Photo BermudaBreeze

Roman Abramovich bought the spectacular Château La Croë in 2001. Built in 1927 in strict Victorian style for the English aristocrat Sir William Pomeroy Burton, it then became home to King Edward VIII after he married Wallace Simpson and abdicated the throne (a subject of Madonna’s new movie being filmed in Cannes and Villefranche a couple of days ago).

In 1952 it was bought and used by the Greek shipbuilding magnate Stavros Niarkos until it was devastated by fire around 1970. It then lay abandoned for several decades until bought by Roman Abramovich and restored at a cost estimated at over €100M. It took 185 companies over 4 years to complete the renovations, which also include a huge swimming pool on the roof.

Roman is not somebody used to being inconvenienced, but he can take heart that he had his yachts parked in the Antibes port next door: the 115m Pelorus, the 85m Ecstasea, and the 50m Sussuro.