I am trying to find the names of the person who fits the descriptions below:

Wealthy Middle eastern socialite (now divorced) known for having
fabulous jewelry (especially diamonds).  First name may be 'Mona'. 
Has appeared often in 'Vanity Fair' over the past several years.

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Request for Question Clarification by juggler-ga on 21 Mar 2004 19:40 PST

Does she live in London?

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Clarification of Question by prpro-ga on 21 Mar 2004 21:19 PST

She might -- now.  She was well-known in New York and -- for some
reason -- I remember her having a connection to Adnan Khashoggi.  She
was a kind of self-promoter.  I also remember something about a large
yacht she had.  (Strange the things you remember...)

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Request for Question Clarification by politicalguru-ga on 22 Mar 2004 00:46 PST

Is it possible that she is somehow connected with Yasser Arafat?

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Request for Question Clarification by rainbow-ga on 22 Mar 2004 03:17 PST

Hi prpro,

After an extensive search, the only Mona I came up with who fits
closest to your description is Princess Mona El-Solh, divorced mother
of Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud.

"Al-Waleed, who is 47, has a pedigree unmatched by few other Arabs. A
grandson of the founder of Saudi Arabia, he is the nephew of King Fahd
and Crown Prince Abdullah. His father, Prince Talal, married Princess
Mona El-Solh, the daughter of Lebanon's first prime minister, and
Al-Waleed was raised in Beirut by his mother."
(...)
"Like his cousins and extended Saudi family, Al-Waleed enjoys the
trappings of royal life and is the proud owner of 250 cars, a Boeing
737, a ?20 million sports complex and a 282-foot yacht, formerly owned
by Adnan Khashoggi and Donald Trump."

http://archives.tcm.ie/businesspost/2002/11/24/story331929.asp

Could this be the woman you are thinking of?

Regards,
Rainbow~

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Request for Question Clarification by omnivorous-ga on 22 Mar 2004 07:05 PST

PRPro --

Rainbow's guess is as good as any.  I've checked Vanity Fair back to
1991 for a 'Mona' but found nothing.

Best regards,

Omnivorous-GA

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Clarification of Question by prpro-ga on 22 Mar 2004 08:25 PST

No, that is not the one.  Darn it.  OK, any chance her name might not
be Mona?  If yer not finding our quarry, I might have you hunting the
wrong animal.

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Request for Question Clarification by answerfinder-ga on 22 Mar 2004 09:02 PST

Not Middle Eastern, not recently in Vanity Fair, but certainly named
Mona and a socialite who liked her jewelry

"Countess Mona Bismarck, 1897-1983, born Mona Travis Strader in
Louisville, married in 1917 the first of five husbands. After a
divorce from her second husband she became part of the "cafe society"
in New York and her marriage to Wall Street financier Harrison
Williams in 1926 gave her further entree to a glamorous lifestyle.
After his death in 1953 she married Count Edward Bismarck, grandson of
Germany's Chancellor Otto von Bismarck. In her later years she lived
quietly in Paris and at her villa on the Isle of Capri."
http://www.filsonhistorical.org/guide9.html

"Bismark Sapphire 27 X 21.7 X 15.5 mm donated to Smithsonian Institute
by Countess Mona Bismark was also found in Sri Lanka."
http://www.lankajewels.com/gems/news/news.asp?newsid=88

"Book - Famous Jewelry Collectors
An entertaining book with memorable personalities and their world
famous baubles. The section on socialities and the nobility is fun to
read; especially countess Mona von Bismarck"
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0810933411?v=glance

answerfinder-ga

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Clarification of Question by prpro-ga on 22 Mar 2004 10:08 PST

Yeah, I found a lot about Mona Bismarck, too -- but she is not the
one.  Too  Aryan and too dead.

prpro --

Since I have found someone with all of the right attributes, I am
posting an answer in the reasonable hope that this is the woman you
are looking for.

