A notorious billionaire who started building a colossal mansion and then left it to rot for four decades has finally revealed why he abandoned the project.
Nicholas van Hoogstraten’s mega mansion set in 100 acres of East Sussex countryside is in such a sorry state that furious neighbours have nicknamed it the ‘biggest slum in Britain’.
Hidden away behind rows of trees and resplendent greenery, the grandiose Hamilton Palace caused local fury after it became a magnet for anti-social behaviour and drug taking.
Van Hoogstraten – who has been dubbed ‘one of Britain’s worst landlords’ for his treatment of tenants – has kept silent on the matter for over thirty years.
But now, the 80-year-old tycoon and his son Max have broken their silence and revealed why the £41million pile has been abandoned for so long.
Hoogstraten, who recently changed his surname to von Hessen, started building the palatial property – larger than Buckingham Palace – in 1985.
For a reason that remained unknown until now, it was deserted midway through works, and to this day remains covered in aging, rusting scaffolding, with building materials dumped on the grounds.
While the mansion sits in a state of disrepair and has caused outrage among locals in Uckfield, Hoogstraten is understood to be spending most of his time on a sprawling estate in Zimbabwe which he purchased aged just 19 in 1964.
But in a rare appearance, speaking from a hotel he owns in East Hove, Sussex, he uncovered the long-running mystery of why the works were suddenly paused in the late 1990s.
Locals have expressed their frustration about the derelict condition Nicholas van Hoogstraten has left his £40m mansion in (pictured above in 2024)
But the tycoon has now finally revealed why works have been stalled for so long and his plans for its future. Pictured last year: A close up of the main building which shows the amount of scaffolding that still surrounds the property in Uckfield, East Sussex
When the Daily Mail visited in 2024, old white tiles could be seen strewn all over the roof of Hamilton Palace along with planks of wood which builders haven’t appeared to have touched for years
Pictured: Van Hoogstraten outside Hamilton Palace. The property and grounds is set amidst rows of lush trees and resplendent greenery
The estate is tightly secured with one entry point gate firmly locked shut. Barbed wire can also be seen on the top
‘There were major issues, not just in terms of aesthetics but also in terms of [what it would take to] rectify them,’ his son Max told the Express last week.
There were two main elements of the building that were said to have infuriated Hoogstraten.
He told of how the positioning of a column ruined the unobstructed view of the building from one side to the other, which he blamed on the architect.
The other issue, was the servants’ staircase. They were too tight and winding, making it unhelpful for carrying heavy trays.
While these errors could have been fixed, it came at a tumultuous time in Hoogstraten’s life. Firstly, he had been charged with the murder of business rival. And second, he was distracted elsewhere as his land in Zimbabwe came under threat.
Max explained: ‘A number of things came together, and it was a project you needed to be on-site every day for.’
Hoogstraten’s attention instead needed to be focused on his investments in Zimbabwe and on his ongoing trial.
But while many have assumed the rotting building has sat out of use for decades, the pair revealed that the issue of trespassers has become ‘annoying’ because the gardens ‘are maintained’, ‘there are hunts on the land’ and ‘people living there’, with clear signs reading that it is private property.
In 2002, the controversial property owner walked into the dock at the Old Bailey and was found guilty of the manslaughter of business rival Mohammed Raja, but was cleared on appeal.
But it wasn’t his first run in with the law. Aged 22, he was convicted for paying gangsters for launching a grenade at a house over unpaid debt. Though, he maintains he had nothing to do it, and that gangsters in the scrap metal business had done it so ‘try and impress’ him.
In what one would assume was a joke, Hoogstraten said that all they had to do was ‘grab the guy and chop his b*****ks off’, or more in tune with today, ‘chop his hands off’.
When Max stepped in to clarify it was a joke, Hoogstraten was quick to reply that ‘it wasn’t’.
But it is thought the main distraction was Hoogstraten’s interests in Zimbabwe that pulled him away.
It has not been any secret that the notorious billionaire had strong connections with the country’s late dictator Robert Mugabe, with Hoogstraten even admitting that everyone knew he was ‘in bed’ with Mugabe.
