Gulf royals own more than 1 billion pounds of UK property

The Guardian can reveal that the royal families of Gulf states, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, own more than 1 billion pounds of UK property via offshore jurisdictions, such as Jersey and the British Virgin Islands.

According to a new government register, there are nearly 200 properties that belong to a few small but super rich dynasties, including hotels, London mansions and country estates.

Gulf royals who hold assets through offshore entities include Sheikh Mansour, the owner of Manchester City football club, members of the Al Saud ruling family of Saudi Arabia, and the Al-Thani clan that controls Qatar.

The most expensive is a 150 m Surrey estate which, according to Land Registry documents, is owned by Sheikh Mansour s wife Sheikha Manal bint Mohammed al-Maktoum.

Sheikh Mansour, who is the deputy prime minister of the UAE, owns 17 other land titles via Jersey, including a London apartment and land connected to urban developments in Manchester.

The Saudi royal family has a vast collection of property via offshore entities, including the Holme, a lakeside manor in the middle of London s Regent's Park, built in 1818.

The property is owned by a Guernsey-based entity whose beneficial owners include Abdullah bin Khalid Al Saud, the kingdom's representative at the United Nations. It was supposed to be sold for 185 million dollars in 2020.

Another royal, Turki bin Salman Al Saud, is the ninth son of the king and brother of the country's de facto ruler, Mohammed bin Salman. Turki Al Saud owns a BVI-based company called Moncrieff Holdings, which owns 18 properties in London, including flats in the Pinto Tower in Nine Elms.

Qatari royals have also used offshore jurisdictions to spend large amounts of money on UK property. Sheikh Thani bin Abdullah al-Thani, a member of the dynasty which has ruled over Qatar since the 19th century, owns 12 companies on the register of overseas entities, all of which are based in the British Virgin Islands.

The companies own 16 properties including 160 Great Portland Street in London, a seven-floor office block purchased for 127 m in 2018, according to Land Registry records.

The Sheikh's property empire also includes a 48 m office building on London's Southwark Street, three addresses worth a combined 31 m in Soho and the headquarters of the technology company Sony on Great Marlborough Street.

Another member of the clan, Mohamed Khalifa al-Thani, bought 1 Queen Anne s Gate, a 27-unit block on the edge of St James s Park near Buckingham Palace, for 139 m in 2019. The development was designed by David Linley, son of the late Princess Margaret.

Previous Guardian analysis shows that the Qataris own about 10 billion of UK property, including prestige assets such as the Shard and Harrods. For the first time, the register of overseas entities shows how the Al Qaeda royals and other Gulf royals have used offshore jurisdictions to expand their UK property holdings.

Members of the ruling families of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Jordan and Bahrain own nearly 200 properties worth 1 billion dollars via offshore companies in the BVIs, Jersey, Guernsey and Panama.

The Guardian is looking at the names on the register in view of the public interest in transparency around the ownership of British property. Some people may have legitimate privacy or security concerns or business reasons for using properties through offshore companies, and they may have legitimate legitimate and legitimate privacy or security concerns or business reasons for using them.