ON paper it had seemed like a straightforward transaction when Sunninghill Park, Prince Andrew's former marital home, was sold to an offshore company for £15m.
However, the new owner, or owners, are from Kazakhstan, the oil and gas-rich central Asian state where little is ever as it seems.
The estate was called "South-York" when Andrew lived there with his wife, Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, a nickname coined from Southfork, the home of the Texan Ewing oil family in the television series Dallas.
Now an investigation into the purchase has uncovered a cast of characters just as powerful, glamorous and flirtatious as any in the soap.
In May The Sunday Times revealed that the foreign buyer had paid £3m more than the guide price