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 Léopold
Louis Philippe Marie Victor von Habsburg-Lothringen aka Léopold II, was born on
9 April 1835 in
Brussels, the capital of Belgium. He is
the eldest son of Léopold I, first king of the Belgians. In 1900 when the monarch
was 65, he visited the World Exhibition held in Paris where he purchased three souvenirs.
Among them two are here in Brussels - the
Chinese Pavilion and the Japanese
Tower. The Chinese Pavilion
styled as the Chinese temple tower by the architect Marcel with the interior
decorated under the style of French Kings, could be the perfect restaurant. The
Japanese Tower
is the real Japanese temple brought from the Land of Rising
Sun for the exhibition specially. How did they get them here from Paris?
They were dismantled,
delivered to Brussels
and re-built again, while the third souvenir was too far complicated just to
dismantle and install again.
The point
is that the third souvenir that was brought by the monarch of Belgium
from flamboyant Paris was Blanche Zélia Joséphine Delacroix
who was only 17 that time. She was the daughter to the graphic designer
from Lille who worked as the concierge in Paris. Blanche is said to
have been
unofficially created Baroness de Vaughan in Belgium and held the
official place
next to Léopold II.
In 1902 Léopold's
official spouse dies, the Queen Marie Henriette Anne von Habsburg-Lothringen,
Archduchess of Austria, and the King (you think, he was too inconsolable with
the young Blanche, Baroness de Vaughan?), purchased the land in Villefranche-sur-Mer
at Cote d`Azur, next to Monte Carlo.
The King intended to construct a summer palace for his beauty lover who was said
to distinguish with vulgarity typical to a real daughter of concierge, though
she was single-hearted, and was believed to care of the King tenderly. Moreover,
Blanche Delacroix was 19 when Léopold was 67, he was at the age when the saying
‘no fool like an old fool' is too actual, even for the Kings.
Baroness de
Vaughan gave birth to a baby, called Lucien Philippe Marie Antoine, for the
King in 1906 who was titled as Lucien Duke of Tervuren, and in 1907 she
delivered another son who was given the title of Philippe Count of Ravenstein. In
the meantime the summer palace was being constructed and the King married to
his lover in 1909 when he was 75 and she was only 26. However, the King's dream
to live a quiet life with his morganatic family in the best part of France
did not come ever true. Léopold II died in a few days after he married Blanche,
and his love place  was never constructed for her.
Ogden
Codman, the new owner to that wonderful land, caused the palace constructed in
1931, though the title «royal» was so much stuck to the place that the palace
was at all times called Villa Leopolda whoever bought the place. The same we know about it.
In 1952 Villa
Leopolda was bought by the founder of the concern Fiat, by Janny Agnelli for
$100 thousand USD and in 1980 the banker from Lebanon, Edmond Safra paid $3
million USD for the Villa. The place was good to welcome Ronald Reagan and Frank
Sinatra.
Unfortunately,
Edmond Safra died in 1999 during the fire in his place in Monaco. As
rumors say, the fire was caused by the Russian mafia, as if he was killed and
then the house set to fire to hide all relations. There are no true evidences
only rumors about the accident. And the Villa was now possessed by the banker's
widow, Lily Safra, one of the wealthiest women in the world. And last, in 2008,
the world was stroke with the news that Villa Leopolda is on sale again.
Daily
Express of Britain announced that Roman Abramovich bought the villa for $500 million
USD for Darya Zhukova as the wedding present. Nevertheless, the press service of
the billionaire disclaimed the news in The Independent stating that the Russian
oligarch acquired a house in France,
that is Chateau-de-la-Cros, a villa in the French Riviera, and Abramovich does
not need another villa.
Nice-Matin,
the French Newspaper, announced that Mikhail Prokhorov was about to purchase
the Villa and he offered 496 million Euros, that is $730 million USD for the
place and he was said to make down payment. The price offered for the place
made the Villa one of the most expensive houses in the world. Some time ago the
amount of 57 million Euros that is $130 million USD was paid by the Indian
Steel Magnate Lakshmi Niwas Mittal in 2004 for the real estate in Kensington Palace Gardens,
being the highest price for the property. The House in Upper-Filmor Gardens
was bought by the stranger for $152 million USD. A month later the Apartments Saint-James
that is situated between the Buckingham
Palace and the Residence of the
Premier Minister of England
was given $218 million dollars. However, Lakshmi is now the owner of the most
expensive house in the world when he purchased a House in Kensington from the
Head of the Hedge Fund Noam Gottesman for $222 million USD. Thou gh, Villa Leopolda
was to be the first only if the transaction took place.
Mikhail
Prokhorov denied his intention to buy the villa. The representative person from
the «ONEXIM» Group presiding by Mikhail declared that they had no purchases in France,
though in the future time they intend to invest in the historical real estate
at Cote d`Azur and in other countries.
Finally mass
media abroad came to the idea that Villa Leopolda was sold to the Russian
magnate who preferred to be anonymous. The realtors practicing at Cote d`Azur told
that in 90s the Russians attacked the elite real estate here in the place
drawing attention to the amount offered for property and highlighting that the
real estate for less than 100 million Euros was never considered by the
Russians. Though, nobody named these Russians who used all their assets and forces
to invest here into the real estate.
Lately Villa
Leopolda again appeared to be involved in news about elite real estate. Mikhail
Prokhorov is thought to have purchased the Villa, though the bargain failed. Nice-Matin
announced on the termination of the transaction and attempts made by Prokhorov to
bring down the price for the Villa to 200 million Euros and that as a result he
was to transfer 10% of the sum of the transaction to Lily in compliance with
the French legislation. «Eight months ago Mikhail was about to pay half a billion
for this villa, and now he does not have an opportunity to propose several
dozens millions Euros».
The French periodic
could have been less ironic if Mikhail was not on the list of the wealthiest
persons in Russia.
So, Nice-Matin says that today «when all bet for the return of petrodollars of
the Persian Gulf, the Russian dollar crane was
broken, if not dried to end».
The rumors about
the «broken dollar crane» are continued with gossips that Roman Abramovich is
about to sell his villa in Antibes, and Mikhail Prokhorov appeared in the first
top of Finance due to troubles and problems experienced by his competitors not
by him personally.
Villa Leopolda
seems to lose the title of the most expensive private house of the world. The experts
state that the Villa costs about 30-40 million Euros. And Alexander V.G. Kraft,
the President and the Director General of Sotheby's International Realty, the international
real estate agency, publicized that prices offered for such unique structures
go down to 20 to 30 million Euros since the point was that «the amount which
was ready to offer by the competitive buyers and now the potential buyers who
can afford spending a fortune for the house are not available any longer».
Nevertheless,
even if the transaction took place, the title of the most expensive house would
not be held for ever. The Indian businessman, Mukesh Ambani, is the wealthiest
person in Asia, who is planning to move to 27-storeyed house in Bombay that he caused to
erect for his family and corporation. And this real estate is estimated to cost
approximately $2 billion USD.
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