Prince Harry and Meghan's $14 million Canada mansion was formerly 'owned' by Russian billionaire

After Prince Harry and Meghan Markle fled from the UK, they temporarily stayed in Canada for some time in 2019. The couple moved to a huge 10,000-square-foot mansion in British Columbia named ‘Millie Fleurs.’

A murky past

It was once believed that Russian billionaire Yuri Milner helped the Sussex couple in getting Millie Fleurs for their temporary stay in Canada. According to OK! Magazine, the venture capitalist's wife was even friends with Markle from their school days.

Canada's murky rules around property ownership have made that difficult to confirm, and Milner has previously denied owning the property. However, thanks to an investigation by CBC which traced the mansion's ownership, we have the answer.

A statement conceded that Milner's trust, funded by him, purchased the house in 2013. Not only that, Milner himself was a beneficiary of the trust at the time. However, it emphasised that Prince Harry and Meghan's stay was arranged by Canadian music producer David Foster. Milner knowsFoster, and it is Foster's wife who knows Markle from their school days.

Jamison Firestone, a Moscow lawyer whofights against Russian state corruption, said this doesn't make much difference:

If you have the exclusive use of something, you basically have all the benefits of owning it without having to be legally owning it. So yes, he may not be the owner, but he may very well be the ultimate beneficiary, which is basically the same thing for all this stuff.

Property details

The beautiful property that overlooks the Saanich Inlet is described by the North Saanich community as:

Its long coastline on three sides affords many housing sites with excellent views of water, islands and mountains.

Its rolling interior lands afford views of hills and valleys and a generous feeling of open space and rapport with nature.

In their recent Netflix docuseries, Prince Harry lamented that everyone had discovered the location of the property, forcing them to relocate due to safety fears:

So this was like a week before COVID, and we'd be stuck at this house, where everyone in the world knew where we were. Unprotected, no security.

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The eight-bedroom house has many amenities including a wine room, pizza oven, 17th-century fireplace imported from France, a double-height living room and a game room with a wet bar. Millie Fleurs also has an impressive 2,000-square-foot guest cottage to put up visitors.

Currently, the mansion is owned by a corporation called the Towner Bay Country Club. This comes as the property is not considered a single property but a part of a stretch of oceanfront land on the Saanich Peninsula owned by the corporation.

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Source used:

OK! Magazine: Harry and Meghan's huge former Canadian home 'owned by Russian billionaire'

CBC: Russian billionaire is behind mansion that housed Harry and Meghan, leaked files show