In a hotel drawing room in west London last year, a stately Beiruti matriarch — dressed in fur and dripping in diamonds — took a sip of her tea and looked me warily up and down. It had been 47 years since Randa al-Banna was married off to Sheikh Mohammed Al Maktoum of Dubai as a 16-year-old ingénue, but she was still afraid of him.
“Darling,” she said, drawing on an e-cigarette. “Let me tell you. This is a very dangerous man. He is very, very powerful. No one can stop him getting what he wants.”
No one could. In 14 years as ruler of the wealthy desert principality, Sheikh Mohammed has gained notoriety as a friend of the Queen, a vital British ally, and
