They live on a tiny speck on the map — no bigger than Devon — caught between the steaming jungles of Borneo and the South China Sea.

The 430,000 citizens of the sultanate of Brunei appear to be among the most cosseted in the world. They pay no income tax and receive free health care and education. The capital city Bandar Seri Begawan is a glittering showcase of oil-funded investment.

But a shadow has fallen across this apparent Eden; a shadow which promises to turn it into a pariah state.

As of Wednesday this week, the implementation of a new penal code based on Islamic sharia law means that any Bruneian who falls in love with the 'wrong' person risks barbaric retribution at the hands of the country's justice system.

Sultan of Brunei, Hassanal Bolkiah introduced Islamic Sharia law punishments on Wednesday. Punishments for those who commit homosexual acts, adultery or abortions will be punished by death by stoning

Homosexual acts, adultery and abortion are now to be punished by death by stoning. The capital penalty will also be imposed for blasphemy or heresy against Islam.

Those caught engaging in lesbian sex will be punished by 40 lashes. Thieves are to suffer their right hand being chopped off. Repeat offenders will then lose a foot.

It is a return to the Dark Ages; a path recently trodden in Syria and Iraq by the now defeated caliphate of the Islamic State.

What has moved the 72-year-old, Sandhurst-educated Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah — who is also prime minister and has an estimated personal fortune of $20 billion — to implement this humanitarian and public relations catastrophe? And does he care about the international backlash he has provoked?

The draconian new clause sanctioning the death by stoning of gay and bisexual men — and presumably transsexuals and the gender fluid — has caused particular outcry around the world.

Governments, including our own, human rights groups and A-list celebrities have all expressed their opposition.

The introduction of the draconian new clause sanctioning the death by stoning of gay and bisexual men — and presumably transsexuals and the gender fluid — has caused global outcry

Governments, including our own, human rights groups and A-list celebrities have all expressed their opposition (Pictured: The Sultan and Queen Elizabeth II in 2015)

And Brunei will find difficulty in distancing itself from this backlash. For while the tiny nation may be isolated geographically from the condemnation, its royal family has invested heavily — and, on occasion, with lunatic abandon — in Western luxury brands and lifestyle.

Among the portfolio of assets held by the Brunei Investment Agency are nine leading five-star hotels, including the Dorchester on London's Park Lane and the Beverly Hills Hotel and the Hotel Bel-Air in Los Angeles.

George Clooney has now called for these celebrity-haunted establishments to be boycotted, a suggestion taken up by gay icons such as Sir Elton John and the American comedian Ellen DeGeneres.

A similar campaign was instigated in 2013 when the sultan first mooted the new penal code. That fizzled out. Its second iteration promises to be more sustained and embarrassing, however.

Celebrities including actor George Clooney, and gay icons such as Sir Elton John and the American comedian Ellen DeGeneres have called for the boycott of Brunei-owned hotels such as the Beverly Hills Hotel (pictured) and the Hotel Bel-Air in Los Angeles

Perhaps more pertinently Britain finds herself deeply embroiled in this new controversy. Since 1962, a permanent British military presence in Brunei has helped protect the sultan from his potential enemies, based on the Royal Gurkha Rifles. The sultan pays the UK for their presence

Perhaps more pertinently Britain finds herself deeply embroiled in this new controversy.

Since 1962, a permanent British military presence in Brunei has helped protect the sultan from his potential enemies, internal and external. Brunei today has 2,000 service personnel, dependents and contractors there, based around a battalion of the crack Royal Gurkha Rifles. The sultan pays the UK for their presence.

The British Army is allowed to use Brunei territory for jungle warfare training — it can also keep an eye on Chinese military manoeuvres. Will this arrangement last?

Last night a Ministry of Defence spokesman told the Mail: 'The arrangements for British Forces in Brunei are regularly discussed and we continue to receive assurances that there are the necessary protections in place to mitigate against any issues that might arise from the introduction of these new laws. The arrangements are based on a five-year rolling basis. The UK has already commenced discussions relating to their continuation.'

The story of modern Brunei is one of absolute monarchy, unimaginable wealth, international power politics — and hypocrisy. It encompasses a superyacht named Tits, harems of by-the-hour beauties, 'erotic' fountain pens, fleets of Ferraris and squadrons of private jets

If these don't sound very sharia that's because they're not. But then, the debauched flipside of Brunei's royal family has often been played out in London, 7,000 miles from home

So far the sultan's response to the outcry over sharia law has been uncompromising. His Majesty 'does not expect other people to accept and agree with it, but that it would suffice if they just respect the nation in the same way that it also respects them', the royal household's website states.

The story of modern Brunei is one of absolute monarchy, unimaginable wealth, international power politics — and hypocrisy.

It encompasses a superyacht named Tits, harems of by-the-hour beauties, 'erotic' fountain pens, fleets of Ferraris and squadrons of private jets.

If these don't sound very sharia that's because they're not. But then, the debauched flipside of Brunei's royal family has often been played out in London, 7,000 miles from home.

Indeed, Britain's close relationship with the sultan has now put the nation, the British Armed Forces and the Royal Family in a very embarrassing position.

The house of Bolkiah has ruled Brunei since the 14th century. A war with colonial Spain reduced the sultans' influence and territory. But it was Britain's ambitions in the region which were to be decisive. In 1888 Brunei became a British protectorate, and within two years had been reduced to the tiny rump it is today.

