How Rich? Well.....In the Uber-Lavish Style to Which They've Become Accustomed

"[I will] do my best to come to a conclusion as to what is reasonable, while remembering that the exceptional wealth and remarkable standard of living enjoyed by these children during the marriage takes this case entirely out of the ordinary."

Justice Moor, British High Court

"Some of those figures on the trampolines the strawberries, the ponies -- would be absolutely shocking to average Emiratis or even expats, but the royals in Dubai bring ridiculous spending to a whole different level."

"I'd see it a lot. It wasn't uncommon for them to have tigers and leopards and monkeys just hanging around in their gardens, or they'd just change their cars every few days because they felt like it."

"It's the opposite [that some aristocrats or royals living elsewhere try to screen high-spending addiction from the public] -- if you did that it would be seen that you're not successful, that you're somehow down on your luck."

"So  you've got to have the best of the best."

David Haigh, British human rights lawyer

Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum and his estranged wife, Princess Haya Bint Al-Hussain  Reuters

For the ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum's former wife Princess Haya Bint al Hussein, the best-of-the-best is yawningly ordinary. "Household spending" to those rich as Croesus -- the legendary icon of untold wealth, reputed to have been the richest man on Earth -- comes to a neat $142.7 million annually. This refers not to the purchase of a sumptuous mansion-cum-palace, but the upkeep of said palace. And the two children of the royal pair must have a special trampoline; one that is built deeply inground, like a pool, the cost of which is $69,000. Oh and incidentally, allowance for a nine and 14 year-old each comes to a miserly $1.72 million annually.

 

That old slough-off of 'money is no object'? Well, it applies in spades to oil-wealthy royalty in the Middle East who it seems cannot spend the windfalls of energy exports fast enough or fully enough. For a lifestyle that the judge weighing the absolute minimum needs of a divorced wife and the offspring of a dissolved marriage of the ruler of Dubai, described as "truly opulent and unprecedented standard of living enjoyed by these parties". Yes, indeed!

 

How does $8.77 million annually for holidays, a paltry $1.72 million on leisure activities, $5.16 million to renovate an English country home every ten years, $3.26 million for an extension to a kitchen and addition of piza oven strike you? And why on Earth would a married couple with that kind of disposable income decide to call their marriage quits when each could live in a separate palace at a second's whim for relief from too-close contact?

 

Zabeel Palace, Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed

Ah well, Sheikh Mohammed lost his temper when Princess Haya had a fling with her bodyguard. So incensed was the cuckold that his wife fled the near geographic vicinity with children Jalila, 14, and Zayed, nine to London three years ago. The good judge found in Princess Haya's favour in a divorce settlement totalling $952.2 million. There remains some uncertainty whether the settlement will in fact fulfill Princess Haya's needs in upholding her living standards.

After all, Sheikh Mohammed has wealth in the stratosphere, his riches valued around $17.9 billion, making his obligation to pay his ex-wife and their two children under a billion in living expenses rather niggardly. In 1979 his first marriage to Sheika Hind bint Maktoum bin Juma Al Maktoum -- mother of a dozen of the Sheikh's thirty children -- was quite the public event in Dubai. He had a 20,000-seat stadium built for the occasion, a five-day extravaganza with a total cost of around $127 million.

The two offspring of this ill-fated marriage can be guaranteed they will never know squalid poverty living out of their $17 million annual allowance. This is a lifestyle shared by others in the oil-rich Middle East. Qatar's second in line to the throne, 30-year-old Sheikh Khalifa bin Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, for example, used Los Angeles' Beverley Wiltshire hotel as his student lodgings while attending the University of Southern California.

"From the moment al-Thani stepped off the plane, an entire economy quickly grew up around him to meet his wishes and whims", including drivers, security, fixers and, university faculty members reveal, "a graduate student who served as his academic 'Sherpa'," according to a Los Angeles Times investigation. And then there is the Saudi prince who reserved 80 individual seats on an Emirates plane for his falcons.

And not to be overlooked; Mohammed Bin Salman, crown prince and now de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, proud owner of the most costly home in the world, a $395-million French chateau. Owner as well of the world's most expensive artwork, a painting of Leonardo da Vinci's Salvator Mundi, purchased at Christie's for $576 million, displayed for his delectation on his superyacht.

 

The superyacht Pegasus VIII in all its glory   Getty