He told of how he is seen as ‘this white man’ who owns large swathes of Zimbabwe, but claims the characterisation is unfair, adding that he has done something that no one else has ‘since the white farmers left’. The something being ‘providing everything for the black people’.
But despite his close relationship with Mugabe, who he maintained was not involved in any corruption, it was the dictator’s land reform programme which caused him problems at the time Hamilton Palace was being built.
One Uckfield resident claimed the £41m property (pictured above) must be ‘the biggest slum in Britain’
Vegetation is growing on parts of the building which remains unfinished 40 years after construction started
Construction materials which appear to have been left on the roof of Hamilton Palace (pictured in 2024)
Piles of poles for construction work on the roof (pictured) of the property appear to have not been touched for a long period of time
White farmers were even being killed as they were violently thrown off their land as white-owned land was being redistributed to black locals.
Hoogstraten lost some land, but still has a large presence in the area and spends a lot of his time on the sprawling estate he owns in the country.
Asked about what the future looks like for the Hamilton Palace estate, both father and son told The Express with utmost certainty that works will eventually be completed.
However, as it stands, they claim no works have been restarted and the only activity continues to be vandals and youth using the area to consume alcohol and drugs.
Max said: ‘We’ve just got so many smaller everyday things [occupying us]. My dad had every intention to finish it, but he still works 16 hours a day every single day.’
But when the Daily Mail visited the site last year, neighbours told of how work seemed to be resuming on the building, with diggers, workmen and materials seen arriving on the site.
One neighbour said: ‘As far as I know the building has commenced in the last year or so. The workers are there 24/7. It’s quite impressive.’
While another neighbour told MailOnline: ‘He might be thinking “I’ll get it finished before I die”.
Despite this, on the question of whether they would ever consider selling up the disused mansion, both Hoogstraten and Max seemed confused at the idea of ever letting go of it.
They admitted they’ve had a host of people, including people with ‘mega money’ trying to snap it off them.
The mystery of the abandoned palace has received much media interest in recent years, which the pair say has enticed intruders.
They said trespassing has become a real issue, despite the estate having staff, 24-hour security and ‘things happening every single day’.
Last year, when the Daily Mail visited the site, locals expressed their fury over the ‘eyesore’ building and the anti-social behaviour it was attracting.
One local said: ‘The place is an eyesore and a wreck and it has blighted this area for as along as I can remember.
‘But now it has started attracting youths who break into the estate to consume drugs and alcohol.
‘The buildings look highly dangerous and I think it’s only a matter of time before someone is injured or worse on the estate.’
A concerned mother said: ‘The site is not secure. Fencing is always being ripped down and youths get onto the land and head to the house.
One local claimed the property ‘sticks out like a sore thumb on the landscape’ which is open countryside
Rusty scaffolding can be seen covering the windows of the historic property, which Hoogstraten started building in 1985
‘During the warmer months there are always youths hanging around with bottles of cider and beer smoking marijuana. The place has become a magnet for kids with nothing better to do.’
She said: ‘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.’
Another Uckfield resident said: ‘It must be the biggest slum in Britain which is ironic given that is how Hoogstraten started out.
‘I feel the council have bent over backwards for this man because they are a little bit scared of him and his wealth.’
Another said: ‘It sticks out like a sore thumb on the landscape. I feel like nothing will ever be done with it.’
Another local Uckfield business owner, who lives nearby the mansion, said: ‘This development could be put to good use to help like develop the local economy like developing it into flats or a hotel.’
Hamilton Palace is now thought to be owned by Messina Investments, which is run by Hoogstraten’s four eldest children – Maximilian, 30, Alexander, 28, Britannia, 25, and Louis, 25.
They share the surname Hamilton and were handed control of their father’s investments and companies in 2002 after he began a prison sentence for manslaughter.
Maximilian (whom his father originally liked to call Maxi-million) is by Rosemary Prouse, daughter of a former tenant, with whom he also has daughter Britannia.
His other two sons, Alexander and Louis are by Nigeria-born Caroline Williams.
They are followed by Orrie, Hoogstraten’s son by Agnes, a Cannes-based ex who also has an African heritage.
Finally, he has a 12-year-old son by a fourth woman, Linda, and has named him after Cecil Rhodes, the imperial adventurer.
