Shocking state of the house the Queen gave Andrew and Fergie

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Sunningdale: former home of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson
Sunningdale: former home of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson



When Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson got married in 1986, the Queen came up with an impressive wedding gift - she gave them a house. At the time it was a home fit for a prince: now, however, the property is in a shocking state.

Sunningdale in Berkshire was built after the pair were married. The grand house was designed by one of the Queen's favourite architects, Sir James Dunbar-Naismith, and boasted huge grounds, a swimming pool, tennis court, stables, 12 bedrooms and 12 bathrooms. It was quickly nicknamed SouthYork, after the ranch that featured on Dallas, the 1980s TV show, reflecting what was then considered to be a somewhat brash design for the Royal Family.

The couple lived there for a decade, and after their divorce in 1996, the Duchess of York and her daughters Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie stayed on in the property until 2006. At that point the family moved out and went to live with Prince Andrew at Royal Lodge in Windsor Great Park.
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In 2007 the property was sold for £15 million to Kazakh businessman Timur Kulibayev, the son-in-law of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev. At the time he paid £3 million more than the asking price, and £5 million more than the experts were valuing the property at. It had been on the market for five years, so the purchase came as a pleasant surprise.

However, Kulibayev has never lived in the property, and for the past five years there have been reports of the poor state of the house. Windows have been broken, door are boarded up, moss covers the derelict tennis courts, and the patio lies in ruins after much of the stone was stolen by thieves.

There is a Facebook page devoted to the property, with unofficial photos from people who have wandered onto the property over the years. It shows peeled and cracking paint on the exterior and overgrown formal gardens - as well as members of the public taking the opportunity to pose in the former royal bathtub, overlooking balconies or in pretending to be doing the washing up.

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New life?
Three years ago there were reports that Andrew had been put under pressure to get the new owners to do something with the property or to sell it on - as it has become a blot on the landscape.

The good news is that according to the Daily Mail in theory the site is set for a new life. Planing permission has been granted for an incredible property to be built on the site. It would have six bedrooms for the family, and eight for the staff. There would also be several huge reception rooms, and a 25 metre indoor swimming pool. As part of the permission, the owner has been given leave to demolish the current property. However, there is no sign of the bulldozers or the builders, which raises questions as to whether the development will go ahead.

Not alone
And while this is a sad tale of the decline of a property, it's worth remembering that it is far from the only expensive home to have been snapped up by an overseas purchaser and left to decay. It's a trend that was increasingly common while prices of prime properties in London were rising at a breathless pace. The buyers knew that the properties would increase in value even if they were left to fall down, so they bought them with no intention of ever living in them, and held them for their investment value alone.

Other properties have been a product of a piece of political history. We reported in February this year on the ten homes on The Bishops' Avenue near Hampstead Heath (known as Billionaire's Row) which have been empty for more than twenty years. They had been bought in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and there was speculation they had been purchased by the Saudi Royal Family at a time when they were concerned that political upheaval may force them to leave the region. They were never inhabited, and more recently were sold to a property developer who was hoping to restore them to their former glory.

We can only speculate as to why the owner bought Sunningdale - especially at such a premium - and whether he ever has any plans to do anything with the property.

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