When she was discovered slumped beside railings, surrounded by a suitcase and personal belongings, she appeared to be a homeless woman in distress. Nearby, a three-year-old child in her care was playing dangerously close to a busy road.
Shocking footage recorded by a passerby showed the barefoot woman collapsed on the pavement of an affluent residential street in west London. Just yards away, an unconscious man was lying across the doorstep of a Victorian townhouse.
But the woman described as a ‘vagrant’ was, astonishingly, Mahrah Al Nahyan, a member of Abu Dhabi’s immensely wealthy royal family, whose fortune is estimated at £250billion.
Her identity emerged this week during court proceedings in which it was heard that Al Nahyan, 32, had taken part in a drug binge with a male friend before both were found collapsed in the street.
As an Emirati royal, Al Nahyan did not give her address as having no fixed abode when she appeared before Southwark Crown Court.
Instead, this publication can reveal that the official address she provided was a lavish penthouse party apartment that was once owned by Duran Duran star Andy Taylor.
Mahrah Al Nahyan was found unconscious on the street by concerned members of the public in June this year
She was discovered collapsed near an unconscious man lying on the doorstep of a Victorian townhouse
The smart west London street where the Emirati royal was found collapsed on the pavement
For the weekend drug binge, she had arranged a second luxury property—an Airbnb-style short-term let on the Kensington street where she would later be found apparently comatose
Al Nahyan appears at Southwark Crown Court, where she admitted child neglect after a three-year-old in her care was found playing dangerously close to a busy road
For the weekend drug binge, Al Nahyan had arranged a second luxury property: a short-term rental on the Kensington street where she would later be found apparently comatose.
The accommodation is thought to have cost about £200 a night and was booked for at least three nights by Al Nahyan and her male companion. Although the flat was advertised on several websites, including Airbnb, the royal is believed to have secured it through another platform that has not been identified.
Al Nahyan and the man are believed to have spent the previous 48 hours partying in the basement flat on Sinclair Road, taking drugs reportedly including cocaine, before police became involved.
One neighbour interviewed by police after Al Nahyan’s arrest told the Mail: ‘At night I could hear lots of music, shouting and singing, and I did wonder what was going on.
‘One night, the woman was locked out after going to collect a food delivery, and I could hear her shouting.
‘She then knocked on my door and asked me to call over the fence to alert her friend. That was when I saw him, and he looked quite a mess.
‘I realised there were only two adults in the property with a young child, and I found that very shocking. I couldn’t believe the noise they were making. It sounded like quite a party and seemed very strange to me.’
Another neighbour said she became concerned and attempted to speak to Al Nahyan after seeing her slumped on the pavement on the afternoon of Saturday, June 13.
She said: ‘I remember it clearly because it was a very hot day and I had all my windows open.
‘I could hear a child running around on the road and when I looked out there was a woman sitting on the pavement asleep and a man lying nearby who looked as if he’d been knocked out.
‘I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. The little kid was on a scooter while the adults were totally out of it. That’s when some of us got involved and called the police.’
The neighbour added: ‘I asked her [Al Nahyan] if she was OK but she didn’t answer so I shook her a bit but she still didn’t respond. She was totally out of it.’
Al Nahyan’s male companion, who has not been named, was pictured lying flat out on a front garden path in Sinclair Road.
The upmarket Airbnb where Al Nahyan spent a weekend bingeing on drugs with a male friend
The Airbnb’s kitchen is seen. One neighbour told Our News Outlet: ‘At night I could hear lots of music and shouting and singing and I did wonder what was going on’
Sinclair Road is a quiet, clean and polished road located in Kensington
A third neighbour, who lives in another flat inside the property where their Airbnb is located, said: ‘I was coming back from the gym and saw this man lying unconscious outside my front door.
‘There was a lot of commotion going on and some people were standing by a woman who was on the pavement.
‘Some of them were looking after a child. Then four police cars, a police van and an ambulance turned up. It was quite a scene and we all remember it well.’
Al Nahyan admitted one count of child neglect when she appeared at court this week.
The 34-second video showed her slumped against the railings with her head bowed and arms crossed beside a toy plane – as the barefooted child played with a scooter.
Members of the public took care of the toddler until police arrived but Al Nahyan remained unconscious for about 30 minutes, prosecutors said.
When she awoke she is said to have behaved erratically and shouted: ‘This is not a slaughterhouse, why do you care so much? Why are you so worried?’
The court heard Al Nahyan has been undergoing drug addiction treatment at the Priory centre in Woking, Surrey, since the incident.
Rio Pahlavanpour, prosecuting, said the passersby ‘noticed the child was unattended, without shoes, on the street with a scooter and members of the public intervened as he seemed to be in close proximity to moving traffic’.
When officers searched her, they found drug paraphernalia but no illicit substances.
Stephen Vullo KC, defending, said Al Nahyan has stopped using drugs since entering the Priory in July and showed ‘significant remorse and resolve to overcome her addiction’.
He added that his client had not taken any drugs on the day of the offence, but was very tired having taken cocaine in the previous days.
He said: ‘The immediate future is she intends to complete all of the steps of a three-month programme which will come to an end at the end of this month.
‘Her plan after that is to rent a property in the Guildford area and become a day patient there, where she will attend Narcotics Anonymous.
‘She made a grave mistake that day and she knows it.’
Mr Justice Johnson KC sentenced Al Nahyan to a two-year community order with a rehabilitation requirement.
The judge also fined her £5,000 and ordered her to pay costs of £1,000 after hearing she has an allowance of £8,000 a month.
He said: ‘By leaving [the child] to play barefoot in the street while under the influence of drugs, you showed a recklessness and disregard for [the child’s] safety.
‘On one occasion they ran towards the road while chasing a piece of paper until a member of the public contained [the child].
‘But for the intervention of strangers there was a serious risk they would be seriously injured or worse. They could have run away, become lost.
‘They could have been taken or harmed by a stranger and could have become distressed seeing you and your friend unconscious in the street.’
The formal address the royal gave as being her residence was a magnificent penthouse ‘party pad’ which was once the home of Duran Duran pop star Andy Taylor. Its interior is seen here
The £1.6million property is the largest apartment in a Grade II-listed Victorian property which was built as an asylum for girls orphaned during the Crimean War
Andy Taylor is pictured during a Duran Duran in Concert at Webster Hall in New York City in August, 2003
Al Nahyan’s permanent residence is a £1.6million penthouse apartment in a Grade II-listed Victorian property in Wandsworth, south London, which was built as an asylum for girls orphaned during the Crimean War
Queen Victoria laid the foundation stone for the Gothic Revival-style property in south-west London, which has a colourful history.
The asylum was closed down after a scandal and during the First World War it was turned into a military hospital.
Duran Duran guitarist Andy Taylor, 65, lived in the four-bedroom penthouse during the band’s most successful years in the 1980s.
He installed a large hot tub and held lavish parties at the property.
Taylor also hosted indoor cricket matches inside the 3,500 sq ft property, with players scoring a boundary by hitting the ball into the wall. In his autobiography, Wild Boy: A Life in Duran Duran, Taylor recounted how a hedonistic, drug-fuelled lifestyle sent him off the rails.
