Just after the New Year this year, there was good news from the royal family of Brunei, that Princess Asama, the fifth daughter of His Majesty the Sultan of Brunei, tied the knot with her cousin Prince Bahar.
The king's marriage is a major event in the country, not only the national holiday, but also the wedding held for a week, super luxurious.
39岁的新娘子阿莎玛公主，换了多套礼服，包括一套镶满水晶的象牙白色长袖鱼尾礼服以及同款长版头纱，
A fuchsia long-sleeved gold silk dress with gold jewelry,
There is also an iron-gray glossy dress that shows off the graceful figure,
The most eye-catching feature of this dress is the sparkling diamond necklace on Princess Asama's chest.
In the center of the necklace, three large teardrop diamonds of about 50 carats are set out, which makes Princess Asama more delicate and noble, and also blinds everyone's eyes.
Brunei's royal family is not as famous as the British and Thai royal families, but it is rich, and His Majesty the Sultan of Brunei has a net worth of $28 billion – enough for his 12 children to enjoy the most luxurious lifestyle.
It is said that the emperor's daughter does not worry about marrying.
The 41-year-old groom, Prince Bahar, is the son of His Majesty the Sultan of Brunei, Prince Jeffrey.
They are uncles and siblings, close relatives of a grandfather, very close relatives, equivalent to His Majesty the Sultan of Brunei and his own brother becoming in-laws.
His Majesty's own brother Prince Jeffrey (left), His Majesty the Sultan of Brunei (second from left) with his bride and wife and his wife
Perhaps marriage between close relatives is a tradition in the royal family.
Moreover, as technology becomes more and more developed, I am afraid that there is no need to worry about the IQ of the children born to the two in the future.
The whole wedding was very lively, and Princess Asama's mother, Mariam, and Prince Bahar's father, Prince Jeffrey, were invited to attend and were honored as guests.
Princess Asama and her mother Mariam
In fact, the story of Mariam and Prince Jeffrey is absurd, which once made His Majesty the Sultan of Brunei so worried that his head was almost split in half.
Let's start with Mariam.
Mariam is the second wife of the Sultan of Brunei and was officially married in 1981.
Mariam
The mixed-Japanese-Scottish descendant, a flight attendant at Royal Brunei Airlines, gave birth to two princes and two princesses, including Princess Asama, who married this time.
Mariam with her four children
It can be said that His Majesty the Sultan of Brunei favored her very much, often taking her and the queen to various diplomatic occasions.
Originally, an Islamic man could have married four wives, not to mention a king.
His Majesty the Sultan married his cousin Salah before he succeeded to the throne at the age of 19.
His Majesty the Sultan and Queen Salah
But since marrying Mariam, His Majesty the Sultan has never remarried, which shows that he is still very fond of her.
In 1997, Sudan became the richest man in the world with a huge asset of 35 billion US dollars, so it can be said that Mariam enjoyed full glory and wealth as the sultan's favorite princess.
However, for some reason, the second lady suddenly announced her divorce from the Sultan of Brunei in 2003 and was stripped of all titles and titles, and the reason for the divorce is still unknown.
However, it was rumored that Mariam had an unruly private life and was abandoned because of this.
Despite the divorce, she was still the mother of two princesses and princes, and His Majesty the Sultan was quite tolerant, not only did not treat her poorly, but gave her a huge alimony of 500 million US dollars, and allowed her to take away all the jewels she had been given, and there were still groups of servants around her, and the expenses were all borne by the royal family.
Imagine, if you can have a life like Mariam, most people will be satisfied,
But she didn't know how to cherish it.
Loneliness and boredom led her to regularly travel to casinos in places like Singapore, Macau and London to gamble wildly, and she even became a VIP member in these places to enjoy endless luxury and carnival.
There is a good saying: "Paper cannot contain fire, gold must be hidden".
However, Mariam seems to lack this concept, unfortunately encounters a trap set by scammers and pays a heavy price.
One day in December 2003, while visiting a London casino as usual, Mariam met Amir, an Iraqi fortune teller in her 60s.
Bored and confused, Mariam, who was empty in her heart, decided to ask Amir for advice on divination.
Mariam and her two sons
Amazingly, Amir told all her stories verbatim, every detail as if she had experienced it herself.
In the emotional world told by Amir, Mariam gradually became intoxicated, and the two became girlfriends who talked about everything, and even the various secrets of the Brunei royal family, Mariam also told Amir all without reservation.
Mariam and youngest son, Prince Martin
In the second month of their acquaintance, Amir inexplicably introduces her to a young man, suggesting that Mariam seems to be someone she is destined to meet.
Although they could not meet each other, they exchanged affection through the phone.
As a powerful rich woman, Mariam is also a lot of money, in the seven months of "getting along", Mariam has transferred 7 times, a total of 1.254 million pounds, to this mysterious man.
Not only did she transfer money, she also sent £760,000 in cash and plenty of gifts, as she believed it was destiny and true love.
Although Mariam has always longed to meet the mysterious man, he always shirks and dodges, giving all kinds of reasons for not being seen.
Mariam began to feel strange, because even the most stupid person could detect some contradictions in the words and actions of the mysterious man.
Finally, after some investigation, Mariam was horrified to discover that the so-called "mysterious man" turned out to be Amir in disguise!
Anger and disappointment welled up in her heart, and she decided to file a lawsuit in a London court to make Amir face the law.
However, because of the involvement of the Brunei royal family, His Majesty the Sultan did not want to cause a catastrophe and tried to suppress the exposure of the case.
However, His Majesty the Sultan's power is not so great as to influence the decisions of the London courts.
The London court held that freedom of expression was paramount, and it was clear that the case must be tried fairly.
