Ex-King of Malaysia says he ‘regrets his personal choices’ in Russian beauty queen row

The former King of Malaysia has said he ‘regrets the personal choices made in his private life’ after he married a Russian beauty queen and gave up his throne. 

Rihana Oksana Veovodina married Sultan Muhammad V last year and he dramatically gave up his throne in January amid growing pressure over their relationship. 

The Sultan, who remains the ruler of Kelantan province, claims they have divorced but the case has been shrouded in confusion and his royal palace has now responded with an unprecedented official statement. 

Taking aim at his estranged wife for alleged ‘lies on social media’, the Sultan said the former Miss Moscow had ‘defamed the royal family’ with a series of posts which have inflamed the divorce row. 

The former King of Malaysia (pictured with his estranged wife, left) has said he ‘regrets the personal choices made in his private life’ after he married Russian beauty queen Rihana Oksana Veovodina (right)

Rihana Oksana Veovodina holds the couple’s four-month-old son Leon. The Sultan’s camp has suggested the baby may not be his 

The couple also have a four-month-old son, Leon, but the Sultan has suggested the baby may not be his. 

The official palace statement said the Sultan ‘expresses his regret over the personal choices made in his private life that has caused confusion amongst the rakyat [people], leading to dissension on social media when fuelled with unreliable hearsay.’ 

It went on: ‘The Kelantan Palace is deeply upset and condemns the dissemination of private pictures of His Royal Highness Sultan Muhammad V on social media and all inappropriate postings on His Royal Highness’s personal and private matters on social media.

‘The Kelantan Palace strongly denies any and all comments that are untrue and defamatory that were posted along with the pictures.

‘Henceforth, the Kelantan Palace has decided to deviate from the norm and respond to untrue and defamatory statements on social media to defuse the confusion such postings have caused amongst the rakyat [people].’  

The couple married in a secret Islamic ceremony on June 7 last year, when Muhammad V still ruled as King of Malaysia.

The former Miss Moscow (left) has kept up a series of provocative social media posts and the royal palace has now hit back with an unprecedented official statement (right)

Rihana Oksana Veovodina married Sultan Muhammad V (pictured together) last year and he dramatically gave up his throne in January amid growing pressure over their relationship 

A further ceremony then followed in November 2018 in Moscow, details of which leaked out to the media.

Concerns began to grow in Malaysia after lurid reports emerged about the beauty queen’s past, including a Russian reality show appearance in which she was reportedly filmed having sex in a swimming pool.   

A collection of raunchy modelling pictures also began to circulate, fuelling further discontent in conservative Malaysia. 

Facing growing pressure, Sultan Muhammad V dramatically gave up his throne in January this year to be with the Russian model.   

The abdication was the first for the country since its independence from British rule in 1957. 

But the relationship quickly fell apart – although the former Miss Moscow 2015’s camp deny that they have divorced and the process has been shrouded in mystery.

In a recent post she said parents ‘should spend as much time as possible with their baby’ in what appeared to be a retort to the Sultan who has seemingly disowned the child. 

She also hinted she would reveal more about their relationship, saying: ‘I know that everyone really wants to know what happened to us.

The couple married in Moscow last year in a shock ceremony, before Muhammad abdicated his throne in January. She gave birth in May

Friends of the former Miss Moscow (pictured in her beauty queen days) insist the marriage is still valid and have rejected the Sultan’s suggestion that someone else could have fathered the child 

Sultan Muhammad V (pictured as King of Malaysia in July 2018) gave up his throne in January this year to be with the Russian model 

‘Before, I was not ready to reveal my story… Maybe, if I tell you the truth, I will feel better,’ she wrote next to a selfie of the two of them. 

Oksana is now believed to be living with the four-month-old child in a country house near Moscow.    

She was infuriated by a statement from the ex-king’s Singapore lawyer which said in July: ‘There is no objective evidence as yet as to the biological father of the child.’

Oksana claimed not to have received any divorce documentation from her former husband.       

She further claimed the Sultan told her that ‘women always used him for money’ and that ‘nobody gave him any babies.’

‘He told me that he never had children, and that was the biggest dream of his life,’ she added. 

After Muhammad’s abdication, Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah – a keen athlete who holds a string of positions on sporting bodies – was chosen as Malaysia’s new king during a special meeting of the country’s Islamic royalty.

Malaysia has unique arrangement where the national throne changes hands every five years between the Islamic royal rulers of the country’s nine states.