You shall go to the ball, Ruby the Heart Stealer

Austrian high society is aghast after it was announced that the 18-year-old Moroccan prostitute with whom Silvio Berlusconi is alleged to have slept, Ruby the Heart Stealer, has been invited to attend Vienna's most prestigious ball.

A woman who delights in the name Desiree Treichl-Sturgkh, and organises the city's annual state opera ball, said it was "sad, humiliating and disrespectful" that Ruby, real name Karima El Mahroug, was to attend this year's posh knees-up.

The head of programmes at Austria's state-owned TV channel ORF, meanwhile, said in a leaked email that the invitation was "disgusting" and urged staff not to make the event "a ball of prostitutes".

Mahroug, and her 41-year-old boyfriend and employer, club owner Luca Risso, are attending as guests of wealthy Austrian businessman Richard Lugner. An eccentric and flamboyant figure, Lugner makes a habit of inviting beautiful women to attend the event – and lend publicity to his family's malls and other business interests.

A 78-year-old retired construction mogul to whom a top hat lends an alarming air of Batman's old nemesis, The Penguin, Lugner has been photographed at the ball drooling over lucky ladies including Andie McDowell, Sophia Loren, Paris Hilton and Dita Von Teese. He is pictured above with his current girlfriend, 20-year-old Anastasia Sokol - also known as 'Katzi'.

There's no doubt Lugner is paying Mahroug £35,000 to attend the ball in order to garner publicity for his sons' businesses – but it seems he also wants to provoke Austrian high society.

Lugner is nouveau riche – and, realising that he will never be allowed to forget this by his social superiors, has decided to wind them up as much as possible – while flaunting his considerable wealth.

Meanwhile, Italy waits for Berlusconi's trial to start: he is alleged to have paid Mahroug for sex while she was just 17 – and therefore under-age in Italy. ·