Fairy tale ends as princess and marine part

It was a romance worthy of a fairy tale; a beautiful Bahraini princess giving up everything to run away with the humble American serviceman she loved. But now it seems the romance is over, dashed by relentless family pressure, and the drabness of a life without money or career prospects.

A lawyer for the couple announced over the weekend that Meriam al-Khalifa, a distant relative of Sheikh Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa, Bahrain's ruler, had flown home without her husband, Jason Johnson, who is currently unemployed.

"She just told me she was going back. Her mother is concerned," the lawyer, Jeff Conway, told reporters in Las Vegas, where the couple had been living.

Their love story made international headlines in 1999, as Mr Johnson, then stationed in Bahrain with the Marines, spirited the 19-year-old princess out of the country with forged documentation and married her at a wedding chapel in Las Vegas. Their elopement sparked a diplomatic incident, as Bahrain is a key strategic partner for the United States and host of the US naval fleet in the Gulf.

Mr Johnson was discharged from the Marines after being court-martialled. But his bride was given a green card granting her permanent residency status in the United States.

The princess had lost all contact with her family after her elopement. But Mr Conway said she had begun speaking to them again after the 11 September attacks. She flew to Washington last week, presumably to meet Bahraini embassy officials on her trip home.