RIYADH:

When Cristiano Ronaldo and Georgina Rodriguez announced their engagement this month, two things stood out: the outsized diamond ring, and their unmarried cohabitation in conservative Saudi Arabia.

The celebrity couple and their blended brood of five children have been living in the birthplace of Islam for more than two years, untroubled by laws against extra-marital relationships.

Their situation highlights the fact that while authorities now turn a blind eye for foreigners, such privileges remain off-limits for Saudis, who must still get married before living together.

Foreign couples, including Muslims, can now move in together or stay at hotels without being married, an arrangement that has only been tolerated in recent times.

It’s “part of a broader social transformation in Saudi Arabia”, said Sebastian Sons of the German think tank CARPO.

“While conservative rules and regulations remain in place, they are less dominant than in previous years. 

As a result, these strict rules are now applied with greater flexibility and pragmatism,” he told AFP.

In major cities, after decades of gender separation, young Saudis can now mingle freely in public spaces, another sign of the country’s loosening-up.

However, living together before marriage remains a rarity, reserved mainly for the well-heeled who quietly share accommodation in expensive residential compounds.

Ronaldo, 40, and model Rodriguez, 31, are an incongruous feature of Saudi life, continually posting about their luxurious lifestyle, often with sultry poses in revealing clothing.

They have been generally embraced by the youthful Saudi population, two-thirds of it under 35, who reacted to their engagement with well-wishes, memes and jokes.

However, buried among the good-humoured responses — and comments about the multimillion-dollar ring — were pockets of disapproval.

“How could the land of the two holy mosques accept such impurity for two years?” posted Raad Mohammed on X, referring to Mecca and Medina, Islam’s holiest sites.

“Their children are children of sin,” wrote another social media user called Asma.

It is hard to imagine Ronaldo and Rodriguez in the Saudi Arabia of just a few years ago, when religious police would harangue women for violating the strict dress code, and cinemas and live music were banned.
Under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler, much has changed, as he attempts to open up the country and end its economic reliance on oil.

Many women now forgo veils and head-coverings in urban centres, non-Muslim tourists are allowed, and since 2018, women can legally drive.

Saudi petrodollars have attracted a steady stream of international stars and sports events, and lavish resorts and entertainment districts have sprung up.

“In the past we were strictly checking the marital status” of guests, said a Riyadh-based hotel reservations manager who gave his name as Al Waleed.

“Now we don’t care about who stays with whom.”
Ronaldo, signed by Al Nassr for a hefty fee in early 2023, has been central to this strategy.

Since his arrival to enormous fanfare, a stream of top players have joined him in the Saudi Pro League, and Saudi has won a giant prize: hosting the 2034 World Cup.

“Ronaldo has gained significant prominence within the Saudi football community, where he is seen as both a role model and an ideal ambassador for the government’s ambitious goal of placing Saudi Arabia firmly on the global football map,” said Sons.

Ronaldo and Rodriguez, soon to be respectably married, will remain a fixture in Riyadh for some time.
In June, after much speculation, the five-time Ballon d’Or winner extended his contract with Al-Nassr to 2027.