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According to Forbes, there are 1,226 billionaires in the world with a combined net worth of $4.6 trillion. Given the kind of money swirling around the world’s richest circles, it isn’t unexpected to find the wealthy splurging immense amounts on private residences. Then of course, there are the ancient houses of royalty that sprawl over acres of land and are the very symbols of opulence and luxury. Insuring the world’s five most expensive homes is hardly cheap, as we’ll find out in this article:
1. Villa Leopolda
The former residence of King Leopold II of Belgium, this gigantic 80,000 square feet chateau located on the French Riviera boasts a price tag of £460 million. 27 stories high, this 19 bedroom mansion reportedly requires a full time staff of 50 gardeners only to tend to its extensive lawns. The cost to insure it is as high as £200 million.
2. The White House
The home of the President of the United States of America – the White House – was built way back in 1801. This iconic Aquia sandstone in Neoclassical style designed by architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe has housed every US President since Thomas Jefferson. Naturally, for a building of such historic value, the cost of insurance is incredibly high. According to one estimate, it may be as high as £274 million, making it one of the most expensive homes in the world.
3. Buckingham Palace
The home of the British royal family, Buckingham Palace occupies prime real estate in London. Dating back to 1705, when this magnificent palace was merely a townhouse for the Duke of Buckingham, it became the official residence of the British monarch only as late as 1837. A towering symbol of London and England, Buckingham Palace occupies a central place in the British public imagination and usually forms a congregating point in moments of national joy or crisis.
Insuring such an iconic residence, of course, requires an incredible amount of money. By some estimates, it may higher than £765 million.
4. Antilia House
The single most expensive private residence in the world, Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s 27 story monstrosity boasts a price tag as high as $2 billion and requires a full-time staff of 600 people to maintain it. With nearly 400,000 square feet of interior space, the Antilia House occupies prime land in one of the most expensive real estate markets of the world, Mumbai. The price to insure a $2 billion home isn’t cheap, of course, with the insurance alone costing nearly £828 million. Pricey, to say the least.
5. Forbidden City Palace
The oldest building on this list is also arguably the most expensive (though it is nearly impossible to place a fixed price tag on it). Built in the early 15th century, the Forbidden City Palace has served as the home of Chinese emperors for nearly 500 years. No home in the world can match even one tenth of its 7,800,000 square feet of space. Stocked with ancient artifacts and antiques that are worth billions of dollars in the open market, insuring this palace is far from affordable with a price tag of a whopping £3.5 billion. Not that the Chinese government is worried; the revenue from the Forbidden City museum runs into millions of dollars every year.
With insurance costs for these residences ranging in the billions of dollars, you should be glad you can buy cheap home insurance for merely a few thousand dollars!
(Disclosure: This is a sponsored blog post)
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