“Mini Buckingham Palace,” a 40-room mansion in Westminster, London, for (250 million. The move comes as the royal family’s finances deteriorated after Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s pressure on high-ranking officials. The Financial Times (FT) reported that Saudi Prince Khalid bin Sultan Al Saud, who is mentioned as the real owner, was sued by a leasing company for failing to pay for a private jet rental, and his house was put up for sale. If the sale is completed, it is expected to be the highest price among British houses ever.
Prince Khalid spent $43 million to purchase the home’s long-term lease through Quendon Limited (hereinafter referred to as Quendon), which was registered on Gunji Island in 1991. Yoon Tian10less Company, which leased a private jet to Prince Khalid through a Bermuda company, claims it could sell The Home to collect unpaid rent for the jet. The actual ownership of The Home belongs to Prince Khalid, and Quendon was used to cover up Prince Khalid’s assets. Quendon has five children of Prince Khalid registered as real owners. In the meantime, in Britain, ownership of London real estate through overseas companies has been subject to intensive crackdown since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine triggered sanctions on British assets by the Russian wealthy. The British government has introduced a measure requiring foreign companies with British assets to report real owners.
Law firm Linklators wrote a note in 1991 stating that the money Prince Khalid sent to Quendon to buy a house was a “gift” and advised him and his family on legal and tax-saving ways to enjoy the continued use and benefits of The Home. Prince Khalid is a Sandhurst-trained general who served as Saudi Arabia’s deputy defense minister for three years. The 73-year-old now uses The Home as a mansion in London. Quendon admitted that it took out a loan with the value of the house as collateral and gave it to the prince and his family.Quendon has borrowed more and more money as collateral for the mansion in recent years. In 2019, it received a new loan from Trinity Investment, an Irish company managed by Atester, and repaid Standard Chartered loans. Loans from Trinity have been extended three times in 2020 and are now estimated to be around 150 million.Quendon was scheduled to negotiate loan refinancing with Trinity, but the deal was blocked after Yun Tian received a temporary request from the High Court for The Home. Trinity denied that Yun Tian had ownership of the property, but said Quendon failed to repay the loan after it expired. In 2017, when Prince Mohammed became Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler and cracked down on corruption against royal members, businessmen and state officials, a major change came in Saudi royal finances. Prince Khalid inherited a huge inheritance shortly after the death of his father, Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, son of kingdom founder Ibn Saud in 2011, but things changed significantly around 2017. According to the Wall Street Journal, the prince sold two yachts and an $87 million Paris mansion in France.Meanwhile, The Home was built in 1818 as the second villa built in Regent Park and the first to be designed or built by the Burton family. Architect Guy Williams described it as ‘one of London’s most desirable private homes’. Architectural critic Ian Nanne also described the house as “the definition of Western civilization.”
Chang-young CHOI
US ASIA JOURNAL
