Ho the daddy of them all when it comes to his hectic love life

Stanley Ho Hung-sun is perhaps the best-known man in the region to openly declare he has four wives.

The father of 17 children, Ho changed the four women's lives when he teamed up with them.

Ho's first wife, Clementina Leitao, came from a prestigious family in Portugal and was known as the 'greatest beauty in Macau'. Leitao's grandfather was a lawyer and in the 1940s was Macau's only notary public.

Ho fell in love at first sight with Leitao and they were married in 1942. The couple had four children - Robert, Jane, Angela and Deborah. Leitao's health deteriorated in the 1970s and she suffered partial memory loss after a car accident in 1973. She was dealt another blow when Robert and his wife died in a car accident in 1981.

Leitao then required round-the-clock nursing care and was served by Ina Chan Un Chan, who became Ho's third wife. Leitao died in 2004.

In the late 1950s, Ho developed a relationship with Lucina Laam King-ying, daughter of a Chinese soldier who fought in the war against Japan. They were legally married in 1962 in Hong Kong, which didn't ban polygamy until 1971.

Laam's children went on to join the tycoon's businesses. Pansy, Daisy and Maisy hold senior positions with Sociedade de Turismo e Diversoes de Macau (STDM), Shun Tak Holdings and MGM Macau, and Lawrence is Melco International Development chairman. Josie is an actress.