The “secret wife” of the late King Fahd of Saudi Arabia has been awarded millions of pounds by the High Court judge who believed her claim she had been told she would be looked after for the rest of her life.
Palestinian-born Janan Harb, 68, was told she had the right to more than £15m and the value of two London properties.
Ms Harb said she secretly married the king – who ruled from 1982 to 2005 – in 1968 when he was still a prince and the country’s interior minister.
She was just 19 at the time and the royal family opposed the marriage because she was from a Christian family, she said.
Ms Harb was sent away from Saudi Arabia in 1970 when the family “wrongly” blamed her for King Fahd’s methadone addiction, she added.
She told the court how she had been staying at the Dorchester Hotel in June 2003 when she was approached by Prince Abdul Aziz, the son of another of the king’s wives, who promised her financial security.
At the time of the meeting, the then-king was seriously ill and Ms Harb said Prince Abdul agreed to pay her £12m and transfer two flats in the prestigious Cheyne Walk part of Chelsea to her ownership, thereby fulfilling his father’s wishes.
The prince subsequently failed to honour the agreement and wrote to the court denying the claim.
However, Chancery Division judge Mr Justice Peter Smith sided with Ms Harb after the prince failed to attend court to give his side of the story, arguing that current monarch King Salman and his family thought attendance would create “a media circus”.
After the ruling, Ms Harb said: “This has been 12 years of misery for me. I am very happy with British justice.
“Thank God we have British justice. The prince wanted me to go to Saudi Arabia where he would had power over all this.
“I am very relieved. I only wish he could have honoured his father’s wishes … he is being very mean.
“This is a very difficult case. I really thank the judge so much. He was so understanding.”
(via Sky News)
