Princely sum
Andy sells chalet in $9M suit
Prince Andrew is selling the only property he owns, a $23.7 million skiresort chalet in Switzerland, to settle a lawsuit accusing him of not paying $9 million he owes on it, according to a report.
The scandal-scarred UK royal bought the sevenbedroom Chalet Helora in 2014 for the equivalent of $22.75 million, using a mortgage and private funding from his mom, Queen Elizabeth II, The Times of London said.
He bought it with exwife Sarah Ferguson to be “a long-term family investment,” a friend of Andrew’s told the paper.
However, former owner Isabelle de Rouvre sued them in Swiss courts last year, accusing them of missing the final payment of $9 million. The socialite has since dropped the legal action now that Andrew and his ex are close to selling the chalet for $23.7 million and have agreed to use part of the funds to pay off the debt, the Times said.
“Court action has been withdrawn and the matter is close to being resolved to everybody’s mutual satisfaction,” a source close to the proceedings said.
Andrew and Fergie live together on the Queen’s Windsor estate at Royal Lodge, which is owned by Crown Estates Commissioners, a body that runs properties, the Times noted.
The Duke and Duchess of York had become friends with de Rouvre after renting the chalet — which has a sauna and indoor swimming pool — for vacations with daughters Beatrice and Eugenie, the report said.
Prince Harry is also thought to have stayed there with his ex-girlfriend Cressida Bonas.
Andrew still faces a far more damning suit — one filed last month in New York by Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who has accused him of sexual assault amid the Jeffrey Epstein affair.