The property magnate has previously dismissed criticism that the historic property was falling into disrepair and said it would last for thousands of years.
He claimed ‘Hamilton Palace was far from ‘crumbling’ and was built to last for at least 2,000 years. He added: ‘The scaffolding only remains as a part of ongoing routine maintenance such a property would require until completion.’
In 2016, the multimillionaire property tycoon branded his neighbours ‘moronic peasants’ after they objected to his palace.
He said: ‘Even the most moronic of peasants would be able to see from the pictures that we have been busy landscaping the grounds of the Palace.’
Wealden District Council said last year: ‘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.’
Hoogstraten also previously ruled out letting the building be used to house the local homeless community.
He said: ‘The ‘homeless’ – the majority of whom are so by their own volition or sheer laziness – are one of the filthiest burdens on the public purse today.
A second building close to the water is also still under construction and has scaffolding on it
Around the property, rubbish and construction materials could be seen all over the place
A construction site with rusty buildings appeared to have not been touched for a long period of time
Hoogstraten and Max both said with certainty that the project will eventually be finished, though they could not provide a time frame
Hoogstraten previously ruled out letting the building (pictured above) be used to house the local homeless community
Hoogstraten pictured holding construction plans in front of the mansion in 1998
‘The chance of my offering an opportunity for them to occupy Hamilton Palace is just ludicrous.
‘Likewise, my offering accommodation to these Muslim ‘migrants’ and to encourage their besiegement of our country and the unwarranted plundering of its resources is ridiculous. We should remove them all.’
Once described by a judge as a ‘self-imagined devil who thinks he is an emissary of Beelzebub’, Hoogstraten made his fortune as a landlord in Britain in the 1960s. He became notorious for the grim conditions some of his tenants went through and the violence used to evict any who crossed him.
While Hoogstraten’s manslaughter verdict was overturned on appeal, three years later, Mr Raja’s family was awarded £6million in a civil case after the High Court ruled that, on the balance of probability, Hoogstraten had been involved.
In a ruling in 2005, Mr Justice Lightman found that Hoogstraten recruited two thugs to murder Mr Raja over a lawsuit between the two.
Another High Court judge in November 2016 ordered Hoogstraten to pay the family £1.5million in legal costs.
In 2020, he was found not guilty over an accusation he called a police officer a ‘poofter’.
Hoogstraten was said to have made the comment after his son was arrested following a row over clamping at a car park he owns in Hove, East Sussex in August 2019.
The 75-year-old was cleared by magistrates of behaviour causing harassment alarm or distress.
The notorious property tycoon was born in Bognor in 1946 and as an 11-year-old schoolboy started selling stamps to noted collectors.
Hoogstraten claimed his stamp collection was worth £30,000 after building it up but it later emerged that he hired classmates to steal the stamps for him from specialist shops.
By the time he was 14, he had taken to wearing a suit to school and would excuse himself from lessons to sit in an empty classroom, where he would read the Financial Times and attend to business deals.
As a teenager, he started a loan-shark business that saw him take property deeds as collateral for loans.
Construction containers can be seen at the back of the lavish property, which is located near Uckfield, in East Sussex
He also ran nightclubs in Brighton and once called Rod Stewart, the rock star, a greedy ‘little runt’ in a row over takings.
Hoogstraten became involved in Zimbabwe when he bought an estate that turned out to include valuable mining rights. By 2013, he owned 1,600 square miles of land in the country making him of the country’s biggest landowners.
He once boasted of being a philanthropist, claiming that he paid for the education of three children in every school in Zimbabwe.
He told the Observer in 2006: ‘Actually it doesn’t cost a lot of money in real terms but I’ve set up things like that that will continue.’
In 2008, Hoogstraten was accused of demanding rents in US dollars rather than in Zimbabwean dollars, which is forbidden by law. A court dismissed the charges.
It is understood Hoogstraten started to live partially in Zimbabwe in 2007 and repeated his mantra that ‘the only purpose in creating great wealth is to separate oneself from the riffraff.’
Responding to claims he had emigrated there, he told The Sunday Mirror in 2016: ‘My family and I continue to maintain homes in several locations worldwide, including the UK.’
