Duke of York called a ‘fool’ over £1.6m debt
French socialite who sued over chalet deal speaks out after couple caught up in more legal wrangling
THE Duke of York has been described as an “absolute fool” after becoming embroiled in a £1.6million debt battle.
The “business debt” is owed to a Swiss couple who are understood to have placed a freezing order on his Verbier ski chalet 18 months ago.
Isabelle de Rouvre, a French socialite who sold the Yorks the chalet in the Swiss Alps in 2014 but later sued them over an outstanding £6.7million debt, said that she pitied the pair caught up in the legal wrangling, knowing the stress that she had endured in recouping her money.
“It was a horrible experience,” she said. “I do not understand how he operates and I feel very sorry for people who are involved with him in business.”
The Duke’s latest debt came to light after proving a complicating factor in his ongoing sale of the chalet, called Helora, which has been in train for several months.
Removal vans from the London company Abels were seen at the property this week, as the Duke, his former wife and his daughters Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie began to move out their belongings, having visited for a final time over the New Year.
A source close to the Duke said: “Talks are under way to resolve the matter. It in no way prevents the sale of the chalet, which is proceeding.”
The Duke is said to be disputing the amount owed but does not deny the unpaid debt.
Ms de Rouvre, whose own money was finally repaid last year, added: “They [the Duke and Duchess of York] are so crazy. He is an absolute fool and I just cannot understand how he goes about his life.
“Really it is a tragedy and so bad for the Queen. I don’t know how she manages with them.
“I am lucky that a deal was made and it is the end of the matter for me. I am fed up with the whole thing.”
Ms de Rouvre sold Chalet Helora to the Yorks, her then friends, for £18mil- lion. She agreed that a final £5million cash payment could be deferred for five years, until December 2019, with inter- est accruing.
However, the pair did not honour the agreement despite repeated demands.
In recent years, both the Duke and the Duchess of York, who still live together, have been dogged by criticism of their financial affairs that includes taking money from Jeffrey Epstein, the billionaire financier and convicted
paedophile, and the sale of their former marital home for an inflated fee to the son-in-law of Kazakhstan’s autocratic former president.
In February, the Duke agreed to pay his sexual abuse accuser, the Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre, around £12 million. The Queen privately funded his legal fight to the tune of millions of pounds and is understood to have partly funded the settlement in order to allow her son – and the entire Royal family – to draw a line under the case that had threatened to overshadow her Platinum Jubilee year.
The Duke was also named in connection with an ongoing High Court battle after being given more than a million pounds by an alleged Turkish fraudster.
He and his former wife both received “suspicious” payments on the orders of Selman Turk, a former Goldman Sachs banker, as part of an international £40million fraud, it is alleged, and are caught up in a case over missing money.