The $300 Million Chateau Louis XIV, Most Expensive Home On Earth, Is Almost Ready For Its Owner To Move In

ByJoseph Gibsonon April 24, 2020inArticles›Celebrity Homes

Back in 2015, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman paid nearly $300 million for a massive estate in Louveciennes, outside of Paris, France. That made the property known as Chateau Louis XIV , the most expensive home in the world, a distinction it still holds. And now The New York Post reports that it’s finally almost ready for the Crown Prince to move in.

At a glance, the 53,800-square-foot chateau that serves as the centerpiece of the 57-acre property might look like something out of 1800s France, but actually it was built from the ground up in 2009. The goal in the mansion’s design was to combine the look of an authentic Versailles-era castle with all the modern conveniences, like a system that lets users control the mansion’s many devices, fountains, lights, and thermostat with a smartphone.

The mansion also boasts a home movie theater, a wine cellar, a squash court, TWO ballrooms, two swimming pools (one indoor and one outdoor), and even an underground nightclub. It even has authentic historical touches like a moat, although no 17th century moat ever had an “underwater meditation room” with fish swimming around and above visitors’ heads.

17th century French castles were known for their lush, expansive gardens, and the grounds surrounding Chateau Louis XIV are undoubtedly in keeping with this tradition. Colorful flowerbeds, topiary sculptures, and immaculate box hedges abound across the outdoor garden space, and there’s even a labyrinth as well as a small and fully functional farm and vegetable garden.

Bin Salman first purchased the property under a veil of secrecy, but eventually it came out that the spiderweb of shell corporations that actually made the purchase could be traced back to him, and now according to the Post he’s getting ready to move in. When he does, he’ll be surrounded by a level of opulence that even he might not be accustomed to, and you can get a better look at what I mean by taking a look at the video below, from the French Connaissance des Arts YouTube channel:

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Saudi Prince Buys Russian Billionaire’s Yacht, Kicks Him Off The Next Day

ByJoseph Gibsonon October 31, 2016inArticles›Billionaire News

Right now, Saudi Arabia is in the midst of an economic crisis, being dealt with in part through austerity measures imposed by the country’s government. But that government’s deputy crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman , evidently still has some fall-back funds in the coffers, since he recently made a big ticket purchase that’s understandably making waves in his own country and throughout the world.

According to The New York Times , bin Salman made a surprising impulse buy sometime last year, one that’s only now becoming public knowledge. While on vacation in France, he caught a glimpse of Serene , the 440-foot mega yacht owned (at the time) by Russian vodka billionaire Yuri Shefler . In a matter of hours, bin Salman made an offer and the yacht was then his, having paid about $550 million for it. By the following day, Shefler, whatever guests he might have had on board and all his things were gone, and bin Salman was the one true owner of the Serene.

Phil Walter/Getty Images - 1

Phil Walter/Getty Images

The sale is bound to be a controversial one, particularly within the context of the state of Saudi Arabian politics, in which not only have belts have been tightened throughout the Saudi government, but bin Salman himself has amassed levels of political power that are historically unprecedented for a deputy crown prince. But in his defense, Serene is a pretty irresistible piece of craftsmanship, in addition to ranking among the biggest superyachts in the world. Back in 2014, it was good enough for Bill Gates and his family, who rented it at the rate of $5 million a week, and it has a GSE Trieste VAS 525/60 submarine and a Eurocopter EC-145 on board. So if you, like Prince Mohammed bin Salman , were going to get yourself into potentially hot political water by splurging on a yacht, this would be the one to do it with.

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