2-year riddle of who bought 'world's most expensive home' is solved

A two-year mystery of who bought the world’s most expensive home has been solved.

A mega-rich Saudi prince has been revealed as the person who spent about €275 million (£200 million) in 2015 on the Chateau Louis XIV.

The 50,000 sq ft palace near Versailles in France was bought by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, according to the paper trail traced by the New York Times.

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The revelation comes just days after it was claimed he was also the buyer of the Salvator Mundi painting by Leonardo da Vinci, which sold for a world record $450m at auction last month.

While the mansion looks like a 17th-century chateau in the style of the famous nearby palace, it is in fact a relative new-build erected on the site of an existing property that was bulldozed.

Its modern facilities including a cinema, swimming pool and a moat with a transparent underwater chamber. There are also 10 bedroom suites and a wine cellar with space for 3,000 bottles.

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Kim Kardashian was said to have once considered the chateau as a wedding venue for her nuptials with Kanye West.

According to the New York Times, the purchase of the chateau and the painting was facilitated through the crown prince’s personal foundation, Eight Investment Company, and wrapped up in various shell companies.

When it was bought in 2015, Fortune magazine described the chateau as “the world’s most expensive home”.