Italian princess loses appeal on £2m fine in row over film star mother’s £100m fortune 

A Monte Carlo socialite and princess has lost an appeal against a £2m fine and warned she faces prison in the latest twist in a decade-long battle over a £100m family trust fund.

Princess Camilla Crociani de Bourbon des Deux Siciles was ordered to pay the fine after being found guilty of contempt for refusing to reveal the location of her film star mum’s fortune.

The windfall – including a £50million Gauguin painting – was part of a trust fund set up by Italian movie star Edoarda Crociani for her two daughters – Cristiana and Princess Camilla Crociani de Bourbon des Deux Siciles.

But when £100m of investments and art was taken from the fund in 2010 and transferred into Edoarda’s name, Cristiana feared the cash was being given to her sister.

She then began legal proceedings claiming that steps were being taken to block her from inheriting the family’s estate.

Details of the feud emerged when Princess Camilla was ordered to pay a £2m fine by the Royal Court on Jersey which ruled she had ignored a court order.

Her appeal has now been rejected and she has been given two months to pay the £2m fine and warned she faces a 12-month prison sentence if she fails to do so.

Princess Camilla had lodged an appeal against the fine, which was issued on 22 December, by claiming that she ‘does not have immediate access to £2 million’.

She requested an ‘application of stay’ – a suspension of proceedings – in relation to the order.

But in rejecting her appeal, the court, pointed out that the princess had been aware for some time that a heavy fine was a possibility.

In a recently published judgement, the Court of Appeal said: ‘She has known since 25 February 2020 that the court was considering the imposition of a substantial fine.

‘She has known the exact amount of the fine since 22 December 2020.

‘In the circumstances, she has had every opportunity to provide evidence regarding her financial resources, both revenue and capital, both liquid and illiquid.’

In the document, the court adds that it believed that the timescale to pay the fine, as well as the cost of compensating more than £200,000 of BNP’s legal costs, was ‘entirely reasonable’.

Jonathan Crow QC, Lord Anderson of Ipswich QC and David Perry QC were sitting.

The legal battle between the family has dragged on for a decade, with the Jersey-based trustees, BNP, and Edoarda instructed by the Royal Court to reconstruct the trust, known as the Grand Trust.

The Royal Court found Princess Camilla in contempt last year for refusing to disclose details of her mother’s wealth and assets.

Jersey’s Royal Court then ordered Edoarda and bank BNP Jersey, who were both trustees, to rebuild the trust fund, and told Princess Camilla to disclose details of her mother’s wealth.

At a previous hearing Princess Camilla refused to disclose the location of items, including the painting – and was warned she faces a fine of ‘millions’.

Advocate William Redgrave, acting on behalf of BNP, outlined that an example of assets not submitted was expensive jewellery owned by Edoarda.

He said: ‘She had not mentioned that her mother had valuable jewellery in her mother’s affidavit. There was no de minimis limit [minimum threshold] in the court order.’

Mr Redgrave outlined that Princess Camilla lived an expensive lifestyle, highlighting photos taken with President Donald Trump at his Florida home.

The princess also appeared on the TV documentary ‘Inside Monaco: Playground of the Rich’.

Advocate Olaf Blakeley, acting on behalf of the princess, maintained the position that she did not know the location of many of her mother’s assets and had submitted items ‘highlighted’ as a priority.

He said: ‘It would be quite wrong to say she failed to purge her contempt of court if she did not provide documents that are not in her power or possession.

‘It is my submission the vast majority of documents that were requested were provided by Princess Camilla and all those highlighted were provided.’

Commissioner Julian Clyde-Smith was sceptical that the princess was revealing everything she knew.

He said: ‘We have had not received any information about the Croci Group [the family business] or on Mdme [Edoarda] Crociani’s non-voting shares in the group.

‘The court believed [at the last hearing] that she knows where the Gauguin is. The way to purge the contempt is to tell us. And she has not done that.’ 

The dispute began in 2011, when Cristiana began legal proceedings claiming that steps were being taken to block her from inheriting the family’s wealth.

The funds had been placed in a trust called the Grand Trust by Edoarda, then later removed.

In 2017, the Royal Court ordered that the fund, which included valuable artwork, including a Gauguin painting insured for £49.9m, should be rebuilt.

Princess Camilla was ordered to disclose details of her mother’s wealth to BNP, but the bank and the court have not been satisfied with numerous submissions she has made using affidavits.

It has previously been claimed that Edoarda trapped her daughters in a ‘golden hell’, and was obsessed with them marrying into royalty.

Cristiana said that her mother pressured her into marrying Italian Prince Bante Boncompagni Ludovisi – a relationship that lasted only four months.

She further claims that her mother refused to allow her to marry French entrepreneur Nicolas Delrieu.

The following year, Princess Camilla married Prince Carlo – head of the Italian House of Bourbon des Deux Siciles in a ceremony described by The Times as the ‘blue-blood wedding of the decade’.

The Royal Court heard how Cristiana said her mother had a fear of being alone, and controlled her family through money.

She acknowledged that they led an extremely glamorous and luxurious lifestyle, but described it as ‘a golden hell’ because she had no independence or private life.

She claimed she was told not to turn up for family events, but her mother said she ‘disappeared’.