Malaysia's former king has divorced a Russian ex-beauty queen just months after news of their wedding emerged and he abdicated in a first for the country, his lawyer said.
The former Miss Moscow, however, says she is still married to Sultan Muhammad V, and has continued to post pictures of the couple on social media.
The sultan stepped aside as Malaysia's monarch in January after just two years on the throne when reports of the marriage surfaced last year while he was officially on medical leave.
His abdication was the first by a monarch in the Muslim-majority country's history.
The sultan "has irrevocably divorced Ms Rihana Oxana Gorbatenko on 22 June 2019 by three talaqs in accordance with syariah laws", said a statement from his Singapore-based lawyer, Koh Tien Hua.
"Triple talaq" is the practice which sees a Muslim man end his marriage by saying "talaq" ("you are divorced") in Arabic three times.
An Islamic court in the northeastern Malaysian state of Kelantan, where Muhammad is still the sultan, had issued a divorce certificate, the lawyer said earlier this week.
But the former beauty queen denied knowing about the separation, telling news portal Malaysiakini: "I have never heard of any divorce statements made directly to me".
She has continued to post pictures on Instagram with the sultan and of a son she gave birth to in May.
Lawyer Koh told Singapore's Straits Times newspaper there was "no objective evidence as yet as to the biological father of the child".
After Muhammad's abdication, Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah -- a keen athlete who holds a string of positions on sporting bodies -- was chosen as Malaysia's new king during a special meeting of the country's Islamic royalty.
Malaysia is a constitutional monarchy with a unique arrangement where the national throne changes hands every five years between the Islamic royal rulers of the country's nine states.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
Sri Lanka Beat Bangladesh By 7 Wickets In Women's T20 Asia Cup 10 Years On, 298 Victims Of MH17 Disaster Still Await Justice Video: Apple Opens First Store In Malaysia, Here's What Samsung Did In Pune Road Rage, Man Who Assaulted Woman In Front Of Children Arrested Shoot-On-Sight Order In Bangladesh To Quell Protests As Death Count Mounts The Return Of 'Razakars' To Bangladesh Political Discourse After 53 Years Doctor Who Saved Man's Life With CPR At Delhi Airport Honoured North Korea Sends Trash Balloons, South Responds With Loudspeakers "No Place We Won't Reach": Israel After Airstrikes 1,800 Km Away In Yemen Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world.