Russian beauty queen, wife of newly-abdicated King of Malaysia, reportedly pregnant

Several media outlets are reporting that Oksana Voevodina, the Russian beauty queen who married Malaysia’s King Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Muhammad V last November, is allegedly pregnant.

This was reported in Russia’s biggest-selling newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda (KP), which quoted an anonymous source as saying, “The couple is expecting their first baby and has fully devoted themselves to the future offspring.”

The Russian newspaper also reported that the couple went to a family clinic in Germany shortly after their wedding on November 22, 2018, in Moscow, and are eager to start a family.

The news that the couple are expecting a child came on January 8, just two days after the King of Malaysia suddenly stepped down from the throne. The king had been on medical leave for two months and had just gotten back to fulfilling his royal duties.

A statement from the palace read, “His Highness has worked towards fulfilling his responsibilities entrusted to him as the head of state, serving as a pillar of stability, source of justice, the core of unity … for the people,” and said that he was thankful to the Council of Rulers that he had been given the opportunity to rule.

This is the first time that a Malaysian King had stepped down before the end of the given 5-year term in the 60 years since the country gained independence from the United Kingdom.

Voevodina, age 25, converted to Islam in April 2018, supposedly for the purpose of marrying Mohammed V, age 49. She has taken the Muslim name Rihana Oxana Gorbatenko. While photos have been posted on social media accounts, there had been no official confirmation of the union between the former King and the beauty queen.

The King had been previously married to Tengku Zubaidah Tengku Norudin, whom he divorced in 2008. They had no children. He reportedly met Voevodina, who had won the Miss Moscow crown in 2015, in Europe, where she was working as a model for watches.

Voevodina’s parents were said to have attended the wedding and her father, a surgeon, has spoken out publicly in favor of the match.

Read related: Who the next King?: Watching the throne across the Causeway

https://theindependent.sg.sg/how-malaysia-readies-for-a-new-king-after-the-first-ever-abdication/