In a highly controversial ruling, the Bulgarian Court has allowed wood-cutting in the lands belonging to the country’s former Tsar Simeon Saxe Coburg.

click to view the picture in TIME

The permission will be effective until a ban on wood-cutting, issued by the head of the State Forest Estate, comes into force.

The decision is controversial because at the beginning of October the lower court banned these activities: the ban was supposed to have immediate effect. This inexplicable twist has left senior politicians and ordinary Bulgarians both mystified and enraged. Many are talking about ‘double standards’ and question why the former Prime Minister is allowed preferential treatment.

The issue is even more divisive because Simeon Saxe Coburg’s very right of owning those lands is in question. In 2003, the Bulgarian Parliament (controlled at the time by Simeon’s party) decided to return seized assets to the Royal family; the compensations included those 450 hectares of forest lands, for which, according to some politicians and most legal experts, there was absolutely no basis. Indeed, just weeks ago several senior Bulgarian officials threatened Simeon Saxe-Coburg with court actions for the ‘disproportional compensations’.

To learn more about Royal Family of Bulgaria, visit this thread.

Marsel Bulgarian Royals Government, Scandal, Simeon II

 Although his life was never controversy-free, Bulgaria’s former Tsar and Prime Minister found himself in the midst of not one but several allegations recently.

click to view the picture in TIME

Several Bulgarian officials threatened Simeon Saxe-Coburg with court actions because he had allegedly been given more than the double of compensation he was entitled to under the country’s restitution process. In 2003, the Bulgarian Parliament, which was controlled by Simeon’s party at the time, decided to return some of the assets of the former royal family. It was later alleged that the compensations included about 450 hectares of forest lands, for which, according to some politicians, there was absolutely no legal basis.

In an interview to Israeli “Maariv” newspaper, the former Tsar denied those assertions: “Who did the land belong to in the past 50 years? Certainly not people: those in power had them. And later, those properties were left without care and were in pitiful condition. What should have I done – spend money on them and their maintenance, or leave them without proper care? When in 1998 the court ruled that as a Bulgarian citizen I had a right to restitution, no one said anything against it. When we donated 90 hectares to Sofia city hall, no one argued we were in right to do so. But from the moment I entered the politics, my opponents have been searching for such things to blacken my reputation”.

In the same newspaper, Simeon Saxe-Coburg denied another allegation – that he’s a heavy gambler. The former Tsar said that he’s visited casinos only 3 times in his entire life, out of curiosity, and all 3 visits were documented. He added: “After I became Prime Minister, I was accused of being a gambler, a Russian spy, a greedy person, whose motivation to return to his motherland was merely to gain back former Crown properties: all those accusation are complete nonsense!” Read more…

Marsel Bulgarian Royals European Union, Government, Interview, Scandal, Simeon II

 An un-named Saudi Princess has been granted asylum in Britian after having an illegitimate child with a British man. The Saudi Princess was given asylum after she claimed she would face the death penalty if she returned to Saudi Arabia. The Princess claims that she met her non-Muslim boyfriend while visiting Britian and got pregnant a year later.

The Princess was married to an elder man who is from the Royal Family. She claimed that he was had become suspicious of her behaviour. She persuaded her husdand to leave London, where she decided to have her child. She persuaded the court that if she returned to Saudi Arabia she would be punished by Sharia-Law.

The Home Office refused to discuss the case, and a spokesman for the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia in London was unavailable for comment.

dazzling Saudi Royals Asylum, England, Legal Matters, Scandal

Click here to view the article from the Daily Mail

RJ-H PR was founded in 1997 by Sophie Rhys-Jones, now the Countess of Wessex and wife of Prince Edward, the youngest son of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, and Murray Harkin. For the past eight years, RJ-H PR has been dealing with its share of negative publicity. This started when the Countess of Wessex was recorded by Mazher Mahmood, who is known as the “Fake Sheik”, making less-than-polite remarks about William Hague, saying that his face was “all-wrong”, and Cherie Blair, about whom she said was “worse than her husband”.

