Castle owner who offered up Highlands estate to ex-Prince Andrew 'feared for life' after 'arson threats'
Barrister and businesswoman Samantha Kane claims people have 'threatened to torch' her B-listed home in the Highlands
The owner of a castle in Scotland was left 'fearing for her life' after a furious backlash for inviting the now former Prince Andrew to live there, LBC has learned.
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Barrister and businesswoman Samantha Kane claims people have 'threatened to torch' her B-listed home in the Highlands.
The Iraqi-born millionaire, who's notably the only person in the UK to have changed gender three times and now goes by Lady Carbisdale, purchased Carbisdale Castle in 2022.
And she last week wrote to the King offering it as an alternative place for Andrew to live after reading reports he could be sent to the Castle of Mey near Thurso.
She said on her Facebook page: "In response to The King sending Prince Andrew to be in exile at the Highlands. I am happy to make Carbisdale Castle available to Prince Andrew as it is more fit to receive a Prince than with the greatest of respect The Castle of Mey.
"I believe the Prince like anyone else must not be judged by public opinion without a proper hearing which he was not given."
She told LBC: "This is a lovely castle steeped into history. It's built by the Duchess of Sutherland and during the Second World War it housed the King of Norway and the Prince of Norway.
"So really it's got in its history DNA to provide refuge to royalty. I'm happy if the royal family want to make some use of the castle and it can be of it service."
Read more: Andrew may still be called before Commons committee over Royal Lodge, senior MP tells LBC
But her offer sparked a furious backlash online which Lady Carbisdale claims turned into threats of violence and vandalism.
"The response started with people disapproving and angry against Andrew himself, which I maybe understand given the background, but then they transferred their anger towards me. People saying the wanted to torch the castle and they wanted to hurt me. Then talking about my own personal life and background. It was really very hurtful.
"I did actually (fear for my life). I was minded to report some of these comments to the police. Even when I actually said 'well, perhaps it's not going to work and not going to happen' they still continue with this barrage of criticism and threats and insults. (It's) very unpleasant for simply what I thought was being kind and offering some service to my King.
"This is a very isolated area, we're not really near any particular population centre, and if Andrew or somebody in his position wanted to be really in a Highland retreat away from the public gaze, then I'm sure this would be ideal. He's not going to be really brushing into any locals, I don't think".
On Thursday night, Buckingham Palace announced Andrew would leave Royal Lodge - his long-term home on the Windsor Estate - and be stripped of all his remaining royal honours and titles following scrutiny over his ties to convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
Asked why she would be comfortably associating with the Prince to the point of offering him her home given those ties, Lady Carbisdale claimed he had been "unfairly treated".
She told LBC: "I always put my lawyer's hat on in these circumstances and I've defended people accused of murder which they haven't committed. I have been defending many, many high profile cases and really it's very, very dangerous to go into the realm of public opinion because most of the people who are commenting are not really in possession of the facts. And if Andrew is saying he is innocent, well, I tend to believe him.
"I think he's been unfairly treated and really it's just people are very unkind, demanding punishment without really the position of the facts."
Lady Carbisdale has since posted on Facebook accepting her offer may in fact not be feasible given the scale of the backlash she has faced.
But she told LBC it still stands if the Royal Family want to take her up on it.
"For me, this castle is there still on offer, if the Crown deemed it fit to make use of it. Obviously there would need some sort of security in here because I don't have that.
"It's a fast moving issue. I did write to the King expressing that I'm happy to put the castle under the service of His Majesty or his family. But I also shared the negative comments and what's been said and really then I left to His Majesty to reply and see what he thinks. If he think it's fit to use then, by all means.
"Otherwise, you know, I'm sure there are some other possibilities. So I'll just wait to hear from King Charles."
It's understood Andrew will in fact move to the Sandringham estate once he leaves Royal Lodge - in a property privately funded by the King.
There doesn't appear to have been any official complaints made to Police Scotland regarding the claims of threats against Lady Carbisdale.