“ Nor in my judgment can [the millionaire’s defence] be properly applied to the schedule which (a) requires information to be provided and (b) obliges me to have some regard to avoiding too gross a disparity between the standard of life of the father - [and Z]”
“it is important as a matter of principle that the court should endeavour to determine reasonableness according to the standards of the ultra-rich and to avoid confining them by the application of scales that would seem generous to ordinary people”
“It is impossible to know the reality of his lifestyle, save to say that his family, the royal family, appears to rank pretty clearly among the super rich, and that as a senior member of that family he moves naturally within a world of opulence …where there is effectively little if anything which he cannot have, or have the use of.”
“I then have to consider the several properties owned by or available to the father, both in a middle eastern country and here, as per the mother’s evidence. She told me of two penthouses (whether or not there was a helicopter-pad at one of them used by the father does not really matter), a lovely seaside house, and an island with some sort of palace which is accessed by a yacht. She told me that the closets in his seaside house are alone about half the size of Victoria Square. Although the London property in Lowndes Square, a flat, is not owned by the father, but rather by one of the family trusts, he does have the use of it whenever he wants, and it is staffed as necessary…taking into account all these considerations, I am persuaded that the purchase of the freehold of (address) is reasonable…”
“..The fact that this is a colossal sum of money for a five year old (say£400,000 per annum gross) by the standards of the vast majority of people, including even the very well off, is not the point; since this father has the lifestyle of a member of a hugely wealthy royal family.”
“Once that decision has been taken the amount of the lump sum should be easier to judge. For the choice of home introduces some useful boundaries.”