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| Extending the Caliphate to Britain: Qatari Royal family to build Palace in London |
And Qatar’s royal family are now planning their own British palace in the capital as well.
The Gulf state’s rulers have submitted plans to convert three prime properties in London’s Regent’s Park into a huge mansion, set to become the UK’s first £200million home.
The garden sits at lower ground level, at the back of number 1 Cornwall Terrace, and is accessible by two sets of stairs. In the summer it can be dramatically lit to look like a ballroom
Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser Al Missned, 55, one of the three wives of Qatar’s former emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, bought the homes for an estimated £120million last year.
The Arab royal, who met the Queen at Windsor Palace in 2010, has now hired architects and lawyers to oversee a transformation of the properties into one 33,000 sq ft mansion, boasting a spa, heated swimming pool, beauty salon, butler and nanny quarters, a children’s floor, games rooms, powder rooms, massage areas, two lifts and a gymnasium. Her family also own the Shard, the tallest skyscraper in Europe, Harrods and the Olympic Village.
The 13 bedroom palace will be the London home of Sheikh Hamad’s son and Qatar’s current emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, 34, who was educated at Harrow and Sandhurst.
There, he will be able to relax in the mansion’s spa and sauna and dip in the pool, which is set in Portland stone.
Heated kitchen seats will keep the family warm in the English winter and, for the summer, there are Italianate gardens dramatically lit to look like a ballroom.
Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser Al Missned (right), with husband Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani's (left)
Guests are treated to a selection of bedrooms and can smoke with their host in a cigar room, and select drinks from a ‘wine cave’.
Lights are controlled by an iPad and staff live in their own quarters in part of the building, which comprises of the two end properties on the terrace.
When completed, the mansion is expected to be the most valuable residential property in London in private hands.
It is likely to be worth more than the most high profile investments of recent times in the capital – including Dudley House on Park Lane, a grade II-listed mansion which was also bought and renovated by Sheikh Hamad, 62, and is valued at £200 million.
It is expected to be worth about double the highest selling residential property in the UK - a penthouse at One Hyde Park in Knightsbridge, which sold in May this year for about £140 million.
The Qatari royal family bought the three properties - 1, 2 and 3 Cornwall Terrace - last year.
The Grade 1 listed buildings were designed and built in the 1820s by Decimus Burton, the protégé of John Nash, the architect who designed Buckingham Palace. It was named after King George IV, whose titles included the Duke of Cornwall.
The homes were badly damaged in the Blitz. After refurbishment, one of the properties was the official residence of the New Zealand High Commissioner from 1955 until the seventies, with lavish parties for royalty, celebrities and ambassadors.
It was subsequently overtaken by hippy squatters in 1975 and was hailed as a ‘temple’ for the ‘Rainbow People’ and ‘Divine Light Mission’ - before being redeveloped in 2007 by a property company and sold.
The 33,000sq ft mansion will boast a spa, heated swimming pool, beauty salon, butler and nanny quarters, a children’s floor, games rooms, powder rooms, massage areas, two lifts and a gymnasium
Representatives of the Qatar royal family said after joining the houses together, the new single mansion ‘will be ordered through a series of zones creating a sense of hierarchy’.
Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser Al Missned, when she met the Queen at Windsor Palace in 2010
Plans suggest the ground floor of the neoclassical house will be used for a reception area and lobby, leading through on one side to a large dining room and on the other to the family’s main kitchen, living room and breakfast rooms.
The first floor boasts formal sitting areas, a cigar lounge and three entertainment rooms.
The living areas are above, with the second floor featuring a huge master bedroom, with two adjoining ‘dressing rooms’, a master bathroom and a bedroom pantry.
The third floor is set aside for the children, with boys and girls wings, games rooms, playroom, pantry and a kids’ lift. The nanny lodgings are also on this floor, with an en suite bathroom.
The lower ground floor, meanwhile, is to boast the heated swimming pool and gym areas, which are to be separated by a glass wall ‘to create a sense of light and space’, as well as massage rooms, another ‘entertainment area’ and a hair salon.
Another part of the floor will serve as staff quarters, with a catering kitchen, wine cave and a security office controlling a system of state of the art cameras protecting the property.
Fittings for the mansion will be made from the most sought after materials, including a carrara marble and champagne gold metal fireplace.
The bathrooms will be provided with a minimum of 3 air changes per hour, while each room’s temperature can be controlled individually.
The ideal temparatures have been specified for the family at 23C in living areas, 22C in bedrooms and between 25C and 30C in the pool area.
The 13 bedroom palace will be the London home of the couple's son - Qatar’s current emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, 34, who was educated at Harrow and Sandhurst
In its current form, one Cornwall Terrace alone has seven bedrooms, 11 reception rooms, nine bathrooms, a private gym and a garage with number-plate recognition that can accommodate two limousines. The adjoining property – formed by already combining 2 and 3 Cornwall Terrace – has six bedrooms.
Its dining room, restored to its former Regency glory, seats 16.
Extensive works to be done include, structural realignment, part excavation of the lower ground floor, corridors to connect the properties and a ‘secret’ passage linking the new dining room and study.
‘These are to be occupied and used by the same, large family who has the long leasehold interest in both properties. They intend to use these properties as their London home,’ the planning application states.
For almost 150 years, Qatar has been ruled by the Al Thani family.
Sheikh Hamad was the ruling Emir of Qatar from 1995, when he seized power from his father Sheikh Khalifa in a bloodless palace coup d’état supported by the armed forces, cabinet and neighbouring states.
He has more than 20 children from three wives, a fortune of £1.5billion and his family’s huge state investment fund owns more of London than the Crown Estate.
His son Tamim took over last year after being educated in the UK at Sherborne School, Harrow and Sandhurst Military Academy.
While not always in line for the title, the boy replaced his own brother as crown prince in 2003.
He continues to outlaw all political parties and govern according to sharia principles. In Qatar, gay people face the death penalty and women are considered second-class citizens.
Some of Qatar's residents are accused of acting duplicitously over jihadist terror – supporting allied efforts against Islamic State but also supposedly funding Sunni militants.
There has also notoriously been much controversy over alleged corruption in the country’s successful bid to host the World Cup in 2022.
Qatar has been accused of treating foreign workers with horrendous cruelty, depriving them of pay, any rights and confiscating passports.
In recent years, Qataris are thought to have bought almost one in 30 homes in London worth more than £2million. Qatar owns buildings including the Shard, the UK’s biggest skyscraper.
Qatar own several London buildings including the Shard (pictured), the Olympic Village and 30 homes
The Qatari royal family also used its sovereign wealth fund to buy London department store Harrods in 2010
After Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund bought Harrods for £1.5billion in 2010, Sheikh Hamad said: ‘We are investing everywhere. Even your Harrods - we took it.’
The Qatari royal family saved almost £6million by buying the properties before last week’s stamp duty changes.
They will have paid £8.4million in stamp duty when buying the properties for an estimated £120million.
Had they bought the properties now, stamp duty alone would have cost them £14,227,500.
-Daily Mail
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