A WOMAN who is claiming the world’s biggest alimony payout wants a paternity test to discover whether her eldest daughter is the secret child of the late King Fahd of Saudi Arabia.

Friends of Janan Harb say that she has demanded a DNA sample from the Saudi Royal Family to discover whether her daughter, Rania Boueiz, is his child. If Ms Boueiz, 30, a marketing executive from Chelsea, is proved to be his daughter, she will be able to claim a proportion of the Saudi family’s £50 billion fortune.

At present Ms Boueiz is registered as the daughter of Ms Harb’s third husband, Sami Boueiz. But friends of Ms Harb say that she was still married to Fahd nine months before Ms Boueiz was born.

A confirmed paternity test would fortify Ms Harb’s multimillion-pound High Court claim, launched last year, for maintenance payments going back to 1993.

Ms Harb’s solicitors wrote to the Saudi Embassy two years ago demanding a DNA sample from the King in order to help discover if her daughter was really his. They have not received a reply.

Friends of Ms Harb say that they believe Ms Boueiz was fathered by the late Saudi King in Riyadh in January 1974. Then, he was a playboy Prince with a number of wives. She was a beautiful diplomat from a Palestinian Christian family.

They had married five years earlier against the wishes of his family because she was not born a Muslim, her friends said.

Ms Harb’s confidants say that she began a relationship with Mr Boueiz in 1973, with the knowledge of Fahd, to whom she was still married. Fahd had agreed that she was allowed to sleep with and even marry another man, Ms Harb’s friends say, as long as she agreed to see him when he requested. Ms Harb was summoned to spend time with Fahd in Riyadh in January 1974, despite being involved with Mr Boueiz,.

It was then that one friend believes that Ms Boueiz was conceived. “Janan had remarried but she still saw Fahd whenever he asked,” the friend said.

Members of Ms Harb’s circle maintain that Ms Boueiz shares some of Fahd’s physical features. “She is fair like him, she has similar shaped eyes and they have similar noses,” a friend said.

Ms Harb and Mr Boueiz separated in the late Seventies. Ms Harb continued to see Fahd until he suffered a stroke in 1995, her friends claim.

It is understood that lawyers for Ms Harb wrote to the Saudi Ambassador two years ago, demanding a DNA sample because of the doubts over Rania’s father. However, no reply was received.

Ms Boueiz was due to meet Fahd for the first time in 1995, but did not do so because he suffered a stroke. When contacted by The Times, Ms Boueiz said she was aware of the requested paternity test, but declined to comment further.

“I cannot say any more. Let me just say that this is a difficult time for all of us,” she said from her flat in Cheyne Walk.

On Wednesday, Ms Harb will attend a High Court hearing where the Saudi Royal Family will attempt to strike out her claim on the grounds that the King is dead.

Ms Harb last night refused to speak about the case. “If I lose this case, it will be seen as proof that there is no such thing as Islamic justice. I implore the new King to please salvage the situation before the Royal Family put me in a position that will break my personal code of honour. I do not want to embarrass the Royal Family or stain the memory of my husband,” she said.

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