Former Malaysia king divorces Russian beauty queen wife, months after abdicating throne

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The former Malaysian king has divorced his Russian beauty queen wife just weeks after the birth of their son, according to reports.

The wedding of Sultan of Kelantan Sultan Muhammad V, 50, and ex-Miss Moscow Rihana Oksana Voevodina, 27, had stunned Malaysians last June.

But now a divorce certificate indicates the former king has ended the relationship.

The divorce was registered as final on July 1, the New Straits Times reported Wednesday in Kuala Lumpur.

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The certificate, bearing the Kelantan state crest, indicates that the divorce was done through the utterance of the word "talak" three times - the most severe and irreversible form of divorce in Islam.

The certificate is the copy given to the wife, it is claimed, and uses her original last name - Gorbatenko.

The date of the divorce was listed as June 22 and it was marked as taking place in Singapore.

The couple wed on 7 June last year in a Muslim ceremony which was not made public. Their relationship came to light when they held a lavish second wedding in Moscow in November. Their son was born in May this year.

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So far there is no comment on social media from the Russian bride.

Previous speculation that the marriage was foundering was dismissed by her father as “nonsense”.

The Kelantan palace has not commented on the divorce reports.

In a recent post in English and Russian, the former Miss Moscow said that she believes her son will one day become “king of Malaysia”.

In a separate posting in local language Malay, she said her son should be the future king of Kelantan - the province where her husband is ruler despite his abdication of the national throne.

She last posted a picture on Instagram with her husband on July 6.

In several recent posts, she elaborated on the “romantic” story of her meeting with her husband.

“We met in spring 2017 in Europe,” she said. “At that time I cooperated with our common friend jeweler Jacob Arabo.

“After the event, we went for dinner, where I met a man, and he introduced himself as king of Malaysia.

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“I took it as a joke and joked back that I was also the queen of Moscow.

“We talked all evening and exchanged phone numbers.

“Soon news appeared about the appointment of the king, who was my new friend…”

The Malaysian king unexpectedly abdicated in January after just two years on the throne -- with some reports pegging his early exit as being related to his marriage.

Under a unique system maintained since Malaysia’s independence from Britain in 1957, nine hereditary state rulers take turns as the country’s king for five-year terms.

The sultan was the ruler of the northern state of Kelantan and his resignation is the first time a monarch has stepped down before completing the five-year tenure.

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The monarch's role is largely ceremonial since administrative power is vested in the prime minister and parliament. But the monarch is highly regarded, particularly among the ethnic Malay Muslim majority, as the supreme upholder of Malay tradition.

Fox News' Lucia Suarez Sang contributed to this report.