Did King Charles really buy a luxury apartment on New York’s billionaires’ row?

The Royal Family has one of the largest luxury real estate portfolios in the world, and King Charles quietly added to it - in the Big Apple. See the photos.

The massive property portfolio inherited by King Charles III includes an impressive array of properties from palaces and castles to cottages.

According to the New York Times, the British Royals’ real estate assets total US$33 billion (A$48bn), while Forbes estimates the holdings generate US$50 million (A$74mn) in profit, annually.

Now, the monarch was reported to have added to the portfolio with something a bit different: an apartment on Billionaires’ Row in Manhattan.

The New York Post reveals the monarch went to some lengths to conceal his purchase.

The entrance to W.57th Street. Picture: Supplied/StreetEasy

The luxury lobby of W.57th Street. Picture: Supplied/StreetEasy

On the condomoninium’s deed, filed in city records was a signature from Robert McCubbing, the Senior Trade Commissioner & Director of Trade and Investment at the Consulate General of Canada in New York.

The records listed the home’s new owner as “His Majesty the King in Right of Canada, Represented by the Minister of Foreign Affairs.”

McCubbing told the Post the property, unit 11A at 111 W. 57th Street, was purchased “for use as the Official Residence for the Consulate General of Canada in New York.”

When asked about King Charles’s involvement in the transaction, McCubbing explained that it is standard procedure, given the royal’s status as the “Head of State of Canada,” with Canada being a nation of the British Commonwealth.

“His name is used on legal documentation. It’s a function of Canada being a constitutional monarchy,” McCubbing said, adding that King Charles would not be using the residence himself.

Real estate listing for 111 W.57th Street, apartment 11A. Picture: Supplied

The study for 111 W.57th Street, apartment 11A. Picture: Supplied/StreetEasy

Spanning more than 3,600 square feet, the apartment features an elegant foyer with stone floors and a powder room. That then opens into a spacious living room with an adjacent dining room.

The separate kitchen is equipped with a wet bar, Cristallo Gold quartzite countertops, custom handcrafted cabinetry and a full suite of Gaggenau appliances.

A study next to the foyer includes an ensuite bathroom.

The primary corner bedroom boasts an expansive walk-in closet and a windowed bathroom adorned in Italian white Venato marble, a freestanding copper soaking tub and custom bronze fixtures. Two additional bedrooms each come with ensuite bathrooms.

111 W.57th Street, apartment 11A. Picture: Supplied

Picture: Supplied

Picture: Supplied

Building amenities are luxurious, featuring an 82-foot two-lane swimming pool with private cabanas, separate sauna and treatment rooms, a double-height fitness centre with a mezzanine terrace, a private dining room with a chef’s catering kitchen and a residents’ lounge with a sprawling terrace.

This extravagant apartment adds to the list of luxury properties linked to the Commonwealth.

Following Queen Elizabeth’s death and Charles’s ascension to the throne, 24 properties across New York have been identified under variations of “Her Majesty the Queen.”

It’s not clear who uses these properties, athough many are likely residences for diplomats from various Commonwealth nations.

For example, a three-bedroom residence at 50 United Nations Plaza, which “the Queen” purchased for US$7.9 million (A$12mn) in 2015, is occupied by the head of New Zealand’s envoy to the United Nations.

Originally published as Did King Charles really buy a luxury apartment on New York’s billionaires’ row?