Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor over image of red brick home

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor received Sunninghill Park, the home he and Sarah Ferguson first lived in, as a wedding gift from Queen Elizabeth

ndrew Mountbatten-Windsor is currently residing at Wood Farm on the Sandringham estate, but he previously resided at Royal Lodge on the Windsor Home Park estate with his ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson – and it’s not the first time the pair shared a home.

Two years after their marriage in 1986, Andrew and Sarah Ferguson moved into Sunninghill Park in Ascot, Berkshire, having received the new-build home as a wedding gift from his mother, the late Queen. However, the former Duke and Duchess of York divorced in 1996, leading Andrew, formerly Prince Andrew, to make a staggering £15 million profit on the property – but how?

Sunninghill Park pictured in 1992© Tim Graham Photo Library via Get
Sunninghill Park pictured in 1992

How did Andrew make £15m on his prior home?

According to The Times, in 1983, the late Queen created a company called Tyrolese 83 Limited to “acquire, hold and deal with property”. The said company was also able to hold property on behalf of the Queen’s relatives, while the individuals and the properties remained hidden from the public, as it was not obliged to publish annual accounts.

Sarah married Prince Andrew in 1986© Getty Images
Sarah and Andrew moved into Sunninghill Park after their wedding

It was Tyrolese 83 Limited that purchased the leasehold for the Sunninghill Park land, where Andrew and Sarah’s wedding gift home would sit, for £100,000. In 1990, the couple moved into a new 12-bedroom house built on the land, and during their tenure, Tyrolese was responsible for paying an annual rent of £100.

When the Queen Mother passed away in 2002, her home, Royal Lodge on the Windsor Home Park estate, became vacant. Queen Elizabeth then handed the home over to Andrew and, at the same time, transferred Sunninghill Park to her son so that he could sell it and use the funds to renovate Royal Lodge.

Sunninghill Park, Near Ascot© Getty Images
Sunninghill Park was later handed over to Andrew

In August 2003, the Crown Estate transferred the freehold to a trust called the Sunninghill Park Settlement at just £12,000. In 2007, Andrew sold his wedding gift pad to Timur Kulibayev, a Kazakh billionaire, for £15 million, a profit he was able to pocket after being handed the home.

Inside Sunninghill Park

Though Andrew traded Sunninghill Park for Royal Lodge (where he lived from 2004 until his forced exile in February 2026), that isn’t to say that it wasn’t a perfectly good marital home. In fact, after their split, Sarah remained living there with the couple’s daughters, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, until they all moved out in 2006.

The property was known as 'South York'© PA Images via Getty Images
The property was known as ‘South York’

Royal author Andrew Lownie previously revealed that the property boasted an array of high-spec features, including “its own helicopter landing pad, a cinema, pool room and swimming pool, and 20 rooms of staff quarters”.

Andrew has come under scrutiny in recent years© POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Andrew is currently living on the Sandringham estate

The former duchess reportedly also had “one of the world’s largest walk-in wardrobes”, coming in at 100ft long, at Sunninghill Park. Meanwhile, their bathtub was said to have been nicknamed HMS Fergie by their builders due to its large size.

The security costs speak to the enormity of the home, coming in at £300,000 per annum. Lownie also reported that the home had panic buttons and a bomb shelter.