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Death at 45 of Kasia Gallanio, the ex-princess of Qatar who accused the emir’s uncle of incest
The former Qatari princess who died of a suspected overdose after fighting a toxic custody battle over her daughters tried to give designer clothes to her cleaner before her death.
Kasia Gallanio, 45, whose billionaire ex-husband is the uncle of the current Emir of Qatar was found dead in her bed last Sunday in her luxury £2 million penthouse.
MailOnline can reveal that shortly before she died, she sent a video to her devoted cleaner Teodora Poma showing bags of clothes that she wanted to gift to her.
Bolivian-born Ms Poma, 43, now believes that her employer might have made the gesture to say farewell to her, knowing that she was possibly going to take her own life.
Ms Galliano also asked her and a colleague to come round and clean her seventh floor apartment in the up-market Spanish resort of Puerto Banus near Marbella.
But when Ms Poma tried to message her back to confirm arrangements to come round on Monday this week, she got no reply.
She now believes it was because her socialite employer who mingled with Hollywood stars and had more than 500,000 followers on Instagram was already lying dead inside her home.
MailOnline can reveal that shortly before she died, she sent a video to her devoted cleaner Teodora Poma showing bags of clothes that she wanted to gift to her. Bolivian-born Ms Poma, 43, now believes that her employer might have made the gesture to say farewell to her, knowing that she was possibly going to take her own life
MailOnline can reveal that Ms Gallanio’s devoted pet Pomeranian dog called Honey was with her when she died. The dog has now been returned to her daughters.
Ms Poma said Ms Gallanio went to Paris in April this year to fight her ex-husband Abdelaziz bin Khalifa Al Thani, 73, for the custody of their three daughters – two twins aged 17 and a 15-year-old girl.
But a French court ruled the girls should stay in France where their billionaire father lives after reportedly hearing that Ms Gallanio was prone to nervous breakdowns and had visited detox clinics in her battle against alcohol use.
The court heard allegations that the prince had sexually abused one of his daughters, although he fiercely denied the claims, according to reports in French newspaper Le Parisien.
The Paris Prosecutor’s Office has opened an investigation into the claims that the girl was abused between the ages of nine and 15, and forced to sometimes share a bed with her father.
Other friends of Ms Gallanio are said to have dismissed claims that she drank or took drugs, and say that she lived a healthy lifestyle, enjoying yoga and running.
Ms Poma was taking time off work to undergo medical treatment for a liver condition in hospital by the time her employer had returned to Spain.
Speaking exclusively to MailOnline, the heartbroken cleaner said: ‘She was giving me a lot of moral support to get me through this treatment.
‘She was a really lovely person, very loving and a real fighter for her daughters. She was always saying that she wanted to be with her daughters and she loved them very much.
‘But because the girls were with the father, she could not see them for long periods.
‘When I was in hospital, she sent me a video showing stuff she wanted to give me. It was bags of clothes. She always used to give me stuff when she cleaned a wardrobe out.
‘She might have been saying goodbye by trying to give me all this stuff.
The 7th floor Penthouse apartment in Marbella where Kasia’s body was found is pictured. As well as being depressed about the custody battle over her daughters, she was also said to be devastated by the recent death of a close friend Sheikh Ahmed Ashmawi
A porter with access to the penthouse unlocked the door for two police officers who discovered her at around 8am on Sunday
‘Kasia told me that she was going through all this trouble with the court case. She didn’t want to share all the details and I didn’t ask.
‘She was in quite a good mood, but my colleague and I could tell she was depressed. She wasn’t right.
‘At the last minute she asked if we could come back this week to get her flat sorted and I said I would try and organise it.
‘After that she didn’t answer. I didn’t hear from her again. I sent a message and didn’t get a reply so I imagined that she might have gone back to Paris or somewhere.
‘When she didn’t reply, I thought, “What has happened here?”, but then I thought she had gone to see her daughters.’
Ms Poma said she was shocked to be told that her friend and employer had died.
Ms Gallanio who grew up in Los Angeles was found dead after one of her daughters alerted Spanish police after trying in vain to contact her mother for four days from Paris.
A porter with access to the penthouse unlocked the door for two police officers who discovered her at around 8 am on Sunday.
Forensic tests on Ms Gallanio’s body are said to have been hampered by her having been dead for four days in her home in the Playas del Duque complex, a minute’s walk from the Puerto Banus marina packed with multi million pound yachts.
Spanish media has reported that she is believed to have had alcohol and ‘other substances’ in her body, suggesting that she had overdosed.
