Sunday 7 August 2022 03:58 PM French socialite who sued Yorks over Swiss chalet is left furious as Fergie ... trends now
A French socialite and property owner who was owed millions by the Duke of York has been left fuming after discovering that Prince Andrew's former wife has bought a £5million house in Mayfair.
Isabelle de Rouvre, 74, was owed £6.8million from the sale of a Swiss chalet back in 2014 - but agreed to receive only half of the sum as she believed the Yorks were struggling financially.
The mother of four also said she believed Prince Andrew was 'going to prison' and just wanted to settle so she could leave the affair behind her.
Prince Andrew and his ex-wife bought Ms de Rouvre's chalet in Verbier for £18million, but only paid her £13million upfront. Ms de Rouvre sold to them directly rather than place it on the market after the royals rented it from her during the early 2010s.
The remaining £5million were to be paid in installments with interest, and by 2021, this had still not been paid and the family owed a total of £6.8million.
Ms de Rouvre reportedly settled for jut £3.4million, in part because she believed both the Duke of York and his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson were short of money - before it emerged that the Prince's payout to sexual abuse accuser Virgina Guiffre could have been as little as £3million.
The Yorks' new house is nestled on a quiet cobbled street home to an eatery popular with The Beatles in the 1960s and more recently Prince Harry, Rihanna and stars of reality series Made In Chelsea.
Pictured: Isabelle de Rouvre, 74, was owed £6.8million from the sale of a Swiss chalet back in 2014
The chalet in Verbier, Switzerland, is still owned by the Yorks - Prince Andrew has been trying to sell it but old debts mean it has previously been frozen as an asset
Despite saying in 2010 that she is constantly on the edge of bankruptcy, Sarah Ferguson has splashed out £5million on the Mayfair property
Sarah Ferguson (pictured with ex-husband Prince Andrew in 2019), 62, is said to have purchased the home from her friend the Duke of Westminster, 31, who became one of the wealthiest men in the country when he inherited his father's £10billion fortune in 2016
The French socialite said: '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. It is just incredible and the whole story unbelievable. It is a dirty story as far as I am concerned.'
But it has now emerged that the Prince's payout to Virginia Guiffre, a sex trafficking victim of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, could gave been as little as £3million.
Ms Guiffre reached an out-of-court settlement with the Duke of York this year, which could amount to £12 million when her costs and a donation to a charity of her choosing have been taken into account.
Ms de Rouvre added 'I thought they didn't have a penny', The Telegraph reports.
But Ms Ferguson, who described herself as constantly on the edge of bankruptcy in 2010, has now bought a £5million house in central London, just a few minutes walk from where Ghislaine Maxwell used to reside.
She has a history of financial woes, losing more than £3.2million in the collapse of Hartmoor, her US 'lifestyle and wellness' company, and was later caught in a tabloid sting offering access to Prince Andrew for £500,000.
Although questions are being asked about her ability to afford the property, sources close to the 62-year-old claim her