Her name is Mona Ayoub (or Mona Al Ayoub).    Here is a link to a Web
site that links her with all of those attributes -- the name Mona,
Middle East connection, yacht, diamonds, lots and lots of money:
Middle East Times: ME Buyers Sweep Christie's Jewelry
http://www.metimes.com/issue98-47/bus/me_buyers_sweep.htm

Here is the "money quote" from that site:

"A huge yellow diamond sold for a record $3.2 million to an anonymous
Middle East collector on 16 November evening, Christie's said. The
cushion-shaped stone by Bulgari, which weighs 112.53 carats, was the
star lot at an auction which earned $8.1 million for Lebanese Mona Al
Ayoub, the former wife of Saudi businessman Nasser Al Rashid.
The jet-setting Al Ayoub parted with nearly 160 gems and pieces of
modern silver in order to raise cash towards the $17 million cost of
refurbishing her yacht Phocea."


There is surprisingly little written about her in other online
sources, and most of that is in French.  Here are a couple of other
relevant tidbits in English:

"Mona Ayoub rounded out the list of stars [at the 2003 Cannes Film
Festival] wearing Dior couture gowns, while Géraldine Palhas and
Hélène de Fougerolles turned to the House for their makeup. "
Fashion Window: Cannes Fizzles But Dior Shines
http://216.239.39.104/search?q=cache:LQC0VPu5xNYJ:www.fashionwindows.com/fashion_review/2003/cannes.asp+%22mona+ayoub%22&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

Oh, and here's a photo:
Women 24: Cannes Film Festival Awards
http://galleries.women24.com/events/cannes2003/07.asp


"The heretofore unknown Mona Ayoub, a multimillionaire of Lebanese
extraction and the reported widow of a fabulously wealthy Saudi,
hosted an exclusive dinner aboard a yacht for President Mejia and a
very small group of guests, which included the US and French
ambassadors. . . .   The impressive yacht, which has been the object
of intense curiosity and reportedly valued at US$35 million, was
surrounded by both navy and army patrols."
DR1 Daily News: 2/12/03: Meanwhile the President Ate Cake (about 3/4 down the page)
http://www.dr1.com/news/2003/dnews021203.shtml


If you read French or can get translation help, you can get more
information from some of the rest of the 43 "hits" returned from this
Google search:

"mona ayoub"
://www.google.com/search?q=%22mona+ayoub%22&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&start=0&sa=N


Search Strategy:

I tried various Google searches using various terms based on the clues
you provided.  The one that worked was this one, which led me to the
Middle East News site linked above and to the name Mona Al Ayoub:

saudi "former wife" "new york" yacht
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=saudi+%22former+wife%22+%22new+york%22+yacht


Since a search using the terms "mona al ayoub" returned only that
Middle East News site, I tried the name without the "al" and got the
43 hits that included the rest of the sites linked above.


I am (reasonably) confident that this is the person you are seeking. 
If anything is unclear, please ask for clarification before rating the
answer.  And in the unlikely but unfortunate event that this is not
your Mona, please let me know without rating the answer, and I will
have my answer removed.

markj-ga

Yee haw!!!  THAT is the gal I was looking for!!TERRIFIC work, markj!!!
 I am TOTALLY impressed.

prpro --

Yee haw to you too !!! And thanks for the nice words, the rating and the tip.

markj-ga

Try a search on the name "Mona Bauwens"

Hi, I was looking for some information about Mona when I stumbled upon
your msgs. I was watching this show on travel channel two days ago
called super yachts. They were talking about how grand this Phocea is
and that it's owned by this wealthy Middle Eastern called Mona Ayoub.
The reason why this interested me is because I was invited to visit
the Phocea many many years ago when it was owned by an infamous french
business man who owned his own soccer team. There was some political
issues and he had to give his yacht up, this is probably when Mona
bought the yacht from the french gov. (I saw a snippet about this on
CNN 3 or 4 yrs ago). Thought I would let you know a little bit of
gossip surrounding Phocea! I will never forget the wonderful
experience I had on the beautiful Phocea! :)