A migrant shanty town at one of London’s most iconic homes owned by the billionaire Duke of Wellington is finally being dismantled.
Eastern European and African migrants have caused ‘absolute misery’ camping on a tiny strip of land outside 250-year-old Grade I-listed Apsley House, which stands alone on the south east corner of Hyde Park.
The property was built in the 1770s and is currently home to Charles Wellesley, 80, the current Duke of Wellington, who is a descendant of Queen Victoria.
But its surroundings have recently been blighted by the erection of a group of tents being occupied largely by homeless migrants.
Dozens of police officers moved in on the site today, removing makeshift shelters and throwing tents away.
In an early morning operation on Tuesday around 30 officers from the Met Police descended on the camp in six vans and began to clear it, assisted by workers from Westminster Council.
A dustbin lorry was on hand for officers to dispose of tents which have been at the site.
One eyewitness told the Daily Mail the occupants looked ‘very shocked’ and were left ‘fuming’ at being told to move on.
He said: ‘They looked very unhappy. It came as a huge surprise to them. There has been a lot of moaning.
‘They probably thought they were here for a few more weeks.’
Another local added: ‘This is brilliant news. I don’t know why it took so long. They’ve caused misery.
‘I’d like to thank the Daily Mail for highlighting this. It certainly helped. They’d probably be staying if it wasn’t for the story.
‘They have been urinating and defecating outside and there’s been reports of thefts.’
The tents are said to have first sprung up around a year ago on a tiny patch of grass next to Hyde Park Corner Underground station, with the encampment growing ever since.
Police have made several arrests at the site in recent weeks.
When the Daily Mail visited last month a 23-year-old woman, believed to be a resident, was being arrested on suspicion of threats to kill other tent dwellers.
Officers also arrested two other people on the site following a disturbance with one man, 48, in possession of a knife and a piece of glass and the other, a 33-year-old man, detained for fighting and making threats to kill.
One local business owner said at the time: ‘They cause absolute misery. They just make such a beautiful area look terrible.
‘It’s such an absolutely beautiful house with so much history and heritage. But these groups make it look appalling.
‘It’s disgusting what they get up to.’
The encampment has been overlooked by the plush five-star Intercontinental Hotel, which charges up to £4,000-a-night, and the Wellington monument in Hyde Park.
The owner of Apsley House, Charles Wellington, sits in the House of Lords and according to reports is worth around £1 billion, due to his fortune and land and estates.
His daughter is Lady Charlotte Wellesley, one of the richest young women in Britain, worth over £3 billion. She married financier Alejandro Santo Domingo.
The house opens largely as a museum and art gallery which is run by English Heritage, with the Duke living in an apartment within a large private section.
The shanty town outside is just minutes away from the infamous Park Lane homeless camp, which was dismantled after seven years before reopening 400 yards down the road.
Tottenham Court Road has also been transformed as long lines of tents have sprung up housing homeless migrants.
