Saudi prince buys 'world’s most expensive home'
A Saudi prince who is leading an anti-corruption crackdown at home as bought the world's most expensive home.
The Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, 32, is the new owner of the Chateau Louis XIV, a 50,000sqft palace near Versailles that Kim Kardashian once considered as a wedding venue. It was last sold for €275m (200m) back in 2015.
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The crown prince has been leading a pro-austerity drive at home and a crackdown on 'self-enrichment' in the oil-rich elite, reports the Telegraph.
A number of wealthy businessmen, sheiks and princes have been kept at the Ritz Carlton hotel under the eye of the prince's security guards.
The Times reports that, since becoming crown prince in June, he has been on a bid to transform the image of his country, liberalising its social codes to allow women to drive and to get jobs more easily.
The paper adds that his economic reforms are reportedly based on the example of Margaret Thatcher, whom he is said to admire, and they include removing subsidies, privatising industry and cutting the state budget.
However, he still appears to have very expensive tastes, purchasing a $450m Leonardo da Vinci painting and a $500m yacht in the last year, as well as the chateau.
The Chateau Louis XIV was inspired by the Chateau of Vaux le Vicomte near Paris and boasts indoor and outdoor pools, a private cinema, 10 bedrooms, a huge moat, two ballrooms and a nightclub.
