In the midst of the stunning Sussex countryside, there lies a truly incredible, and pretty unexpected sight: a sprawling mansion that, if it had ever been completed, would have been more impressive than some of the royal residences.
Said to be even bigger than the iconic Buckingham Palace itself, the property, which has been under construction for decades, has been left crumbling – leaving some local residents less than impressed.
Hamilton Palace, even in its incompleted ruin, is truly an impressive sight, and construction began on the gargantuan and elaborate property all the way back in 1985, on the instructions of business tycoon and multi-millionaire Nicholas Van Hoogstraten.
The businessman, who hails from a working-class background in Sussex, became a millionaire aged just 22, and quickly made headlines for his financial achievements. At one stage he was reported to be worth as much as £800 million, although recent estimates place his family’s wealth at £25 million, per The Express.
No one has ever lived in Hamilton Palace (
Daily Mirror)
Van Hoogstraten’s property empire extended far beyond the palatial mansion he decided to build in the mid-1980s, in the pretty woodland landscape near Uckfield, East Sussex. At one stage he owned huge swathes of the county, and he claimed, he was for the most part mortgage free.
The business tycoon has long made headlines for his forthright comments defending his business empire, and been caught up in scandal and controversy. He was repeatedly accused of being a slumlord in the 1960s, because of the conditions in which some of his tenants lived, and the violent manner in which evictions were said to be carried out, and was reportedly jailed in 1968.
The businessman spent four years in prison “for ordering a grenade attack on a rabbi whose son allegedly owed him money” the Daily Mail reports.
Nicholas van Hoogstraten has been a controversial figure over the decades (
Press Association)
In 2002 he was charged with manslaughter of business rival Mohammed Raja, who was stabbed five times and then shot outside of his home in South London – however, this conviction was overturned on appeal. In a civil suit, the tycoon was ordered to pay the Raja family £6 million, three years later – with the High Court finding it likely he was involved in the killing.
Around this time, Van Hoogstraten said that completing construction on the sprawling mansion, reported to be worth £40 million, was not a “top priority”.
Some local residents are less than impressed with Hamilton Palace’s state of disrepair, but Van Hoogstraten slammed their complaints that the property was rotting and “crumbling” with no construction taking place by calling them “peasants”.
“Even the most moronic of peasants would be able to see… that we have been busy landscaping the grounds of the palace so as to prepare for scheduled works,” he is reported to have said in 2016.
No one has ever called Hamilton Palace home – and Van Hoogstraten now reportedly lives in Zimbabwe, spending little time in the UK. He is said to have been a close friend of Robert Mugabe, before the former leader’s death in 2019 and to have bought an estate in the country aged just 19.
Construction on the property has never been completed (
Getty Images)
One local called the incomplete mansion the “biggest slum in Britain” and another dubbed it the “ghost house of Sussex”, with some people reportedly complaining that the property is a “death trap” that attracts anti-social behaviour in the area.
“The site is not secure. Fencing is always being ripped down and youths get onto the land and head to the house. The place has become a magnet for kids with nothing better to do. It is high time the local authority did some checks on the property to ascertain its security and safety because youths who get in there could be killed,” said one resident, per the Manchester Evening News.
Another local accused the council of being “scared” of the property tycoon, “‘I feel the council have bent over backwards for this man because they are a little bit scared of him and his wealth,” they said to the Daily Mail.
Locals have said the construction site has become a hotbed for antisocial behaviour and is a ‘death trap’ (
Wealden district council said: “Hamilton Palace is not located in a densely populated area. The closest public right of way is situated to the very east of the estate, divided from the main building on site by several field parcels and blocks of woodland.
“However, if there are concerns about a dangerous structure, this can be reported to the Council and we will investigate further. With regard to anti-social and or unlawful behaviour, this is a police enforcement matter.”
