Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson's old house in Sunninghill Park has undergone a massive transformation. Its new owners will, reportedly, be moving in soon but recent developments in the property has revived a controversy from more than a decade ago.
According to Daily Mail, questions and suspicions have, once again, been raised after word got out that the new Sunninghill Park's property is almost finished. The former 12-bedroom house near Windsor Castle is, now, a modern home with six suites, a gym, a sauna, a steam room, an ice room, as well as a treatment room.
The new owners are, also, completing a performance arts space and a split-level terrace that leads to a rose garden. A few of the suites belong to the children's wing, which has its own living room area and dressing rooms.
Also known as South York, Prince Andrew and Fergie's former home wasn't as grand and as well-kept as Prince Charles' mansions. However, the Duke of York built his life in this house, where his daughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, spent a good chunk of their childhood.
Following his divorce from Fergie, Prince Andrew, apparently, had a hard time selling the house and had to go to Saudi Arabia to find buyers. In 2007, Russian/Kazakhstani oil and gas tycoon Timur Kulibayev, reportedly, bought Sunninghill Park for $4 million more than its original asking price. Kulibayev is also the son-in-law of former Kazakhstan president Nursultan Nazarbayev.
Furthermore, the property was, apparently, untouched for over eight years in the hands of Kulibayev until everything was demolished to make way for the new home. Kulibayev, also, tried very hard to hide his ownership of South York as the sale of the house raised eyebrows and received media scrutiny.
Now, the same questions have re-emerged with some royal observers asking Prince Andrew to come clean with his deal with the oligarch. It's not the first time the Duke of York involved himself in questionable deals or friendships.
His association with the pedophile billionaire Jeffrey Epstein continues to impact his public presence. Prince Andrew had to step back from his royal duties and remain virtually unseen in many royal events and family affairs since announcing his resignation as a working royal in November 2019.
The FBI and the U.S. Department of Justice are, also, waiting for him to cooperate in the investigation of Epstein's sex trafficking cases after a woman said she was forced to be in bed with Prince Andrew. His college pal, Ghislaine Maxwell, is, currently, on trial for the same crimes in New York.
During the coronavirus lockdown, Prince Andrew, also, faced a legal problem about his ownership of a Swiss chalet that he and Fergie bought in 2014. The ex-couple, who remain good friends and still live in the same house, allegedly, owed the previous owner $8.4 in payments. They, reportedly, failed to make these payments in December 2019.
