A Qatari prince has reportedly sold his Paris mansion to a French billionaire in one of the biggest ever private property deals in the city. The Hotel Lambert, built in 1640 and owned by Prince Abdullah bin Khalifa al-Thani, went to French telecoms billionaire Xavier Niel for $226 million, Bloomberg News reports. Niel did not immediately comment on reports of the mammoth sale, but he’s said to be considering turning the 43,000-square-foot mansion into a cultural foundation. The mansion has a storied history, having hosted the likes of Voltaire and Jean-Jacques Rousseau for literary salons, and having once been owned by a Polish princess.
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