Malaysia's new billionaire king has unusual roots in Torquay

Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia and Torquay may seem to be poles apart from each other, but they share an unlikely link: Malaysia’s new King.

Last month, Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar was sworn in as Malaysia's monarch, or ‘Yang di-Pertuan Agong’.

Unlike the British Royal Family, the title of Yang di-Pertuan Agong is rotated every five years among the hereditary sultans, or royals of each of Malaysia’s nine states.

Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar’s parents met in Torquay in 1955, at a time when the Bay was routinely visited by British and European royalty.

The Russian Romanov royal family even built their own residence on Daddyhole Road. Originally known as Villa Syracusa, the building is now the Headland Hotel.

Sultan Ibrahim’s mother was Josephine Trevorrow, a daughter of a Cornish businessman. Josephine was living in the English Riviera when she met Mahmud Iskandar, a Malaysian prince, at a dinner party.

The romance between them blossomed, and despite the best wishes of Mahmud’s conservative countrymen, the couple married ten months later.

After six years of marriage and four children, Josephine and Mahmud divorced, with Josephine returning to England and marrying again four years later.

Josephine Trevorrow died in 2018 at the age of 82. Following her death, Ibrahim Iskandar arranged for her body to be brought to Malaysia for a royal funeral.

The half-Torquay monarch certainly lives like a king. According to Bloomberg, Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar’s net worth is $5.7 billion, with business in property, palm oil and telecommunications.

He also has his own personal army as well as a fleet of private jets and 300 luxury cars.

Stand-out pieces in his collection are a bright pink Rolls Royce Phantom, a Boeing 737 jet and a 1936 Mercedes 540 given to his great-grandfather by Adolf Hitler.

Going to school in Malaysia and Australia, Ibrahim Iskandar was previously an officer in the armed forces, training with the US special forces for a time and qualifying as a paratrooper.