French millionaire attacks Fergie for buying £5m Mayfair house after thinking Yorks were 'penniless'
dailyrecord.co.ukThe Duchess of York has been bitterly attacked for splashing out on a £5m house in Mayfair by a French Millionaire who has been in a long-running financial dispute with the royal.
Back in 2014 Fergie and ex-husband, Prince Andrew, bought Isabelle de Rouvre's Swiss chalet in the plush ski resort of Verbier for £18 million.
They hammered out a deal in which they paid her £5 million of the sale in cash instalments, with agreed interest payments. But when the Yorks failed to settle the bill De Rouvre, 74, was forced to take legal action, the Mirror reports.De Rouvre said the news that the duchess had purchased a property for £5m was "incredible and unbelievable" because she believed she "didn't have a penny".Speaking to the Sunday Times she described the whole episode as a "dirty story."In this latest interview she revealed that she was actually owed £6.8million.But she decided to accept a lower payment of £3.4 million, partly because she believed the Yorks, both 62, were struggling for cash.She said: "I was forced to get lawyers involved and I settled for about half the amount."De Rouvre said one reason she had not pursued the full payment was because of Prince Andrew's American legal case brought by Virginia Guiffre, who alleged that he had sex with her when she was 17.
Andrew has always denied the allegations.She added: "I understood they didn't have the money and believed he would be going to prison in America so I thought it best to get what I could."I am outraged that I am now told she has spent millions on another property.
