AN “obscene” mansion built in the place of shamed Andrew’s marital home after its murky sale to a Kazakh oligarch still mysteriously lies empty.
Sunninghill Park estate was flogged to billionaire tycoon Timur Kulibayev in 2007 for £3million over the asking price in a deal shrouded in controversy.
The new mansion built after Andrew’s home was demolished remains emptyCredit: Dan Charity
Andrew’s marital home was dubbed SouthYork in a nod to JR Ewing’s vulgar Southfork mansion in 1980s soap DallasCredit: Rex Features
Andrew has been stripped of his prince title and forced to move out of the Royal LodgeCredit: EPA
Nicknamed SouthYork over its resemblance to the vulgar Southfork ranch-house from eighties TV show Dallas, the original red-brick 12-bed mansion was given to Andrew as a wedding gift by the late Queen.
After its completion in 1990, he and moved in – but their love nest was short-lived as moved out following their divorce in 1996.
By 2001, the house was put on the market – but Fergie and daughters Beatrice and Eugenie continued to live there for several years as it failed to attract any buyers.
Eyebrows were raised when the Berkshire home suddenly sold after five years for £15million – £3million more than it was up for – to Kulibayev, son-in-law of the former Kazakhstan dictator Nursultan Nazarbayev.
Andrew offloading the languishing pad to his exceedingly wealthy friend has continued to be questioned.
It comes as and forced him to give up his 31-room mansion .
In a , Buckingham Palace said: “Prince Andrew will now be known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor.”
The ex-duke and former prince has finally been brought to his knees by the disgraceful scandal surrounding paedophile and sex abuse accuser
After mounting pressure Andrew is leaving Royal Lodge and made formal notice that he will hand back his lease that was meant to run until 2078.
The humiliated royal will now move to the while ex-wife Sarah, 66, is said to be making her own housing arrangements.
Now eyes have turned back to the controversial sale of his marital mansion, which sits on the edge of Windsor Great Park.
Instead of taking up the mansion as his residence, Kulibayev registered the property to a corporation based in the secretive tax haven of the British Virgin Islands – and let it fall into a state of disrepair.
Eventually it was razed to the ground in 2015 and work on a far more lavish home began.
Kulibayev poured more than £33million into buying and redeveloping the estate, and construction was completed in 2022.
Three years on – and 18 years on from the murky sale – the “absolute monstrosity” of a newbuild mega-mansion remains empty, however.
Gardeners maintain the grounds and cleaners visit the site regularly, but when The Sun visited the area, locals fumed at how the building remained vacant.
The shutters remain firmly down and there are nets over part of it, with green mould or moss on the roof of the house at the front.
One outraged neighbour said: “I’ve only seen the shutters up once.
“It was over a year ago when I saw it with the shutters up. We were peeking inside and I saw a massive chandelier in there – it looked insane inside.
“We were here when they were building. It’s absolutely enormous, it looks like an office block, it’s insane.
Kazakh tycoon Timur Kulibayev bought Sunninghill Park for £3m over the asking priceCredit: Reuters
The gardens are maintained – but the shutters remain down on the propertyCredit: Dan Charity
“It seems insane that you’ve got this absolute monstrosity – I’ve never seen a house as big as that – in the middle of the park that is completely unused. It’s obscene.”
Another local added: “There’s definitely no one there. There are staff there but the shutters are always down.”
Kulibayev‘s purchase of Sunninghill through an off-shore account was exposed after the work of investigative journalists.
Buckingham Palace previously said the sale “was a straight commercial transaction between the trust which owned the house and the trust which bought it.”
Former Lib Dem MP and minister Norman Baker, who investigated Andrew’s business connections in his 2019 book ‘… And What Do You Do? What The Royal Family Don’t Want You To Know’, told The Sun: “No doubt the person who bought it from him had a reason for paying him [Andrew] over the top.
“It’s a question for Andrew, was anything offered to this guy to be able to pay over the top for his property? That’s a legitimate question.
“There’s no doubt Andrew took advantage of his trade envoy role.
“That’s what he spent his time doing, helping himself on helping Britain.”
Andrew stripped out titles
by , Royal Editor
DISGRACED Andrew is no longer a prince and has lost his home in a brutal yet swift decision by King Charles.
In a shock statement Buckingham Palace revealed after weeks of talks the King’s brother has finally given up life in his 31-room mansion
And in a Royal Family bombshell they say: “ will now be known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor”.
The ex-duke and former prince has finally been brought to his knees by the disgraceful scandal surrounding paedophile and sex abuse accuser
, 76, brought down the axe on Thursday starting the formal process of removing the ‘the Style, Titles and Honours of Prince Andrew’ after a febrile few weeks.
After enormous pressure going back years the shamed royal Andrew is finally leaving Royal Lodge and made formal notice that he wishes hand bac his lease that was meant to run until 2078.
The shamed royal will now move to the while ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, 66, is said to be making her own housing arrangements.
The move was said to have been started by the King and supported by Prince William – while Andy is said to have accepted.
Hinting was also involved, the palace said: “Their Majesties wish to make clear that their thoughts and utmost sympathies have been, and will remain with, the victims and survivors of any and all forms of abuse.”
The shock removal process axes Andy’s titles Prince, Duke of York, Earl of Inverness, Baron Killyleagh and the style ‘His Royal Highness’.
