Candy Land

Forget ‘Django Unchained’: welcome to the real Candy Land, One Hyde Park. Shebugs across the UK are in a tizzy now that the identities of its residents have been revealed. Why is this so? Because when you stop to consider that buyers put down £6,000 per square foot to live on a busy Knightsbridge high street, we all know that where there’s a millionaire/ billionaire, there’s a swarm of Shebugs scheming in the nearby bushes.

Tagged at £6 billion, One Hyde Park is officially the most expensive apartment block in the world.  The developers are the Candy brothers, one of them married to former Neighbours actress, Holly Valance—ideal eye candy for brother Christian.

Many property owners hid their identities by using companies based in off shore tax havens to secure their precious penthouses. Vanity Fair undertook the lengthy and delicate task to unmask the multimillionaires with keys to this kingdom. However, some pieces of the puzzle still remain a mystery. (Let’s hope Vanity Fair’s Zurich-based investigative reporter continues to happily yodel while he works for many more years to come.)

Though One Hyde Park boasts offering its select residents ‘ultimate perfection’, only 17 of the 76 apartments are registered as their prime residences. This could very well be on account of London’s inclement weather: with culture over sun, I’d follow the sun, too.

The Shebug and Hebug ‘Who’s Who List’ reads something like this: Russian oligarchs, such as Naomi Campbell’s boyfriend, Vladislav Doronin, plus Ukraine’s richest man; toss in billionaires from China, Taiwan, Malaysia and Thailand for added seasoning spices up this extra-ordinary cross-section. Being London, it features Middle Eastern royalty and the Qatari prime minister - obviously. A copper giant from a land of dubious human rights and his fellow Kazakh, singer Anar Aitzhanova, have also acquired posh pads in Candy Land. 

Competing with the latter in the wardrobe department is Nigerian oil baroness, Folorunsho Alakija, who scooped up a total of five apartments. (Didn't Nigeria's 2012 per capita income drop to $2,748 last year, or am I dreaming?) 

No matter...With Harvey Nichols on the corner and the world's leading designers and jewellers dotting Sloane Street, these ladies will have no problem upping the glamour quotient of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.