布萊爾購百萬英鎊豪宅送愛女
It is every parent’s desire to give their children the best start in life, but few would ever aspire to buying them a £1million house as a leaving home present. Unless, that is, you happen to be as wealthy as Tony and Cherie Blair.
The former prime minister and his wife have paid £975,000 in cash for a maisonette in west London for their 22-year-old daughter Kathryn, bringing the family property portfolio to nine homes.
Land Registry documents show that the three-bedroom property, which has two bathrooms, a garage and its own lift, was bought on July 23 in the names of Cherie Blair and Kathryn Blair.
It means the Blairs’ only daughter, who is studying law, will never have to worry about mortgage payments as long as she lives in the apartment, which is within walking distance of her parents’ home in Connaught Square.
Since leaving office, Mr Blair is reputed to have earned upwards of £20 million from public speaking engagements and as an adviser to foreign governments.
Euan Blair, 26, who works for the investment bank Morgan Stanley, recently sold his £500,000 flat in London to buy a £1.3million house, also with his mother.
Kathryn Blair, a student at King’s College London, spent the past year in Strasbourg on an Erasmus exchange scheme, where she lived in a £250,000 flat bought by her parents.
She is expected to move into her new home in London within weeks following refurbishment and redecoration work.
每位父母都想給子女的人生一個最好的開端，但很少有人想過送他們一套百萬英鎊豪宅作爲離家之禮，除非你恰好像託尼和切麗•布萊爾夫婦一樣富有。
英國前首相夫婦花97.5萬英鎊現金爲22歲的女兒凱瑟琳·布萊爾在倫敦西部購置了一套複式公寓，使布萊爾一家的房產總數達到9套。
當地土地登記部門的文件顯示，這套公寓擁有3間臥室、2間浴室、一個車庫和獨立電梯，以切麗和凱瑟琳•布萊爾的名義於7月23日購置。
這意味着布萊爾唯一的女兒只要居住在這套公寓裏，就不用爲房貸擔心。凱瑟琳目前正攻讀法律學位，這套公寓步行即可到達她的父母位於康諾特廣場的住處。
布萊爾在離任之後依靠公共演講以及擔任外國政府顧問已賺得超過兩千萬英鎊，並因此名聲大噪。
布萊爾26歲的長子、任職於投行摩根士丹利的尤安•布萊爾最近以50萬英鎊的價格出售了位於倫敦的一處公寓，並與母親合買了另一處價值130萬英鎊的豪宅。
凱瑟琳•布萊爾目前就讀於倫敦大學國王學院，過去一年作爲伊拉茲馬斯交流項目的交換生一直居住在法國斯特拉斯堡一處父母購置的價值25萬英鎊的公寓內。
據稱，在翻新和裝修完畢後，她將在幾周內搬進倫敦的新家。
Vocabulary:
maisonette: an apartment, usually of two floors connected by an internal staircase; duplex apartment（複式住宅，二層公寓）
