An adopted Welsh coal worker who discovered his father was Malaysian royalty is stepping up his fight for his inheritance.
Keith Williams, 66, of Carmarthenshire, decided to look for his biological family a few years ago – but could never have imagined what he’d find.
After tracing his DNA to south east Asia he was completely astounded to find he is the illegitimate firstborn son of the 33rd Sultan of the Malaysian state of Perak.
His birth mother Elizabeth Rosa was just 17 when she fell pregnant. She was working as a trainee nurse in Carshalton, Surrey when she met Idris Iskandar Al-Mutawakkil Alallahi Shah, who was studying in the UK at the time.
When news of her pregnancy broke she was forced to return home to Swansea where she gave him up for adoption and the Sultan back to Malaysia to avoid any unwanted scandal.
Keith Williams, 66, of South Wales (pictured) is the firstborn illegitimate son of the 33rd Sultan of the Malaysian state of Perak. After tracing his roots he wants his inheritance
By the time the father-of-three found out what had happened it was too late, as his father died of a heart attack in 1984.
But now, despite not wanting to take the throne, he believes he has a claim to his father’s inheritance, but his living relatives have shut him out.
He told the The Mirror: ‘It is a shame they have decided to close ranks on me. I understand if they feel threatened but it’s not like I am claiming the throne.
‘I am sure my father knew about me and if he did I am sure he would have left something behind for me and I think it is only right I know about it.’
There are no precise figures on the family’s net worth, but the current Sultan of Perak’s daughter Eleena Azlan Shah was listed by Forbes as being worth £151million in 2012.
Malaysia has nine Sultans whose families live luxurious lifestyles in royal palaces across the country.
Mr Williams’s father was Idris Iskandar Al-Mutawakkil Alallahi Shah, the 33rd Sultan of the Malaysian state of Perak (pictured). He died in 1984
When the current Sultan of Perak Nazrin Shah dies, he will be replaced by Mr Williams’s estranged younger brother.
He has been to Malaysia to visit his father’s tomb, which is where he met his half sister Ku Ess.
But now, he says, they don’t even pick up the phone and his bid to claim Malaysian citizenship has been ignored.
He told the Mirror: ‘To be honest, I find it sad and a little annoying they are ignoring me.
‘At one point we were in touch all the time and they even agreed to a DNA test. But now they cannot even return an email.’
Mr Williams was adopted as a two-year-old and had no idea about his bloodline 6,000 miles away.
He said after he found out: ‘When I was 13 my mother told me I was adopted. I’d never given it a thought. I never imagined I was related to a royal family from the other side of the world.
‘It’s like a story from a Disney film, and if someone had told you this story in the café or by the bar you’d tell them to get out.’
He traced his mother Elizabeth Rosa to Peterborough, which is where she told him about his royal connections.
On a trip to Malaysia Mr Williams met his half sister Ku Ess (pictured together in 2016) but now he says, the family are not replying to his messages
Mr Williams visited the tomb of his father in Malaysia (pictured) for an S4C documentary called Fy Nhad y Swltan (My Father the Sultan) in 2016
He explained: ‘When she was doing her training, she met this man. He was studying in London. They went out together for quite some time.
‘She found out she was pregnant, expecting me. Because she was there under the council’s care she had to come home as soon as she discovered she was pregnant.
‘So she came back to Llanelli. Trying to find the man she loved, but he’d gone.
‘She gave me photographs which show how he lived out there. He was connected to the royal family and was made a sultan back in 1963.’
Mr Williams, known as Keith y Glo (Keith the Coal) was born in Llanelli and spent more than 20 years working in his adoptive father’s coal business, but in later years embarked on his voyage of discovery in a bid to trace his biological roots.
After he found out he and his son Timothy went to Malaysia as part of a documentary called Fy Nhad y Swltan (My Father the Sultan).
He says he is not prepared to give up his fight for what he might be owed and is planning to write a book on his remarkable story.
Pictured is the hilltop palace of Istana Iskandariah in Malaysia. It was the home of Keith Williams’s father the 33rd Sultan of Perak before he died in 1984