SULTAN OF BLING
WITH a personal wealth of £15billion, the Sultan of Brunei is the second wealthiest monarch in the world, behind the King of Thailand.
But this week, the Muslim sovereign is in danger of becoming one of the most hated – after he declared members of the LGBT community would be stoned to death under a new Sharia Law.
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This barbaric stance will also see thieves punished by amputation of their hands and feet, and Muslims whipped for drinking alcohol.
The move has prompted international outcry and George Clooney has called for a boycott on the Sultan’s hotels – including the Dorchester in London and the Beverly Hills Hotel in LA.
But it’s unlikely to make a dent in the Sultan’s huge fortune which is said to increase by £80 a second from oil assets.
The Sultan, named Hassanal Bolkiah, 72, has been on the throne in the oil rich nation for 52 years and has hobnobbed with many of the Royal family, including the Queen and Prince Phillip.
He is renowned for splashing out on expensive cars worth up to £10 million each, a property portfolio worth billions and private jets complete with solid gold fittings.
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His extravagant spending has also seen him splash £19k flying his favourite stylist out to Brunei via private jet for a haircut - and he has even been known to have his polo shoes flown out to a match by helicopter.
Here we take a look inside the lavish lifestyle of the spendthrift Sultan.
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£5m weddings and private Jacko gigs
The Sultan loves a wedding, having had three of his own – and splashing out millions on each.
In 1965, he wed his cousin Raja Isteri Pengiran Anak Hajah Saleha, who bore him six children, including Crown Prince Al-Muhtadee.
Polygamous marriages are legal in Brunei, so the Sultan remarried, but Raja still remains his wife and Queen Consort.
He met second wife Hajah Mariam when she was working as an air hostess on the national airline and wed her in 1982 – a year before first wife Queen Saleha gave birth to their sixth child.
He divorced Hajah – the mother of four more children – in 2003 and stripped her of her royal titles before wedding TV presenter Azrinaz Mazhar, who gave him two more children before they divorced in 2010.
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Despite being a father of 12, he digs deep when it comes to his own kids tying the knot.
The lavish weddings of five of his children were each celebrated for over a week and are said to have cost over £5m each.
When his eldest son, the Crown Prince, married teen bride Sarah Salleh, 17, the bride wore jewel-encrusted Christian Louboutin heels, as well as a chunky pure gold anklet.
For the wedding of his oldest daughter, Princess Rashidah, Whitney Houston was flown in to sing at the reception and the Sultan paid her £5.5million.
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But that pales into insignificance when it comes to the celebration of his own 50th birthday, in 1996.
The fortnight of celebrations – which cost over £20m - included a polo match and a gala dinner for 3,000 at the opulent Palace, with caviar from the endangered beluga and free-flowing champagne.
The wealthy ruler paid Micheal Jackson £14 million to perform at three concerts - one for 6,000 of his subjects and the other two for Sultan’s private guests.
At the end to the celebrations, every guest left with a solid gold medal.
Air-con for the ponies
Home for the 29th Sultan, who has been married and divorced three times, is the Instana Nurul Iman Palace – the largest Royal residence in the world.
Built over two years, it cost just over £1billion and boasts 1,788 rooms and 257 bathrooms.
Decorated throughout with gold and diamond fixtures, it also has five swimming pools, a banquet hall for over 5000 guests and mosque with space for 1,500.
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Even the 200 polo ponies enjoy the height of luxury – with a purpose built stable complete with air- conditioning.
The Sultan’s London pad is St John’s Lodge in Regents Park, which consists of three linked properties in the most expensive postcode in the capital.
The opulent residence was bought for £40million in 1994 and it’s now estimated to be worth £110m, making it the most expensive private house in the UK.
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He also owns properties on the Gold Coast of Australia and in the US, in Las Vegas and Los Angeles, and he is generous when it comes to gifting houses to family members.
In 1997, he gave his playboy brother Prince Jefri a mega-compound in Las Vegas worth £45million.
Built in a prime Sin City site, it has 92 rooms, 29 bedrooms and 42 bathrooms, a tennis court, three swimming pools, and a large garage which houses 11 cars.
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The £5billion car collection with a gold-plated Rolls
Appropriately for someone who has a fortune in oil, the Sultan is something of a petrol-head, owning the world’s largest car collection.
His 7,000 motors include over 500 Mercedes, 450 Ferraris, 380 Bentleys, over 100 Koenigsegg, 21 Lamborghinis, 11 Aston Martins, 179 Jaguars and 209 BMWs.
The £5billion collection also boasts 600 Rolls Royces including a 24-carat gold-plated Silver Spur Limo used for Royal weddings.
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Planes with crystal fittings and solid gold sinks
The Sultan’s fleet of private planes includes a customised Boeing 747, with a living room and bedroom decorated in gold and crystal.
The bathrooms on the £233m plane also boast washbasins of solid gold.
He also owns a customised Airbus worth £75m, and a Boeing 767 worth £136m.
It’s not just friends and family who feel the benefit of the luxury aircraft – he once flew his barber in for single haircut which cost him a total of £19,000.
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Court papers in 2012 revealed he paid £1.26million to his badminton coach, £1.25million for acupuncture and massage and £50,000 on guards for his exotic birds.
Two housekeepers were also paid £7million each.
He is also generous with gifts – spending £17million a year on diamonds and jewellery as presents for family members.
In fact, the Brunei Royal family spent so much at London jewellers Asprey that, in 1995, he decided to buy the company – at a cost of £320million.
It could work out as a saving in the long run.
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But despite his clear wealth, his new Islamic laws have sparked international condemnation.
Now, an honorary degree awarded by the University of Aberdeen to the Sultan of Brunei is under review as his country makes gay sex an offence punishable by stoning to death.
A spokesperson for Amnesty said: “Brunei must immediately halt its plans to implement these vicious punishments, and revise its Penal Code in compliance with its human rights obligations. The international community must urgently condemn Brunei’s move to put these cruel penalties into practice.
“To legalize such cruel and inhuman penalties is appalling of itself. Some of the potential ‘offences’ should not even be deemed crimes at all, including consensual sex between adults of the same gender.”