Prince Charles at Heart of London Property Soap Opera

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A London court has ruled that Qatar's sovereign wealth fund acted improperly when it withdrew support for a controversial Chelsea project after complaints from Prince Charles.

The case brought by CPC Group, the company controlled by high-profile luxury developer Christian Candy, has turned into one of the U.K.'s most closely watched soap operas, thanks to the role of His Royal Highness. The court ruled that Prince Charles' intervention in the Chelsea Barracks redevelopment plan, which was being developed by CPC and Qatari Diar, was "unexpected and unwelcome."

Later hearings will determine damages, although it's unlikely Candy will get the £80 million he's demanded.

Candy and Qatari Diar were far along in the process for Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners' modernistic plan for the Chelsea site when the Prince of Wales started lobbying against the design. As revealed at trial, beyond his public statements, the Prince was working behind the scenes, directly approaching Qatar officials to complain about the scheme, which he called out of place with the neighborhood.

In a letter made public last week, the Prince told the prime minister of Qatar the "brutalist" plan would lead to the "destruction" of the site. He lobbied for a more "old fashioned" approach.

A few days later Qatari Diar backed out of the deal, prompting Candy's breach of contract suit. The dispute also sparked a confrontation between the Prince and architects, who claimed the royal heir's "behind the scenes" intervention in the planning process was "inappropriate."

Last week a judge agreed that the Prince's lobbying effort may have been wrong, and agreed that Qatari Diar had breached its contract. But he judge stopped short of blaming the Qatar firm, noting that the Prince's high-level involvement put the company "between a rock and a hard place," and that it didn't act in bad faith when it succumbed to the pressure.

 

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