Billionaire John Caudwell, the founder of Phones4u, has sold the historic Knightsbridge mansion Fonteyn House for £55 million after only four weeks on the market, according to a recent report. The Art Deco property, once home to prima ballerina Margot Fonteyn and previously the Panamanian Embassy, spans 16,000 square feet and includes a 12-metre swimming pool, a cinema, and a spa. The sale is the latest in a series of high-value real estate moves by Caudwell, whose net worth is estimated between £1.5 billion and £2.8 billion.

Fonteyn House sold in four weeks: a £55 million quick flip

Caudwell purchased the mansion in 2010 and undertook a significant reconstruction before listing it recently. The property, which overlooks the Victoria and Albert Museum, hit the market and was snapped up in under a month — an unusually fast sale for a home in this price range. As the report notes, the sale price of £55 million underscores the enduring demand for trophy assets in central London, despite broader economic uncertainty.

From Panamanian embassy to Nureyev's dance studio: a layered history

Before Caudwell's ownership, Fonteyn House served as the Panamanian Embassy during the tenure of Roberto Arias, Fonteyn's husband. The property became a hub for cultural icons: Princess Margaret, Yves Saint Laurent, and Rudolf Nureyev all passed through its doors. According to the source, Nureyev, after defecting from the Soviet Union in 1961, stayed at the house while negotiating his Royal Ballet contract, and he and Fonteyn used the second-floor bedroom suite as a private dance studio. That rich lineage is now attached to the new, undisclosed buyer.

Caudwell's £2 billion bet on Mayfair's ultra-luxury future

While divesting from Knightsbridge, Caudwell is doubling down on Mayfair with his £2 billion 1 Mayfair project. The development will feature 29 residences, including three penthouses priced at £200 million each. The amenities will incllude a 1,000-book library curated in partnership with the Duke of Devonshire, a health spa,and a 20-metre swimming pool.. The report notes that Caudwell also recently sold a Mayfair coach house marketed at £20 million, though the final sale price was not disclosed — a pattern of opaque transactions that leaves key questions unanswered.

What remains private: the undisclosed Mayfair sale price and the unnamed buyer

The source article does not reveal the identity of the buyer of Fonteyn House — only that the sale closed after four weeks. the final price of Caudwell's other recent London sale, the Mayfair coach house, also remains undisclosed. These omissions mean that the full scale of Caudwell's divestment from London's high-end market is unclear. Whether the transactions represent a strategic pivot to his primary residence, Broughton Hall , or a broader repositioning within his portfolio is unknown.

A ghost in the Long Gallery: the billionaire's otherworldly property portfolio

Caudwell's primary residence is Broughton Hall, a Grade I-listed manor in Staffordshire dating to the 1600s, which he calls his 'spiritual home.' According to the report, Caudwell claims the Long Gallery is haunted by a ghost of a boy shot by Oliver Cromwell's soldiers during the English Civil War. The property was previously occupied by elderly nuns who used one room as a chapel.. This juxtaposition — a modern billionaire with a superyacht named Titania and a 16,000-square-foot London mansion selling in a month, living in a reportedly haunted manor — illustrates the surreal extremes of his portfolio.