Brunei's insignificance ended in the late 1920s when vast oil deposits were discovered. After it gained independence from Britain in 1984, this black gold fell into the hands of the current sultan, labelled 'the richest man in the world.'

Britain's close relationship with the sultan has now put the nation, the British Armed Forces and the Royal Family in a very embarrassing position. In the past Prince Charles (pictured with the Sultan in 2017), was a guest at the ruler's £12 million 50th birthday in Brunei

His Majesty has owned a number of mansions across the UK and in 1992 undertook his first state visit here where he has also been made an honorary marshal of the RAF (The Sultan of Brunei (L) with Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei in 2012)

He has enjoyed his wealth to the full. Home is the world's biggest palace — nearly 2,000 rooms — and while he often wears traditional national dress, the buttons are invariably made of diamond.

His love of all things British has long been obvious. His Majesty has owned a number of mansions across the UK and in 1992 undertook his first state visit here. The four days of ceremonies saw him made an honorary marshal of the RAF and culminated with his hosting the Queen and other notables at a banquet at the Dorchester.

On other, private, visits he played polo with Prince Charles, who was a guest at the ruler's £12 million 50th birthday celebrations in Brunei, at which Michael Jackson performed.

The sultan's youngest son, Prince Azim, followed his father into Sandhurst but left the academy after only one week. He preferred showbusiness to soldiering.

'I love singing. I have a karaoke machine at home, and I could easily outdo most professionals in a contest,' he claimed. 'I can sing (Everything I Do) I Do It For You better than Bryan Adams. Sadly, I don't have the face to be a singer.'

If the young prince had dilettante tendencies, they were as nothing to those of his uncle, the man in day-to-day charge of the super-sized Brunei piggy bank.

Between 1986 and 1997 the sultan's younger brother, the marvellously named Paduka Seri Pengiran Digadong Sahibul Mal Pengiran Muda Haji Jefri Bolkiah, was Brunei's minister of finance.

Helpfully, Prince Jefri liked his Western friends to call him Robin. And robbing the national exchequer is exactly what he went about doing.

His ministerial tenure was to end in disgrace when the Sultan discovered that Jefri had spent some $14 billion of Brunei's oil revenue on a frantic international playboy lifestyle.

But why, after so many years of unalloyed hedonism, is the sultan turning to such an austere and brutal penal code? The answer would seem to lie in securing the future of the Bolkiah dynasty against two growing threats

The prince owned 2,300 supercars and sailed the seas in the superyacht Tits, which had two tenders named Nipples 1 and Nipples 2. Jefri and his entourage would empty Versace and Armani stores, buying 100 suits of the same colour at a time. He bought scores of properties.

In 1995 he snapped up the Royal-Warranted London jewellers Asprey for $385 million — twice the market value. But then, he had money to burn. Brunei's money.

In 1997 a former Miss USA named Shannon Marketic sued Jefri and the sultan for $10 million. She claimed in court papers that she and six other women had been hired for $127,000 each to travel to Brunei for 'professional appearances'. Once there, she said they were held prisoner as 'sex slaves' for the prince and his entourage.

The sultan denied the allegations, which were dismissed because of his sovereign immunity.

The following year two London property developer brothers sued the prince over allegedly unpaid fees. The dispute concerned a deal for the old Playboy Club in Park Lane, which the brothers were turning into his new London residence.

The High Court heard allegations Jefri hosted 'sex parties attended by up to 50 prostitutes from various countries flown into Brunei and paid, housed, clothed and bejewelled at his expense'.

The prince had bought ten custom-made watches with figures of copulating couples on the faces, they said.

The developer brothers also sold him sculptured fountain pens which featured the naked body of a woman on the lid and a man on the barrel. The figurines appeared to be having sex when the two parts were put together.

The first is the falling price of oil and its diminishing importance as an energy source. Brunei's stocks are also expected to run out in coming decades

The case was settled out of court but the reputational damage was done. The sultan soon sacked his once-favourite sibling and began the process of recovering assets. So began an 11-year court battle, the most expensive in British legal history, which ended in a truce between the sultan and his brother in 2009.

The previous year a British judge had issued a warrant for the arrest of Prince Jefri after he refused to attend the High Court to hand over cash and assets.

But why, after so many years of unalloyed hedonism, is the sultan turning to such an austere and brutal penal code? The answer would seem to lie in securing the future of the Bolkiah dynasty against two growing threats.

The first is the falling price of oil and its diminishing importance as an energy source.

Brunei's stocks are also expected to run out in coming decades. The gravy train driven by this hitherto benevolent dictator will then grind to a halt. When that happens, the sultan's powers will diminish and the fear is that a powerful conservative Muslim lobby in Brunei will fill the vacuum. Better to curry favour with them now than please the likes of George Clooney et al.

In any case, Brunei has ever closer links with China, now challenging the U.S. for control of the South China Sea.

The new penal code policy is believed to be driven by the sultan's influential brother Prince Mohamed, 70, a former foreign minister. He is a conservative Muslim and disdained the playboy lifestyle of Jefri and his ilk.

In the past the Brunei royals have found that money can buy you anything and everything. But with our troops still protecting such a bigot, the question must surely be: what price Britain's reputation?