Did sheikh’s son die after drugs party at £8m flat?

THE son of an Arab ruler was buried yesterday as police launched an investigation into his mysterious death in London.

Sheikh Khalid bin Sultan Al Qasimi, 39, was found dead at his £8million Knightsbridge penthouse amid reports of a drug-fuelled party.

The crown prince was the son of Sheikh Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, who has ruled Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates since 1972.

His eldest son, Mohammed, died from a heroin overdose in 1999 at the age of 24.

The distraught sheikh yesterday led thousands of mourners at a funeral in the UAE, where three days of national mourning are under way.

Khalid, who was a fashion designer, was pronounced dead shortly after 10.30am on Monday and detectives are treating his death as unexplained. They are awaiting the results of toxicology tests but refused to say whether drugs had been discovered in the penthouse.

Guards at the complex, which features 205 apartments and overlooks Hyde Park, yesterday told workmen not to speak to journalists.

The toxicology tests were carried out during a post-mortem examination before the body was repatriated. According to Islamic tradition, the dead should be buried as soon as possible, usually within 24 hours.

Born in Sharjah, Khalid moved to the UK at the age of nine and was educated at Tonbridge School in Kent, where fees cost up to £14,000 a term.

According to an online profile, he studied French and Spanish at University College London, later completing a degree at the Association School of Architecture. After a further stint studying womenswear at the Central Saint Martins, he started his own label, Qasimi, in 2008.

Its high- end garments are stocked in 50 stores around the world and have been modelled by catwalk stars Lily Cole and Yasmin Le Bon as well as Twilight actor Robert Pattison.

The most recent accounts for his company, QSM Fashion, filed in September last year, show it had debts of £3.7million. He was the sole director.

His former business partner Elliott James Frieze said: ‘He was extremely humble and down to earth and everybody felt comfortable around him.’

Despite working with the crown prince for several years, Mr Frieze said he did not know he belonged to one of six ruling dynasties in the UAE.

One member of Khalid’s staff, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told MailOnline: ‘Khalid could become very unpredictable and we always knew to stay away from him after one of his famous parties. He was the boss so we couldn’t really complain to him.’ A female worker added: ‘As you can imagine, Khalid was very popular given the amount of money he had and the type of people he knew. There was no shortage of women after him.

‘But he always treated his female staff with respect. He was an incredibly hard worker and very driven, but he also partied very hard.’

His father, who has been accused of humans rights abuses, took a PhD at Durham University and gave it £2.25million for a facility for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies.

Sheikh Sultan stood with his eyes closed as prayers were said over his son’s body yesterday. He was flanked by fellow rulers and government ministers.

Scotland Yard said: ‘The death is currently being treated as unexplained.’

‘He partied very hard’