They paid me the princely sum of USD5000.
Most of the Medici bank's lending was to royalty, to finance military campaigns or lavish princely lifestyles.
So well-known was she for her wealth, her beauty, and her gifts of mind, that many princely and noble suitors wished to marry her.
Rumours also hint at tensions in the Sabah family, with princely rivals to Sheikh Nasser said to be quietly egging on his parliamentary foes.
Still, there is the reassuring uplift of fairy tales like Hans Christian Andersen's duckling turned swan, with its metamorphosis from plain to princely.
