One of the world’s largest superyachts, belonging to a billionaire Saudi prince, has been spotted off the Devon coast this morning.
‘Serene’ is currently anchored in the English Channel off the coast of Torquay, marine trackers confirm.
The yacht, built in 2011, cruised into Meadfoot at 10am on Thursday morning following it’s departure from Vlissingen, The Netherlands at 9.51am local time yesterday, according to its route map.
The huge superyacht was built for Russian vodka tycoon Yuri Shefler before it was leased to Bill Gates in 2014 for a reported £3.7million per week.
It was described as ‘the third most expensive yacht in the world’ at that time.
Soon after she was bought by Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud at a rumoured cost of £437million.
It is currently listed as sailing under the Cayman Islands flag.
Serene stretches an impressive 133.9m long with a width of 19m. When she was built, she was among the largest 10 yachts in the whole world.
Serene was reportedly home to the famous Leonardo da Vinci painting Salvator Mundi between 2019 and 2020.
The yacht now appears to be facing south and may head further down the coastline towards Paignton. It is not clear who is on board.
The award winning vessel can comfortably accommodate up to 24 guests in 12 suites comprising one VIP cabin. She is also capable of carrying up to 62 crew on board.
Her features include a dancefloor, sundeck with wet bar, spa, beauty salon, indoor climbing wall, beach club, gym, deck jacuzzi, two helicopter landing pads, underwater viewing room and a full conference room.
Mohammad bin Salman Al Saud, also known as MBS, is effectively the ruler of the Kingdom of Saudia Arabia and is heir to the Saudi throne.
The 40-year-old accompanied Prince William on his three-day diplomatic trip to Saudi Arabia earlier this month, where the pair posed for pictures at the UNESCO World Heritage site At-Turaif.
The visit was intended to strengthen links with the UK’s key ally in the region and lay the seeds of friendship with the Saudi leader, according to royal sources.
In November, MBS canceled a meeting with US Senators over concerns about who might show up.
The Saudi leader was on an official state visit to the US to talk to officials about defense agreements, the Middle Eastern country’s pledged £470billion investment into the US and a potential civilian nuclear deal.
MBS was slated to meet with a group of Senators on Capitol Hill to further ties between the legislators and Saudi Arabia.
However, the meeting was abruptly called off, sources familiar with the planning told Punchbowl News at the time.
The Senate session was canceled because Saudi officials were ‘being overly sensitive about which senators could attend.’
The cancellation was confirmed by the Saudi Arabian state-owned outlet Al Arabiya.
‘On Wednesday, the Crown Prince, Trump, and more than 400 CEOs from Saudi and US companies will attend the US-Saudi Investment Forum at the Kennedy Center. The Crown Prince is expected to depart the United States after the event,’ the outlet wrote.
As expected, Democrats fumed over the crown prince’s trip to the White House – particularly over the CIA’s 2018 conclusion that MBS ordered the murder of American journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
‘This is the dictator who had a U.S. columnist murdered for criticizing the Saudi royal family,’ Senator Bernie Sanders posted on X.
‘Sadly, we have a president who prefers the Saudi model — an autocracy run by a trillionaire family — to democracy.’
Massachusetts Democratic Senator Ed Markey similarly wrote: ‘Trump says he will sell our most advanced fighter jets to the Saudis, who US intelligence says killed journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.’
‘Looks like Saudi Arabia’s billion-dollar business deals with the Trump family are paying off. This is outrageous.’
For more than two weeks after Khashoggi’s death, Saudi Arabia consistently denied any knowledge of Khashoggi’s fate.
MBS told Bloomberg News that the journalist had left the consulate ‘after a few minutes or one hour’. ‘We have nothing to hide,’ he added.
On 15 November, 2018, Saudi Arabia’s deputy public prosecutor Shalaan al-Shalaan said the murder was ordered by the head of a ‘negotiations team’ sent to Istanbul by the Saudi deputy intelligence chief to bring Khashoggi back to the kingdom ‘by means of persuasion’ or, if that failed, ‘by force’.
Investigators concluded that Khashoggi was forcibly restrained after a struggle and injected with a large amount of a drug, resulting in an overdose that led to his death, Shalaan said.
His body was then dismembered and handed over to a local ‘collaborator’ outside the consulate for disposal, he added.
Five individuals had confessed to the murder, Shalaan asserted, adding: ‘[The crown prince] did not have any knowledge about it.’
