It's not breaking news that a royal family member would have expensive taste, but typically princesses have the cash flow to support their luxe lifestyles. That might not be the case for Saudi princess Maha bint Mohammed bin Ahmad al-Sudairi, who over the years has tried to skip out on a combined $27 million in bills at hotels and clothing stores.
The Princess made a habit of shopping at Paris' most expensive boutiques and leaving without paying. She spent $20 million at various stores, according to Vanity Fair, and upon exiting would have an assistant give the shop employees a note that read "Payment to follow." She got away with it for so long because she typically settled her bills, but when the money stopped coming, shop owners camped outside where she was staying in hopes to receive payment.
Princess Maha tried the same stunt at Paris' extravagant Shangri-La Hotel. She had ran up a $7 million tab after staying in 41 rooms for five months. The Princess tried to escape the hotel with an entourage of 60 people deep at 3:30 a.m. She was only allowed to leave after the hotel got French diplomats involved.
The reasons behind Princess Maha's non-payments are murky. Her run-in with the Shangri-La Hotel occurred near the death of her husband, which may have left her out of favor with King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. "The king was really over her at this point—he wanted nothing to do with her," a source told Vanity Fair.
Eventually, the shops and hotels were repaid after two of the Princess' storage units, which clothes, jewelry, artwork, and roughly 1,000 pairs of shoes, were seized and auctioned off. Other bills may have been finally settled by the Saudi royal family, who probably wanted to avoid a huge scandal, according to Vanity Fair.
Maybe next time the Princess will learn from the Prince of Morocco, who back in 2013 went on a lavish shopping spree without ever leaving the comfort of his palace. At least that way she can avoid being confronted in the hotel lobby, or leaving sketchy I.O.U notes.
[via Vanity Fair]
