In 1980, Jacqueline Gillespie married Prince Raja Bahrin and was transported to Malaysia, where she was forced to suppress her intellect and endure physical brutality. She escaped to Australia with her children, only for them to be abducted by their father.

Can you imagine what it would be like to be swept off your feet by a royal prince to live a charmed life in the marble palaces of an oil-rich nation - and then to watch your fairy-tale romance turn into a nightmare of Islamic superstition, isolation, betrayal and abuse? What would you do if you managed to escape your life of torment - and then your children were kidnapped by their own father? This is what happened to Jacqueline Pascarl. In "Once I Was a Princess", Jacqueline recounts her part in this controversial, headline-grabbing international drama with heart-rending honesty.