Thursday, October 3, 2019

Palace insiders close to ex-Malaysian King slam his Russian beauty queen ex-wife for divorce demands of '£8m London home, £1.2m Moscow flat and £24k-a-month'


The former King of Malaysia and his ex-wife Oksana Voevodina are locked in a bitter divorce after their short-lived marriage lasting only one year.

Speaking for the first time, sources close to the Sultan of Kelantan has rounded on his Russian beauty queen ex-wife over her 'astronomical' divorce demands.


The former beauty pageant winner is seeking a £1.2m Moscow apartment and a £24,000-a-month allowance to cover the son born during their marriage - and later an £8m London home, they say, though MailOnline have not been able to establish whether his ex-wife accepts this is correct.

The British-educated ex-king asked courtiers: 'Who does she think I am... Bill Gates?'

A source commented of the couple's son, Leon: 'Is he attending Eton next year that she needs to much for an infant?' 

They also say he lavished on her a glittering wedding ring she craved, believed to be a Jacob Arabo creation worth £203,000.

He also bought her a Porsche Cayenne which in Russia can cost up to £117,500.

The former Miss Moscow wed the 49-year-old sultan in a secret Islamic ceremony in the Malaysian state of Kelantan on June 7 last year. 

This wedding was followed by a glittering reception in Moscow in December which Oksana's camp announced their unlikely union to the world.

But sources close to the private royal says the marriage was doomed as soon details of the reception appeared in the Russian media and he was ill prepared for the avalanche of publicity that followed.  

In November last year, the then king had believed the Russian reception was a strictly private gathering with a limited number of relatives including her parents, and friends.

The reclusive but domestically popular ruler had not been prepared for his stunning bride, the daughter of a provincial Russian orthopaedic surgeon, going public, and believed she had understood his strong desire for 'discretion'. 

Relatives say he was noticeably 'uncomfortable' when the reception turned into a 'glitzy showbiz event' with singers and performers.

'The turning point was the publication of photographs from the Moscow reception,' said a source.

But worse rapidly followed in the days after the reception. 

Suddenly footage of Oksana' clutching a Champagne glass during her clinch with actor Elisey Polischuk, 29, flashed around the world causing deep concern in conservative Malaysia.

The facts of this tawdry TV show remain in dispute, but Oksana's friends say she was entirely open with the monarch about her past personal and professional life.

Royal sources strongly denies this, and one said: 'If he had known about that pool video, he would never have married her.

'No responsible person would. You don't need to be a sultan to make that decision.' 

But sources say he now knew she was 'not fit to be queen' and indeed even after their wedding he didn't introduce her to his parents.

The king left her in Moscow when Oksana was four months pregnant and abdicated his throne within a month, although the two events are not linked, insist palace sources. 

He has still never met the couple's son, Leon.

This summer the sultan used the harshest Islamic divorce known as Triple Talak to break the marriage.

When the breakdown came, Oksana refused an 'amicable split' despite an 'extremely generous' offer, claim sources close to the palace.

Oksana has denied this saying there is scant progress in the divorce settlement.

It is also claimed that Oksana twice refused DNA tests on the son she gave birth to in May. Oksana denies this is the case.

The led to the sultan's Singapore lawyer issuing a statement 'there is no objective evidence as yet as to the biological father of the child'.

A royal source said: 'Perhaps she first wanted to see what the child looked like. Maybe she wasn't sure herself who was the biological father.'

Insiders mischievously wondered why Oksana had named the boy Leon which matches a close longtime Russian male friend of Oksana's called Leonid Zasukhin.

This businessman in his late 30s - photographed in bed with Oksana some years ago (IMAGE) - has boasted that he was a student in Vladimir Putin's FSB intelligence service academy in Moscow.

However, there is no suggestion the child is Zasukhin's, and is now known to have a distinctly Malaysian appearance.

Oksana's social media postings of their intimate moments also enraged the royal circle.

'She likes to take selfies all the time…he didn't expect her to use them against him like this,' said an aide.

'It's clear she has no respect for the royal family. It's really sad.'

It was her Instagram campaign - aimed at her half a million followers - that triggered a statement from the palace last month regretting 'the personal choices made in his private life' in marrying Oksana, while accusing her of defaming the royal family with her 'lies on social media'.

They also felt she was 'disrespectful' to the royal family for waging her campaign at a time when the sultan's father was terminally-ill, they add.

One declared: 'Why was she not content with just being a wife and remaining discreetly in the background?  

'She was the first woman in history of Malaysia to declare herself the wife of the sultan to the media, and to her Instagram followers, without official palace recognition.

'This rubbed many people the wrong way, including the sultan's family members.' 

She was criticised for denying a divorce had taken place, when a letter exists from a lawyer Alexander Dobrovinsky who had represented her vouching for this fact, claim the palace sources. 

Oksana has said she had no agreement with this lawyer.

And they questioned why she used Arkhangelskoye Palace near Moscow as background prop for pictures with and without her tiny son, which they feel gives misleading the impression she is still living in royal surroundings with the sultan, they say. 

While the sultan is no longer king, he remains ruler of the Kelantan state close to the Thailand border and a respected royal figure in Malaysia.

Royal sources said that the ex-monarch provided Oksana with a place to live in Russia for her and the child, and would make a 'generous' divorce settlement 'given they were only married for a year' and separated after six months.

'It won't be a huge sum' compared to amounts she has demanded.

Oksana last week denied to MailOnline in an exclusive interview that he had asked for a DNA test.

She also insisted there was no doubt the royal had fathered her child, and said she was ready for a DNA test if it was requested.

She said her son Leon is the spitting image of his father and she is willing to agree to a DNA test for the boy.

Appealing directly to her ex-husband to start being a father to Leon, the former Miss Moscow said: 'Faris, wake up! You have a son, and you are a father.

'And you are a royal. And no matter what happened to our marriage, I want my son to have both parents. Just think about your son.'

She declined to comment on other claims in this article from palace sources.


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