Rarely as a journalist do you get to be a fly on the wall of an international meeting involving the Prime Minister.
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But that's what happened in one of the world's most closed societies, when John Key became the first leader from this country to visit Saudi Arabia two and a half years ago, when he met a Prince with the name with as many letters as his bank balance has figures, Al Waleed Talal Bin Abdul Aziz.
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The Prince has just been arrested in a corruption crackdown in the Kingdom but he left a lasting impression.
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It would seem he doesn't mind flies on the wall at his meetings, giving the appearance of constantly swatting them away as he struggled to keep his headgear in place. He couldn't sit still as he bragged about his $60 billion fortune to the salivating Key over a cup of mint tea in his 99-storey office block in Riyadh, which looks like a giant bottle opener.
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His teaming office staff, mainly young women dressed in western clothes, rather than the burqa required outdoors, were proud to show off the bosses' collection of memorabilia about himself from a library of magazine covers featuring him and his fleet of 747 jets.  We were told when he travels he doesn't bed down anywhere but in his 317 room palace, or two other mansions in his beloved country.
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He once sold a yacht to Donald Trump who is undoubtedly a fan given the Prince has got a significant stake in Fox News and Twitter.
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Showing he was abreast of the Prince's book of investments, Key was impressed with his holding in the luxurious Four Seasons Hotel chain, wrongly asserting there had been one in New Zealand, only to be corrected by the Saudi who said he'd like to have one here but then hinting that this country needed to be a higher earning economy to warrant the five star hotel treatment.
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The enthusiastic Key wasn't to be put off though, telling his host that his Maui holiday house was right across the road from one and insisting it was a great place for dinner. We later asked the Prince whether it was a possibility, but even though he made the right noises, he was less than convincing.
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It was a weird meeting, the business delegation sitting attentively in a single row of seats lining the wall of the large room, straining to hear the two men's, at times, stilted conversation as the Royal constantly fidgeted with his headgear.
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Prince Al Waleed, who donated a hundred grand to help those affected by Christchurch's earthquake, is one of 11 Princes to be incarcerated, although they won't be doing it that hard from their "cells" at the Ritz-Carlton in Riyadh. But they won't be going anywhere soon as their private airport's been closed down temporarily.
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