His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, has helped a small village in Cornwall, UK, buy its Methodist chapel.
The village of Godolphin Cross, at the tip of England, was at risk of losing the former chapel, which is being sold by the Methodist church.
But a donor, since revealed to be the Sheikh Mohammed - whose racing stable is also named Godolphin - has allowed the villagers to buy their hall.
The community association asked Sheikh Mohammed for help in November. "These kinds of things don’t normally happen," said association chairman Richard McKie. "It’s a fairy tale. It’s not often a sheikh steps in to help a Cornish village."
After first describing him only as an "international donor", Mr McKie told the Cornwall Live website "It was Sheikh Mohammed".
The Cornwall Live website reported that the association needed Dhs 428,175 (£90,000) to buy the chapel that they intend to convert into a community centre, and had raised Dhs 118,937 (£25,000) towards it.
Richard Mckie, from the Godolphin Cross Community Association, said "We are extremely appreciative."
While the exact sum of the contribution made by Shaikh Mohammad was not revealed, Mckie said, "it has pushed us across the line".
Valerie Wallace, a resident, was responsible for the idea as a last-ditch attempt, after the group had failed to raise sufficient funds elsewhere.
"We thought nothing of it and then we began to get phone calls from Abu Dhabi," Mckie told the Cornwall Live. "We thought we were being hoaxed but it was no hoax."
The Cornish village takes its name from the nearby estate of the Second Earl of Godolphin, who bought a magnificent Arabian stallion for breeding until its death in 1753.
Sheikh Mohammed’s stables were also named after that horse.
Godolphin Arabian was one of three stallions that would be the foundation of the thoroughbred stock.
The original Godolphin Arabian is thought to have come from Yemen and was once owned by the King of France until being taken to Britain in 1733.
Little regarded at first, the stallion was once used as a carthorse until his breeding ability was recognised by the Godolphin family, he went on to have famous descents, such as Seabiscuit and Man O’War.
Crossed with the European horses used for racing in the 18th century, his sires proved to be exceptionally fast, with one winning the Queen’s Plate at Newmarket nine times in a row.
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