Sarah Ferguson’s £5m Mayfair mansion purchase leaves French socialite ‘outraged’ after Swiss chalet ‘war’

The French socialite who sold the Duke and Duchess of York their Swiss chalet in 2014 has revealed that she's 'outraged' by Sarah Ferguson's recent purchase of a Mayfair mansion, after agreeing to accept lower repayments from the couple because she believed they were short of cash. 

• The French socialite who sold Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson their Swiss chalet has said she's 'outraged' by the Duchess of York's recent purchase of a London mansion. 
• Isabelle de Rouvre accepted lower debt payments on the luxury property as she believed the royal couple was unable to find the cash.
• In other royal news, Fears for Queen’s health surge as ‘traditional’ Balmoral welcome ceremony is axed for her ‘comfort’.
  

The owner of Sarah Ferguson and Prince Andrew's former luxury chalet has said that she is "outraged" to hear that the Duchess of York has purchased a £5m mansion in Mayfair, London. 

Isabelle de Rouvre, 74, first sold the divorced couple her seven-bedroom property in Verbier, Switzerland in 2014, in what royal sources described as a 'family investment.' 

The Yorks, who had been vacationing at the ski resort for 17 years with their daughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, purchased the 'Chalet Helora' with a joint mortgage of £13.25 million and agreed to pay the remaining £5 million in cash installments with accrued interest. 

Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson's enjoyment of the property came under threat however in 2020, when it was revealed that de Rouvre had launched legal action against them for failing to cover their debts on time. 

According to a royal source, the Duke and Duchess of York's 'income streams had dried up' in recent years, leaving them unable to meet the final payments' hard deadline. The news came amid allegations that Prince Andrew had sexually assaulted Virginia Giuffre, a survivor of Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking scheme, when she was 17. 

Following a lengthy legal dispute, the couple was finally able to sell the chalet in January 2022 after settling their debts to de Rouvre. According to the French socialite, Prince Andrew and Sarah owed approximately £6.8m in repayments. However, she ultimately agreed to accept just half the amount, £3.4m, as she was under the impression the Yorks did not have the funds to repay her. 

However, it was revealed last week that Sarah has bought a £5m mansion in the affluent London borough of Mayfair, prompting confusion over the 62-year-old's financial circumstances. 

"I am outraged that I am now told she has spent millions on another property," de Rouvre told The Sunday Times. 

“It is just incredible and the whole story unbelievable. It is a dirty story as far as I am concerned.”

The Duchess, who still lives with her ex-husband at the Royal Lodge in Windsor, bought the luxury abode off the Duke of Westminster as a reported investment for her daughters.