As well as being a valued customer for eight years, the Saudi princess is married to Naif bin Abdulaziz, the country’s interior minister and one of the most senior members of a royal family not known for struggling to pay bills, even ones for 70,000 euros (US$98,000) in undergarments.
But, more than a year later, Jamila Boushaba, who runs the O Caprices De Lili store, said she was still waiting for her money — as, it is reported, are a whole series of luxury shops and hotels dotted around the French capital’s most exclusive arrondissements.
The princess’s creditors reportedly also include the fashion chain Dior, jewelry outlets Chaumet and Victoria Casal, and at least one luxury hotel. She is holed up inside a suite at the George V, one of Paris’s finest hotels, owned by her nephew, Saudi Prince Alwaleed.
The story emerged after Boushaba, frustrated at endless broken promises for payment, went to the press to try to shame her customer into settling her bill. The boutique, one of the most upmarket lingerie shops in Paris, is opposite the George V and was regularly frequented by Sudairi and her family.
“She was a customer for eight years, and a very good customer. She always paid on time,” Boushaba said.
The problems reportedly began a day after the princess’ staff removed the dozens of bags of undergarments to the George V on June 1 last year.
“I went to the hotel the next day to collect the payment, as usual. I was kept waiting for hours and then told they would drop it into the shop the next day. I waited and they never came,” Boushaba said.
Thus began weeks of calls to the princess’ suite (“It was always, ‘Tomorrow, we’ll pay tomorrow’”) before Boushaba managed to see the Saudi ambassador, who said he could do nothing. She then talked her way into an audience with a visiting envoy from the Saudi royal family. The response?
“He just told me, ‘I’m afraid we can’t go around settling bills for the princess’s knickers.’”
With bailiffs’ letters ignored — the princess enjoys diplomatic immunity — Boushaba said she was running out of options.
“It’s 70,000 euros. It’s nothing to them, but it’s a lot of money to me. We’re not Chanel, we’re not one of the big chains. There’s just one shop, me and two members of staff,” she said.
“When I called last one of her staff asked why I went to the media. I said it was to get my money. He replied: ‘What, you’ve caused all this trouble and you still want your money?’”
French newspapers said up to 30 businesses are in the same boat, among them the sumptuous Hotel Crillon, where the princess reportedly based herself before decamping, bill unpaid, to the George V. The Crillon refused to comment.
Another disgruntled shopowner is Jacky Giami, proprietor of Key Largo, which sells extremely upmarket leisure clothes such as 600 euros jogging trousers. After the princess’s relatives stripped his shop of 140,000 euros in stock — 7 percent of his annual turnover — and then failed to pay the bill, Giami spends his days waiting at the bar of the George V in the hope of seeing a member of her entourage to confront.
“We know the family well — they’re in Paris a lot. It’s not the kind of customer where you ask for a deposit, or to see a piece of identity,” he told Le Parisien.
Neither the princess nor the Saudi embassy in Paris could be reached for comment.
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