women.

The issue is dedicated to the “trailblazing women of Saudi Arabia” and lauds the reforms launched by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who has sought to loosen social restrictions in the conservative kingdom and curb the powers of religious hardliners.

The princess remarked, whose cover photo was shot in the desert outside the western city of Jeddah -“Personally, I support these changes with great enthusiasm”.

But this image was hugely criticised by several campaigners protesting at the arrests in May of at least 11 activists, mostly identified by rights groups as veteran women campaigners for the right to drive and to end Saudi’s “male guardianship system”.

At least four of those activists were released last week but the fate of the others remains unclear. Reports in state-backed media branded some of the detainees as traitors and “agents of embassies”.

Many on social media posted the Vogue cover with images of the detained activists photoshopped over the princess’s face to prove solidarity and in support of the true patriots or the ones who are truly the “trailblazing women of Saudi Arabia”.  

Analysts believe that the Vogue cover, which caused a huge global criticism, has underlined the limits of reforms masterminded by the crown prince. He has recently undertaken a global tour aimed at reshaping the image of Saudi Arabia.

In the midst of this heated controversy, the kingdom is set to lift its decades-old ban on women driving on June 24.