The Fairy Tale's Over for the Kingdom of Brunei

摘要

I lit the $400 cigar, a "1492" from Cuba, and tried to imagine a life filled with boundless wealth—with 30 houses spread around the world, a mistress to go with my four wives, countless serfs and lackeys, plus a superyacht called Tits. The cigar was a gift from Prince Jefri Bolkiah of Brunei to one of his top advisers, who had urged me to smoke it. And why deny myself? An hour earlier, at the prince's heavily guarded London estate, I'd become the first journalist ever to interview the 44-year-old prodigal playboy, whose older brother, the Sultan of Brunei, was— until Bill Gates came along—the richest man on the planet.