Crown Prince Willem-Alexander and his wife Princess Máxima have sold their controversial holiday villa in Mozambique. The news was broken by Prime Minister Mark Rutte in a letter to MPs.

The royal couple had been trying to sell the property privately but were unable to do so “because of the state of the market”. The villa was sold on 11 January for “a nominal sum” to Machangulo SA which runs the development where the villa is located. The exact price has not been disclosed.

The premises, the shares in the project and any building rights have passed to Machangulo SA which will continue to try and sell the property on behalf of the prince and princess. Mr Rutte said the move meant that the royal couple now had “nothing more to do with the project in Mozambique”.

Criticism

In 2007, they bought four pieces of land on the Machangulo peninsula in Mozambique, with the intention of building a dream holiday villa as part of a larger development. As well as guaranteeing holiday privacy for themselves and their family, they wanted to help support local people through a number of projects. The villa was completed last summer.

The prince and princess decided to sell the villa in 2009 after criticism of the project grew in the Netherlands. Questions were asked in parliament about whether the heir to the throne should be involved in such a venture.

Watch a video about the criticism in 2009

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