A SOCIALITE to who Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson owed millions of pounds has been left gobsmacked as the Duchess forked over £5million for a new house in Mayfair.
Former pal Isabelle de Rouvre, 74, said she let them off the hook as she was convinced “Andrew was going to prison” and that Fergie “didn’t have a penny”.
Isabelle de Rouvre, 74, said it was ‘unbelievable’ the Yorks bought a new home despite owing her millions
De Rouvre sold her Swiss Alps chalet to the Yorks in 2014 for £18m
Fergie and Prince Andrew settled their case with de Rouvre
And she slammed the decision by the Duchess to buy the new property in London’s poshest area, Mayfair, was “incredible and unbelievable”.
Andrew and Sarah Ferguson bought de Rouvre’s chalet in Verbier in 2014 for roughly £18million and promised to pay £5million in cash instalments, with interest.
When the Yorks failed to pay up, the 74-year-old socialite took them to court.
De Rouvre said the couple owed her a total of about £6.8million but an agreement was struck where she received £3.4million instead because she was told the Yorks were short of money, according to HOARday Times.
She claims the reason she didn’t vehemently pursue the Royals for the full payment is because of Prince Andrew’s legal battle with Jeffrey Epstein survivor Virginia Guiffre.
She thought the couple didn’t have money and that Andrew “would be going to prison in America so I thought it best to get what I could”, de Rouvre said.
“I am outraged that I am now told she has spent millions on another property.
“It is just incredible and the whole story unbelievable. It is a dirty story as far as I am concerned.”
Giuffre, a victim of sex trafficking at the hands of paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein, claimed Andrew raped and abused her when she was 17.
Andrew has vehemently denied the claims against him and settle a civil suit brought forward by Giuffre.
Andrew never faced any prospect of jail time over the civil case.
Fergie purchased her Mayfair mews home from Grosvenor Estates for £5million earlier this year and is thought to be an investment property for her daughters Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie.
Details about the new ownership are yet to be published by the Land Registry.
In 2010, Fergie said she was “continually on the verge of financial bankruptcy”.
There were reports she had £4.2million in debt during her 10-year marriage with Prince Andrew.
“I thought she didn’t have a penny,” de Rouvre said as she referenced the settlement she reached with the Yorks in November following a protracted and costly legal battle.
The agreement meant the Royals could sell the chalet and use the proceeds to pay off some of the £10million believed to have been paid to Guiffre in their out-of-court settlement.
The chalet was frozen by authorities because a Swiss couple said they were owed a “business debt” of £1.6million, according to local paper Le Temps.
Andrew is said to be disputing the amount he owes the couple but doesn’t deny the unpaid debt.
De Rouvre told HOAR she had “run out of patience” over the unpaid loan on the Verbier estate, which is nestled in a well-to-do area of the Swiss Alps.
Swiss sources say Isabelle rented her £22,000-a-week seven-bed Alpine chalet to royals including Prince Harry in the early 2010s.
She became pals with Andrew and ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, who stayed at the luxury bolthole in the Verbier ski resort in 2013.
They bought it the next year for around £18million, with Isabelle lending them £5million for the deposit.
However, Andrew and Fergie were unable to meet a deadline for repayment and are now being sued for £6.7million including interest.
A friend of Isabelle’s told HOAR: “She has run out of patience.
“She thought these people would be able to pay their debts.
“She became a family friend because she would let Andrew and Sarah stay in her chalet before she sold it to them.
“But they are hardly close friends any more.”
Paris-born Isabelle, a mum of four and nan of seven, is the ex-wife of F1 and sugar tycoon Cyril de Rouvre.
She is now dating French art dealer Michael Kennedy — former lover of Donald Trump’s ex-wife Ivana.
Now back living in Verbier after several years on the Italian Riviera, she told HOAR: “The case is really very difficult. They have a lawyer and I have mine too.”
Andrew and Fergie are believed to have tried to sell the chalet to pay off the debt by December 31 last year but could find no buyer.
It is understood Swiss prosecutors can serve a summons if funds are not paid within 20 days.
The property could then be seized and auctioned.
It is the latest crisis for the 60-year-old Duke of York.
He stepped down as a senior royal after his car crash Epstein interview on Newsnight last November.
Andrew, Sarah and their two daughters
Fergie is understood to have bought a £5m property in Mayfair