In the end, although Mariam eventually won the case as a victim, all the details of the fraud case were revealed, but the Brunei royal family was discredited.
However, for His Majesty the Sultan, compared to his own brother, having such a bad daughter-in-law is really nothing.
His Majesty the Sultan and his brother Prince Geoffrey
Originally, the sultan's royal family was very rich.
As one of the few absolute monarchies in the world today, the Sultan can definitely be called "a statue" - in addition to being a king, he is also the head of state, and he is in charge of finance and defense, and at the same time serves as a religious leader, which can really be described as a party, government and army.
Therefore, most of Brunei's wealth is also concentrated in the hands of the royal family.
可是，苏丹陛下再有钱，架不住有个坑哥的亲弟弟。
With his own strength, the younger brother made his brother fall from the first place to the third place on the royal wealth list.
The younger brother of this pit brother is Prince Jeffrey, the uncle of Princess Asama and the father of the groom official.
Before the outbreak of the Asian financial crisis, there were two things that made the Sultan of Brunei very annoyed, both related to Prince Jeffrey -
First, the American tabloids rumored that the extravagant prince even had his toilet brush gilded;
Second, a young lady accused Jeffrey of having raised 40 women in the palace for his lewdness, and wanted to kidnap and imprison her.
Originally, Jeffrey was the youngest of His Majesty's three brothers, and he was pampered since childhood, and as an adult, he was even more profligate, keen on eating, drinking and having fun, and had no interest in the throne.
It is precisely because of this that His Majesty the Sultan is very at ease with his little brother, without any suspicion, and indirectly allows these arrogant and lascivious problems of him.
Since his younger brother did not covet the throne, and he was too busy to keep busy, His Majesty the Sultan was happy to assign him some important errands.
From 1986, Jeffrey officially served as Brunei's Chancellor of the Exchequer and headed the Brunei Investment Authority.
没错，杰弗里是不贪恋权力，但让哥哥苏丹陛下没想到的是，他贪财！
At this point, he seemed to regard the royal property as his own private pocket, squandering and extravagant.
After taking office, Jeffrey began a mode of crazy investing.
In addition to buying stocks and bonds from developed countries such as the United States, Britain, and Germany, it also purchased a large number of real estate.
He bought more than 600 luxury homes around the world.
It is said that in 1994, Jeffrey saw a private house while visiting the UK, and he immediately waved his hand and bought it for 40 million pounds, creating the highest price of a British mansion at that time.
In addition to luxury properties, Jeffrey also likes to acquire top hotels around the world, such as the Athens Plaza Hotel in Paris and the Beverly Hills Hotel in California, which cost tens of thousands of dollars for a single night.
In addition, perhaps influenced by the "luxury car control" brother, Jeffrey was not to be outdone, and bought more than 2,300 luxury cars.
In order to facilitate "going to heaven and earth" at any time, Jeffrey also bought 5 luxury yachts and 9 private jets.
With a mansion, there must be beautiful people to live in.
Although Brunei is a polygamous country, and His Majesty the Sultan has only married 3 wives, Prince Jeffrey has been married 6 times, divorced 4 times, and has 18 children (excluding illegitimate children).
But he was still not satisfied, still went outside to throw flowers and grass, and found more than 40 beauties from various countries to fill his harem.
据说，只要他在杂志、电视上看到心仪的美人，就会让手下用尽一切办法给他找来。
However, there are people who do not believe in his evil.
As mentioned earlier, Miss America Shannon Machetic, who prosecuted him, was taken to by Jeffrey and forcibly imprisoned in the palace despite her strong objections.
后来，也正是因为这位勇敢的美国小姐用一纸诉状将杰弗里告上法庭，文莱王室的许多不堪内幕才展现在世人面前。
In the 90s, Jeffrey's daily expenses were as high as 5 million yuan.
Jeffrey worked for less than 12 years and spent a total of $40 billion on Brunei's budget.
But these investments did little to bring much wealth growth to Brunei's treasury, as most of it was embezzled by Jeffrey.
据说，他收购时，通常比市场价高出3倍，这高出来的钱自然就流进了他自己的腰包。
In 1997, the Asian financial crisis broke out.
杰弗里掌管的投资局血亏100亿美元，文莱王室财富严重缩水，苏丹陛下这才发现弟弟蛀出了一个惊天大窟窿。
In this way, Jeffrey's "good days" finally came to an end.
Before his brother could punish him, he had already packed up his things and fled to Europe.
Jeffrey's series of riots caused great harm to the entire country of Brunei, and the sultan was so enraged that he dismissed him from office and confiscated his property, and took him to court.
Subsequently, the Sultan took Jeffrey's property out for auction, real estate, airplanes, yachts, luxury cars, as well as countless precious jewelry, famous painting collectibles and so on, all auctioned and realized to make up for the deficit in the treasury.
It was also the biggest auction in the world to date.
Later, Jeffrey himself went into hiding to escape prosecution and arrest by Brunei and British courts.
In 2009, perhaps because the Sultan of Brunei always remembered the family affection, he voluntarily withdrew the charges against his brother, no longer pursued legal responsibility against him, and recalled him to Brunei to live his old age in peace.
Since then, Jeffrey's figure has appeared frequently in the public activities of the royal family again.
In fact, as members of the royal family, especially the rich royal family, they are not so much addicted to prosperity and wealth, but they are maintaining a cultural tradition and historical accumulation, which may not be experienced and understood by our ordinary people.
但是，如果这奢华的生活是通过贪污、通过剥削民脂民膏而来，那么，即便世界再多元，历史文化再值得传承，这份纸醉金迷也是不值得提倡的。