Sultan of Brunei Feuds With Brother, Orders Palace Hotel SoldPrince Jeffri Bolkiah, the younger brother of Hassanal Bolkiah, the Sultan of Brunei, has been ordered by the Court of Brunei to sell off the Palace Hotel, among other properties, according to the Times of London. The Sultan and Jeffri haven’t spoken in the past two years; according to the Sultan, his brother owes him upwards of 3 billion pounds. Jeffri disputes this, but since Brunei’s constitution (written by the Sultan) says His Majesty “can do no wrong in either his personal or any official capacity,” well, he’s pretty much screwed. Which is why in the past few years Jeffri’s sold off, according to the Times, “400 Victorian lampposts, two unused Mercedes-Benz fire engines, several hundred Louis XIV gilt chairs, a fleet of forklift trucks, jewelry, the machinery to operate a bowling alley and 16,000 tonnes of Italian marble which were stored in 21 warehouses,” as well as his 180-foot yacht, which he had lovingly named Tits. We are absolutely bowled over by this information. Not by the insane amount of wealth possessed by these people or the oil-rich country’s bizarre oligarchical structure but by the implications this has for Gossip Girl. Is the character of Chuck, whose family owns the Palace on the show, actually a reference to notorious playboy Jeffri? It’s more multilayered than we thought! We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again. Those people are geniuses.
Sultan’s Brother To Repay Billions [Times of London]