Princess Maha al-Sudairi, the wife of Saudi Arabia's Interior Minister, is holed up in a Paris luxury hotel claiming diplomatic immunity after refusing to pay a $24 million tab she ran up at the city's ritziest boutiques. Al-Sudairi, whose husband Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz is a member of Saudi Arabia's royal family and is second-in-line to the throne, racked up the impressive debt on a year-long spree at the French capital's high-end clothing, jewelry and lingerie boutiques, the London Telegraph reports. In all some 30 businesses have been stiffed including Dior, jewelry shops Chaumet and Victoria Casal, lingerie emporium O Caprices De Lili, and the famed Hotel de Crillon.

The Princess is currently holed up in a $4,000-per-night suite at the ultra-luxe Four Seasons George V hotel (above), which is partly owned by her nephew, Prince Al Waleed bin Talal. After some of those owed money initiated legal proceedings, the plaintiffs' lawyer Jacky Benazerah obtained a court order for bailiffs to go to the George V and seize the Princess' belongings. However, the Princess has invoked diplomatic immunity and will likely refuse them entry, in which case the French interior ministry and senior police officials would have to be consulted to authorize a police escort, the BBC reports.

Jamila Boushaba, owner of Paris' O Caprices De Lili lingerie shop, located directly across from the George V, was left holding a $100,000 bill for lacy underthings. "She was a very good customer for eight years, but then simply stopped paying," Boushaba tells the Telegraph. "I made a delivery of lingerie to the George V, but payment never arrived. Every time we called, we were told the bill would be settled the next day. It never was. When we contacted the Saudi ambassador in Paris he said there was nothing he could do for us." An aide to the Saudi royal family was similarly unhelpful, sniffing, "I'm afraid we can't go around settling bills for the Princess's knickers."

Jacky Giami, proprietor of luxury clothing boutique Key Largo, said the Princess stripped his shelves of some $215,000 worth of casual wear. "We know the family well – they're in Paris a lot," Giami tells the Telegraph. "She's not the kind of customer where you ask for a deposit, or to ask to see a piece of identity." Every time the Princess and her entourage visited Giami's and others' shops a representative would offer staff an embossed card stating "Payment to Follow". And of course having all those exquisite clothes cleaned cost quite a bit as well; the Princess is also said to have run up a drycleaning bill of $50,000 - per week.

The Four Seasons Hotel George V in Paris has just unveiled the ultimate luxury automobile - the world's only Hermès-designed, hand-built Rolls-Royce Phantom. The one-of-a-kind car was custom made to the famed hotel's specifications by Rolls-Royce in collaboration with the legendary French fashion house.

The project, which took a year to complete, was overseen by the luxury hotel's in-house Artistic Director Jeff Leatham. He first selected the car's color scheme to match the famed hotel's "personality". The team at Hermès' Interieur & Design department then conceived and created customized upholstery and accessories based on the aesthetics and rich heritage of the Four Seasons George V.

Leatham selected two tones of elegant gray for the Rolls' exterior, anthracite and titanium, and a deep rose leaf gray was chosen for the full Hermès glove-soft leather interior. Key elements such as the steering wheel and passenger consoles were finished in Hermès Taurillon Plume calfskin to complement the rest. A romantic touch was added in the form of a "starlight headliner": a canopy consisting of 800 lights on the Rolls' roof liner as a tribute to the City of Lights.



Leatham followed each step of the fabrication process from the Rolls-Royce motorworks in Goodwood, England to the ateliers of Hermès in Pantin, France. While the car was being hand-built in Goodwood, 39 of its interior parts including the door handles, steering wheel and interior consoles were shipped to France and entrusted to the expert craftsmen of Hermès. As a finishing touch, classic Hermès throws in complementary color schemes were stowed in the passenger area.

"The Hotel's goal in commissioning two of the world's most talented makers of luxury goods to collaborate on the project was to create an experience that is unsurpassed for our guests in Paris," says Christopher Norton, Regional Vice President and General Manager of the Four Seasons Hotel George V. ''This Rolls-Royce represents a marriage of like-minded brands that are single-mindedly focused on the very highest of standards and quality. As it is the hotel's 80th anniversary this year, it is fitting to introduce an experience that is unique in the world and only available at Four Seasons George V."

When the car was complete, five drivers were appointed by the George V and specially trained by Rolls-Royce to operate the precious vehicle. The car is available to hotel guests for airport pick-up at a rate of about $1,000, and for day trips or business in Paris, at a rate of about $5,000 per day, via the hotel's Concierge desk.