An opulent 14-bedroom villa which once belonged to King Leopold II of Belgium has gone on sale for a whopping $410 million.
The Villa Les Cedres in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, France, will lay claim to the enviable title of ‘world’s most expensive house’ if sold for its multi-million dollar price tag.
Revealing photos from inside the 187-year-old mansion show the house in all its regal glory – having been first built for the King of Belgium using his profits from land-grabs in the Congo.
The remarkable property recently passed into the hands of Italian brewing giants Campari – who put it straight on the market in October 2017.
The Villa Les Cedres is the former home of King Leopold II, the ruler of Belgium, who bought the estate with profits made from his country’s empire
From one of the houses’ many living rooms there is a panoramic view across the jutting coasts of the Cote d’Azur in the South of France
The house has an enormous verandah looking out onto the Mediterranean Sea from which it is possible to see all the way to Italy
Les Cèdres was built in 1830 and bought in 1850 by the mayor of Villefranche-sur-Mer, when it operated as an olive tree farm.
The fourteen-bedroom property comes with an Olympic size swimming pool, is in a glamorous coastal enclave close to Nice.
It has one of the most beautiful gardens in Europe, which includes 35 acres of manicured lawns, 15000 plants, and some 20 greenhouses containing rare tropical vegetation.
The palatial home features a ballroom and also stables for up to 30 horses.
Close neighbours include British composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and US tech tycoon Paul Allen.
But despite the villa’s obvious draws it seems the property has been struggling to sell as it is no longer available to view online, indicating that it may have been taken off the market.
Campari chief executive Bob Kunze-Concewitz told Bloomberg in October he had received approaches from Middle Eastern and North American buyers.
He also revealed that proceeds from the sale will be distributed among the shareholders.
Inside the lavish manse there is an ornate drawing room with antique furniture and an elegant chandelier which dominates the room
In the grounds there is an Olympic-length swimming pool surrounded by the tropical vegetation of the South of France
There is also a pristine avenue of indigenous palm trees which line the immaculate lawn leading as far as the eye can see from the house
There is plenty of wildlife on display at the villa, with a range of ponds and lavish gardens providing a home for many animals
A framed photograph of Louis Alexandre Marnier Lapostolle on a table top sitting inside the drawing room of the regal villa
In the house’s sitting room there is an enormous fireplace and several large French windows which open out onto the terrace
The initials M.L., for the Marnier-Lapostolle family, sit inscribed on a stonework of a fireplace inside the Villa Les Cedres
Upstairs there are fourteen sizeable bedrooms which are decorated with magnificent murals and paintings from the houses’ former owners
There is also a private beach and a jetty from which the owners of the house can take a boat into the nearby town of Villefrance-sur-Mer
In the 37-acre gardens there are several ornate statues which are surrounded by a host of tropical plants and incredible trees