The autopsy into the death of Kasia Gallanio was opened on Tuesday after she was found ‘overdosed’ in her penthouse in Marbella
Forensic tests on Ms Gallanio’s body are said to have been hampered by her having been dead for four days in her home in the Playas del Duque complex, a minute’s walk from the Puerto Banus marina packed with multi million pound yachts
A spokesperson for Marbella Police told MailOnline that her death was not being treated as suspicious, saying: ‘The police investigating this case are not looking for any other suspects.’
She added: ‘The autopsy into the death of Kasia Gallanio was opened on Tuesday.
‘So far there has been no result. Reports in the media saying that forensic personnel have found alcohol or other substances have not been substantiated by official sources.’
Ms Gallanio’s twin daughters and her French lawyer Sabrina Boesch flew from Paris on Monday to identify her body.
One of the girls was seen visiting her mother’s penthouse on Wednesday morning before leaving in tears and being driven away in a chauffeur-driven car.
Ms Boesch told Le Parisien that her client had been left ‘devastated’ by the custody proceedings and revelations in court.
She said: ‘I think that, above all, she has died of grief’.
Ivan Romero, 24-year-old hair stylist, pictured, said Ms Gallanio used to make weekly visits to the Lorena Morlote salon where he works under the Playas del Duque apartments
Paris Hilton, Victoria Beckham and actress and producer Salma Hayek all attend the salon
Hair stylist Ivan Romero, 24, said Ms Gallanio used to make weekly visits to the Lorena Morlote salon where he works under the Playas del Duque apartments.
Other well-heeled clients of the salon include Paris Hilton, Victoria Beckham and actress and producer Salma Hayek.
Ivan told MailOnline: ‘Kasia was very friendly and a nice lady who was always very courteous. We are very surprised and shocked by her death.
‘She was always a discreet lady and would never speak of her private life, but she seemed happy and upbeat.
‘She came in once a week to have her hair tidied and brushed and once a month she would have her extensions done. She would also have other beauty treatments.
‘I miss her a lot. She was the sort of person who made you want to love her.
‘Her twins also used to come in when they were staying here, but we didn’t see much of them as they were in Paris. She was always happy when they were around.’
Ms Gallanio had married the Qatari prince after he wooed her when she was a 19-year-old student in Paris, despite their 28-year age gap, but the pair split in 2007 and later divorced.
Hair stylist Ivan Romero said: ‘Kasia was very friendly and a nice lady who was always very courteous. We are very surprised and shocked by her death’
Ms Gallanio was known as ‘la Sheiquesa’ in Marbella in a nod to her Royal links in Qatar
The mother-of-three had claimed recently that she had been forced to sell some of her jewellery to make ends meet.
Ms Gallanio was known as ‘la Sheiquesa’ in Marbella in a nod to her Royal links in Qatar.
As well as being depressed about the custody battle over her daughters, she was also said to be devastated by the recent death of a close friend Sheikh Ahmed Ashmawi, according to Spanish publication Vanitatis.
The report quoted one of her best friends, identified only as GH, saying: ‘None of us had any idea what had happened until another friend of ours posted it on social networks on Sunday.
‘We hadn’t seen her for several days. Now they are saying in Marbella that Kasia has committed suicide, but we cannot believe it.
‘She would never do that because she knew the pain it would cause her daughters, whom she adored, and she would not take her own life.
‘She was feisty, joyful and full of light’.
Another close friend, Spanish socialite Carmen Lomana said: ‘She was always with me in Marbella. She never missed one of my summer birthdays. We had a great time this year and now she’s gone.
The ex-husband of the deceased, Abdelaziz bin Khalifa Al Thani, is pictured in Paris in 1980
‘In recent years, the legal and judicial battle, led by serious accusations by her ex, Abdelaziz bin Khalifa Al Thani, had weakened her because she always told me that she did not want her twins to live in Qatar, that life there was free of freedom for women and that she was going to fight to the end so that her daughters would stay here’.
Ms Gallanio gave an interview in April, describing her life as like living in a ‘golden cage’, saying how she wanted freedom from her ex-husband.
She told Women’s World: ‘Money is a curse because it isolates you from a lot of people. It’s a different world.’
The former princess revealed she even had to sell her own jewellery as a result of her long and bitter divorce, despite living in her luxury penthouse.
She said: ‘I get criticised that I want money but I have to take care of my kids
‘Abdelaziz likes to control me through the children which I think is not very polite and only hurts them.’
Talking about the alleged abuse of her daughter she added: ‘Power, diplomatic immunity and money shouldn’t allow you to be able to do things above the law.
‘I hope it’s not true however when my daughter says it, I do believe my daughter
‘It’s a horrible story, something that hit me very hard. It’s every mother’s nightmare.’
French media reports have claimed Abdelaziz made his daughters sleep in the servants quarters of his palatial 50,000-square-foot Parisian home in the eighth arrondissement after they visited their mother until they apologised.
He was exiled there following a coup led by his half-brother Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani in 1995.
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