Saudi princess ordered Paris interior decorator to ‘kiss her feet’ and guard to ‘kill’ him,

Saudi princess ordered Paris interior decorator to ‘kiss her feet’ and guard to ‘kill’ him, say reports,” by Henry Samuel, Telegraph, 29 September 2016 (thanks to Robert):

A Saudi Arabian princess forced an interior decorator who took a photo of her flat in Paris to “kiss her feet” and told her bodyguard to “kill” him, according to French reports.

The decorator has reportedly filed a legal complaint against the princess, a daughter of the late king Khalid bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, over the incident.

The decorator said his terrifying ordeal started after he had taken a snap of the interior of the flat in a chic apartment block on Avenue Foch, in the affluent 16ème arrondissement, when the princess flew into a rage.

“You must kill him, this dog. He doesn’t deserve to live,” he told police she had screamed at her armed bodyguard because she thought that he had taken the picture to sell it to the press.

Guards of Saudi royals are authorised by the French interior ministry to bear arms, which is not the case for private security guards of French nationality, bar rare exceptions.

The decorator said he desperately tried to explain that he always took pictures of buildings where he conducted works to be sure to put back objects and furniture in the same place afterwards.

But the princess remained unconvinced and the decorator said her guard then punched him on the side of the head before binding his hands together.

In a fit of zeal, the guard then ordered his prisoner to “kiss the feet” of the princess, Le Point reported. He said when he refused, the guard pointed a gun at him.

According to police officers, the bruise marks were still visible when the decorator gave them his testimony.

He reportedly told them that his ordeal lasted four hours after which another royal employee photocopied his identity card and finally untied him and ordered the traumatised artisan “never to return to the 16ème arrondissement”.

The worker reportedly still tried to charge the Saudis for the decorating job, but was never paid the €20,000 he demanded. He claims that he was never given back his tools either…

By
K. Jagadeesh