Dubai’s billionaire ruler has submitted plans to build an eighth home on his Highlands estate – weeks after housing plans for the seventh.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum wants to build a five-bedroom house on Inverinate Estate to accommodate visiting relatives and friends.
As with previous applications, officers acting on behalf of the sheikh say the application is justified because the estate, which has helipads, two large houses and a 16-bed hunting lodge, suffers from a ‘lack of accommodation’.
The 74-year-old, who was a friend of the late Queen Elizabeth II, has an estimated fortune of £14 billion and bought the 63,000-acre Wester Ross estate more than 20 years ago.
He has expanded the number of properties on his land in recent years to make more room for guests and has previously upset locals with his plans.
The Sheikh’s Inverinate estate at Wester Ross in the Scottish Highlands already has a number of houses and lodges
An image accompanying the planning application (above) shows the house as it would be situated on the 63,000 hectare site
The Sheikh’s cousin has shared images of Dubai’s ruler enjoying his little corner of Scotland
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum (right) is the billionaire ruler of Dubai, who owns a 63,000-hectare estate in Scotland (pictured at the estate in August)
The Highlands retreat already boasts helipads, two large houses, a hunting lodge, a swimming pool and a gym (photo: Inverinate House, left, and new-build accommodation)
A proposed garden room (shown as a 3D render) was approved last year after new plans had already been submitted
The Highland retreat already boasts three main houses, a cottage and two lodges, as well as three helipads.
A planning application has been submitted to Highland Council for a new build home on the site.
Technical drawings show it will have five bedrooms with en-suite bathrooms, a living room, kitchen, dining room and a snug.
One of the en suite bedrooms is on the ground floor, while the other four, each with built-in wardrobes, are on the first floor.
A draft statement submitted by the Sheikh’s representatives said: ‘Visitors to Inverinate Estate typically travel in large groups of immediate and extended family and friends.
‘In recent years their trips to Inverinate have been limited due to lack of accommodation.
‘This application aims to increase that accommodation by creating a new home.
‘The proposed design has attempted to sensitively locate a modest residential home on an area of land that is well hidden from view.
‘The proposed traditional form, off-white plasterwork and slate roof ensure that the building fits comfortably within the collection of buildings that form the hilly development pattern along the coast.’
The municipality must make a decision on the building application in March.
A separate planning application for a seventh property on the estate – an 11-bedroom lodge – was submitted last year and is still being examined by officials.
In 2020, the Sheikh won a planning battle to build a six-bedroom lodge on the estate, after the Scottish Government rejected a council vote to block it.
Locals claimed it would detract from the natural beauty of the area near Loch Duich and be too close to a neighboring bungalow.
Government planning officials said they saw no reason not to allow the building as long as the sheikh pays for affordable housing in the area.
In 2022, the Sheikh was also given permission to add a luxury ‘garden room’ overlooking Loch Duich to the site, after planners concluded it would not have a negative impact on the area.
There are several lodges on the billionaire’s Scottish estate, which he bought more than two decades ago
The Sheik was reportedly a close friend of the late Queen Elizabeth II (pictured next to the Queen and Prince Philip in 2020)
Sheikh Mohammed with his ex-wife, Princess Haya bint al-Hussein, to whom he was ordered to pay £554 million in Britain’s largest divorce settlement
Princess Shamsa has not been seen since she was kidnapped from Cambridge in 2000
Sheikh Mohammed has an estimated fortune of £14 billion. He bought Inverinate Estate more than 20 years ago as an escape from the Middle East’s brutal summers, but owns several other properties in the UK, including houses in London.
He has had at least six wives and is divorced from all but one, his first wife Sheikha Hind bint Maktoum bin Juma Al Maktoum. The sheikh is also said to have fathered about 30 children.
He became embroiled in controversy after allegations in 2018 that his daughter Princess Latifa was being held against her will in the United Arab Emirates, whose sheikh is vice president.
She reportedly escaped the country that year, posting on Instagram: “My father ordered his men to “beat me until they kill me.” They didn’t let me travel or have any choice, I had to take it for myself.’
She was then picked up in international waters and returned to Dubai.
However, her sister, Princess Shamsa, has not been seen since she was taken off the streets of Cambridge by men working for her father in 2000 and flown back to Dubai on a private jet.
Latifa claims her sister was also kidnapped. A British family court later ruled that the sheikh likely orchestrated the kidnapping and torture of his two runaway daughters.
The judge found that the sheikh had “used the state and its apparatus to threaten, intimidate, abuse and oppress, with total disregard for the rule of law.”
In December 2021, a judge in London ordered the sheikh to pay his ex-wife £554 million in Britain’s largest divorce settlement.
He was told to pay Princess Haya bint al-Hussein an initial lump sum of £251.5 million within three months for the safety of her and their two children.