Shortly after the unfortunate incident with the Fake Sheik, the Countess was accused of using her royal connections to advance her business interests. After these incidents, the Countess publicly stated that she would end her connection to the public relations firm; however, it has now been revealed by the Daily Mail that the Countess continued to stay involved in the firm. She treated RJ-H PR as if it were “her baby”, and was not prepared to fully leave the company, according to the Daily Mail. Read more…

sgl British Royals Countess of Wessex, Finances, Scandal

Click here to see the photo at belgapicture

On May 10, 2004, Crown Prince Naruhito of Japan was scheduled for a news conference. Nobody expected anything spectacular or even especially interesting from this event. All public relations of the imperial family members are organized by the Imperial Household Agency (IHA) which sets up news conferences only on certain occasions, the most frequent being birthdays and visits of the royals to foreign countries. The journalists who are invited to attend – usually from a carefully selected pool of “court journalists” – ought to submit the questions they are intending to ask weeks in advance to the IHA officials on duty, for approval. The answers that the imperial prince or princess will give are also written down for them by the IHA before the news conference starts. All very well organized, no surprises involved for anybody, the worst thing one could say: that all this might be a little bit boring…

Click here to see the photo at ANP beeldbank

In May 2004, the crown prince was planning a trip to Europe where he was going to attend the royal weddings in Denmark and Spain. It was to be supposed that, on the obligatory press conference, he would discuss the trip’s schedule, make a few remarks concerning the friendly relations to the other royal families and maybe mention what everybody knew already: that his wife, Crown Princess Masako, was not so far recovered yet from her bout with shingles in December 2003 as to be able to accompany him. But his audience was going to be surprised… Read more…

ChiaraC Japanese Royals Imperial Household Agency, Press Conference, Prince Naruhito, Princess Masako, Scandal

 During routine post-competition last week, two of Sheikh Mohammeds horse and one which was ridden by the Sheikh were tested positive to banned substances during competition.

A statement issued last night on behalf HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Bin Rashid Al Maktoum said the ruler of Dubai had offered the “highest level of cooperation to the International Equestrian Federation (FEI)”.

The statement also said that: “His highness immediately requested his representative contact the FEI and advise them of this information in order that they may correct the placings as Sheikh Mohammed considers his results null and void.” While Sheikh Mohammed stressed he was “completely unaware and utterly condemning of the administration of these substances”, the news is likely to have caused embarrassment in the royal household. Sheikh Mohammed has started his own internal investigation into the dopings and imposed a competition ban on himself — which has not yet been requested by the FEI. He has also volunteered his acceptance that he is legally the “person responsible” for the horses.
Sheikh Mohammeds wife Princess Haya, is president of the FEI, an organisation which has been very publicly been trying to clamp down on doping in horse sport.

dazzling UAE Royals Dubai, Horse Racing, Princess Haya, Scandal, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid

Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands, consort to Queen Juliana wasn’t only involved in promoting American aeronautics Company Lockheed with the Dutch air force; in 1975 he also lobbied for the acquisition of the F16 fighter. This was revealed in the dissertation of Bert Kreemers, which will be presented today at the University of Leiden.

Click the image to see the photo at mei1940.nl

First Bernhard lobbied for the Cobra of Northrop, the president of the company, Thomas V. Jones even stayed at Soestdijk Palace when he visited The Netherlands, and used the car of the prince. After the American airforce picked the F16 by General Dynamics, the prine changed his course, he even warned Henry Kissinger that the issues with the landing rights of the KLM in the US had to be resolved if the Americans wanted the Dutch to chose thew F16. On 25 May 1975 the Dutch cabinet decided to acquire the F16 instead of the Cobra or the airplane of French aeronautics company Dassault.

A year later the Lockheed bribery scandals would come to light, which revealed that Bernhard took bribes from the company in exchange for his lobbying.

Read more about Prince Bernhard in this thread and more about the Lockheed scandal in this thread.

Marengo Dutch Royals Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands, Queen Juliana, Scandal