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The billionaire ruler of Dubai has been given the go-ahead to build a luxury ‘garden room’ overlooking a loch at his Highland estate.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum lodged plans to expand his Inverinate Estate by erecting the glass-fronted summer house.
The building will overlook Loch Duich and is proposed to increase the sheikh’s ‘enjoyment’ of his home in Scotland.
The 72-year-old has an estimated £14 billion fortune and bought the 63,000 acre estate in Wester Ross more than 20 years ago, since then he has continued to invest and develop on the site.
Though in December a judge in London ordered the sheikh to pay his former wife £554 million in Britain’s biggest divorce settlement – just under 4% of his estimated wealth.
He was told to pay Princess Haya bint al-Hussein an initial lump sum of £251.5million within three months for her and their two children’s security.
The award came after the princess, the half-sister of King Abdullah II of Jordan, fled the United Arab Emirates in 2019 with their children claiming she was ‘terrified’ of her husband.
Previously the sheikh drew a large amount of attention after there were reports that his daughter Princess Latifa, who now claims to be living freely in Paris, was being detained against her will.
Princess Latifa also called on police to re-investigate the disappearance of her older sister Princess Shamsa, who hasn’t been seen since she was taken off the streets of Cambridge in 2000.
Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum (left, pictured with former wife Princess Haya Bint Al-Hussain), the billionaire ruler of Dubai, has won approval to add a luxury garden room to his Scottish estate
The glass-fronted summer house (pictured) will overlook Loch Duich and is hoped to increase the sheikh’s ‘enjoyment’ of his home in Scotland
The 62 square metre garden room and an accompanying footpath is one of several additions the sheikh has made at the large highland estate
Princess Latifa (left) assured the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights she was good last month. Previously she has also appealed to UK police to re-investigate the kidnap of her older sister Princess Shamsa (right)
The Highland retreat already boasts helipads and a 14 bedroom holiday home, next door to a 16 bedroom luxury hunting lodge with pool and gym.
A planning application was submitted to Highland Council for the 62 square metre garden room and an accompanying footpath in January. It has now been approved after no objections were received.
A design statement submitted by the sheikh’s representatives stated: ‘The applicant wishes to create the proposed garden room for the enjoyment of the estate.
‘The garden room will provide an enhanced level of amenity for the owners and guests when in residence at Inverinate.
‘The proposed location of the garden room lies on shore of the Inverinate estate on an existing peninsula which juts out into the loch.
‘The site is surrounded by a coastal wall and sits with the backdrop of mature trees and existing contemporary lodge house.
‘The proposed garden room has been located in an existing clearing formed by the coastal wall. The garden room will be accessed via a path which will wind itself through the landscape.
‘The proposed garden room has a low profile which seeks to sit comfortably within the landscape and backdrop of the mature trees and contemporary lodge.’
There are several lodges at the billionaire’s ‘hideaway’ Scottish estate
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum (pictured), only visits the Inverinate retreat in Wester Ross a few weeks of the year
In a written decision, planning officials said: ‘The proposed building would only be seen from Loch Duich and its southern shore, and would be viewed against the backdrop of two buildings.
‘As such, the proposed building would not appear as an isolated feature within an area of otherwise undeveloped open countryside. The proposed siting can therefore be supported.
‘The design of the building is of a simple contemporary form which would complement that of the large lodge building to the north and would not adversely affect the special qualities of the National Scenic Area.
‘There are no neighbouring properties which are not in the ownership of the applicant within the vicinity of the site.
‘It is considered that the proposal accords with the principles and policies contained within the development plan and is acceptable in terms of all other applicable material considerations.’
In 2020, the sheikh won a planning battle to build a six bedroom lodge at the estate after the Scottish Government overruled a council vote to block it.
Locals claimed it would spoil the natural beauty of the area at Loch Duich and be too close to a neighbouring bungalow.
Government planning officials said they saw no reason not to allow the building as long as the sheikh pays for affordable housing in the area.
Princess Haya had asked the court for a total of £1.4billion to provide for her children and their security costs and to compensate her for racehorses, cars and other valuables she said were owed to her
Princess Haya bint Hussein will receive a lump sum payment of £251million as part of a ‘clean break’ from one of the world’s richest men, Sheikh Mohammed Al Maktoum, the High Court announced
The planning approval follows a tumultuous time for sheikh Maktoum, following his divorce settlement in December 2021.
Princess Haya, who fled to Britain after her affair with her bodyguard was discovered, had asked the court for the £1.4billion to provide for her children, Jalila, 14, and Zayed, nine, and their security costs, and to compensate her for racehorses, cars and other valuables she said were owed to her.
She did not ask the court for a share of her ex-husband’s wealth but sought maintenance payments for their children and for compensation of more than £19million for racehorses.
She also wanted £52million for clothing and jewellery as compensation for items she had left behind.
Mr Justice Moor declared in a 73-page judgment there was a ‘clear and ever-present risk’ to the princess and her two young children and that Sheikh Mohammed was the ‘main threat to her’.
The £554m figure awarded by Mr Justice Moor at the Family Division of the High Court dwarfs the previous highest settlement of £450m made in 2016 to the ex-wife of Russian oligarch Farkhad Akhmedov.
Princess Haya’s affair with British bodyguard as she claims she Paid out £7m to ‘blackmailers’
The judgment last month revealed how Princess Haya alleged that she had paid out £7million to ‘blackmailers’ on her security staff to keep secret her affair with her British bodyguard, Russell Flowers, which led to the breakdown of her marriage.
Flowers, who served for five years in the Princess of Wales Royal Regiment, started working for Haya full time in 2016 and accompanied her on many trips abroad. MailOnline first revealed that he started an affair with Haya after he was assigned to her at the sheikh’s 3,000-acre estate Dalham Hall in Suffolk.
Mr Flowers started working for Haya full time in 2016
The relationship ended Mr Flowers’s four year marriage
Friends told MailOnline they would have adjoining rooms on overseas trips where he accompanied her. Flowers has refused to comment on the affair, citing a non-disclosure agreement.
The relationship ended the princess’s 16-year marriage and led to her fleeing Dubai in fear of her life after a loaded gun was left in her bedroom and she was told a helicopter would land at the royal palace and take her to prison. Giving evidence, the princess admitted she had taken money from one of her children’s bank accounts to ‘pay off’ a total of £7m to her alleged ‘blackmailers’.
Mr Flowers has refused to speak about the affair
Three former bodyguards who allegedly received the money were not named in court but identified as Mr A, B and C.
Mr A was said to have been given £2.5m while Mr B and Mr C shared £4.45m. The disclosure of the alleged payouts came as the princess was cross examined by her ex-husband’s legal team over money taken from her daughter’s account.
The court heard cash from the account had also been used to buy racehorses and another large sum sent to her brother to help fund his royal palace in Jordan.
Haya, 47, told the court it had been ‘convenient’ to use her daughter’s funds and she had hoped to repay the money but had yet to do so. ‘Those were the funds that I could get to make that payment quickly which were available to me,’ she told the court. After hearing about the alleged blackmail, the judge remarked: ‘It sticks in the throat that these people have been able to get away with this and have not been charged.’
In his judgment he said: ‘This was clearly a most unsatisfactory episode. I realise I have not heard from the alleged blackmailers but nobody should be blackmailed and HRH must have been very frightened at this point. It would have been better if she had used her own allowance to fund all these payments.’
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