Jennifer Gates and Egyptian showjumper Nayel Nassar got engaged during a skiing holiday in January. Instagram / Jennifer Gates
Jennifer Gates and Egyptian showjumper Nayel Nassar got engaged during a skiing holiday in January. Instagram / Jennifer Gates
Jennifer Gates and Egyptian showjumper Nayel Nassar got engaged during a skiing holiday in January. Instagram / Jennifer Gates
Jennifer Gates and Egyptian showjumper Nayel Nassar got engaged during a skiing holiday in January. Instagram / Jennifer Gates

‘He’s incredibly supportive’: Jennifer Gates opens up about her relationship with Egyptian showjumper Nayel Nassar


Katy Gillett
  • English
  • Arabic

Jennifer Gates, the eldest daughter of Microsoft founder Bill Gates and his wife Melinda, has opened up about her relationship with American-Egyptian showjumper Nayel Nassar in an interview with Sidelines magazine.

The pair got engaged back in January, during a romantic ski trip.

The Stanford graduate, 23, announced the engagement on Instagram, writing: “Nayel Nassar, you are one of a kind. Absolutely swept me off my feet this past weekend, surprising me in the most meaningful location over one of our many shared passions. I can’t wait to spend the rest of our lives learning, growing, laughing and loving together. Yes a million times over.”

Both attended Stanford University, but at different times. They met through a shared love of horses and were friends for a “very long time” before they started dating.

“Everything happened organically,” Gates, a trainee doctor, told the equestrian-focused publication in the interview. “We had discussed spending a future together, which I think is very important, but I was surprised – happily surprised – by the proposal.”

She said it was a moment she will cherish forever.

Jennifer Gates and Nayel Nassar celebrated their engagement with a Florida party. Instagram / jenniferkgates
Jennifer Gates and Nayel Nassar celebrated their engagement with a Florida party. Instagram / jenniferkgates

Now, she can’t wait until the pair tie the knot, although she’s still learning to straddle the worlds of horse riding and medicine in the meantime.

She went on to say she wouldn’t be able to do any of it without her support system, which includes Nassar.

“Nayel always reminds me to believe in myself, which is so important,” she said. “I’m so lucky to have him as a partner. He’s incredibly supportive, humble and loyal, and someone that I look forward to building a life with.”

Nassar, 29, was born in Chicago, but grew up in Kuwait, where members of his family still live. In 2009, he moved back to California, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in economics.

Instead of entering the world of finance, however, he carved out a successful career in showjumping.

He is ranked 35th in the world, and qualified to represent Egypt in the sport at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which will now take place in 2021, because of the coronavirus pandemic.

When they got engaged, Nassar also posted an announcement on his own Instagram account, saying: “I’m feeling like the luckiest (and happiest) man in the world right about now.

“Jenn, you are everything I could have possibly imagined ... and so much more. I can’t wait to keep growing together through this journey called life, and I simply can’t imagine mine without you any more. Love you more than you can possibly imagine, and thank you for making every single day feel like a dream to me. Here’s to forever!”

WITHIN%20SAND
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The specs
  • Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
  • Power: 640hp
  • Torque: 760nm
  • On sale: 2026
  • Price: Not announced yet
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Creator: Mike White

Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell

Rating: 4.5/5

Conflict, drought, famine

Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
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Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.

Destroyer

Director: Karyn Kusama

Cast: Nicole Kidman, Toby Kebbell, Sebastian Stan

Rating: 3/5 

UAE release: January 31 

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Founded over 50 years ago, the National Archives collects valuable historical material relating to the UAE, and is the oldest and richest archive relating to the Arabian Gulf.

Much of the material can be viewed on line at the Arabian Gulf Digital Archive - https://www.agda.ae/en

SPECS
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The specs

Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cyl turbo

Power: 247hp at 6,500rpm

Torque: 370Nm from 1,500-3,500rpm

Transmission: 10-speed auto

Fuel consumption: 7.8L/100km

Price: from Dh94,900

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