Empty and unloved, some of the world's priciest properties have been forsaken by their owners, including royal residences, grand country houses and luxurious ranches. We take a look at eight of the most expensive abandoned mansions, from Prince Andrew and Fergie's former love nest to Michael Jackson's Neverland and the haunted Pink Floyd manor.

The Queen pulled out all the stops in 1986 when she gifted the Duke and Duchess of York a 665-acre parcel of land on the Sunninghill Park Estate in Berkshire following their wedding that same year. A swish 12-bedroom mansion was commissioned, complete with grand reception rooms, stables and a swimming pool, with construction work began on the flashy royal residence in 1987.

Completed in 1990, the property was dubbed 'Southyork' and the 'Dallas Palace' due to its uncanny resemblance to the ranch house in 1980s soap. Other commentators likened it to an out-of-town Tesco supermarket, while the ever-diplomatic Duke of Edinburgh reportedly described Sunninghill Park as looking like “a tart's bedroom”.

Andrew and Fergie's marriage broke down not long after they moved in and the couple divorced in 1996. Yet the duo continued to live under the same roof with their two daughters. Following the Queen Mother's death in 2002, the Duke decamped to the Royal Lodge in Windsor, her former residence, and Sunninghill Park was put on the market. The Duchess and their daughters followed in 2006, leaving the property vacant.

The Duke, who had remortgaged Sunninghill Park to cover the cost of renovating the Royal Lodge, lucked out in 2007 when he sold it to Kazakhstani investor Kenes Rakishev for $19 million (£15m), $3.8 million (£3m) over the asking price. The ultimate owner was later revealed to be billionaire oligarch Timur Kulibayev.

The property was effectively abandoned and left to rot. By 2009, Sunninghill Park was in a sorry state with windows smashed, doors hanging off their hinges and paintwork cracked. The grounds were overgrown with weeds growing through the paving. Local residents were up in arms and the county council even threatened to seize the house and turn it into a homeless shelter.

The mansion deteriorated further. In December 2013, planning permission was granted to replace the rundown property with a bigger 14-bedroom home, but demolition work didn't begin until 2015. At long last, the eyesore was reduced to rubble in 2016, and the new house is finally nearing completion, much to the relief of the neighbours and local authority. Love the Royal family? Take a look at the private homes of Queen Elizabeth II. 

This imposing Italian Renaissance Revival mansion in Virginia was built in 1912 for business leader and philanthropist Major James H. Dooley at a cost of $2 million (£1.6m), a hefty $51 million (£40m) in today's money. No expense was spared on the ultra-luxurious property, which took 300 artisans eight years to finish.

A romantic escape for Major Dooley and his beloved wife Sarah, Swannanoa was kitted out with furnishings worthy of a billionaire, including exquisite Carrara marble flooring and wall panels, along with gold plumbing fixtures. The home's wow-factor feature is a stunning 4,000-piece Tiffany stained glass window featuring a depiction of Mrs Dooley that cost the equivalent of $64,000 (£51k) when adjusted for inflation. 

The envy of the neighbourhood, the mansion featured all the latest mod cons. As well as being the first property in the area to have electricity installed, Swannanoa had a cutting-edge elevator and dumb waiter, and upon entering the property, guests were wowed by the panelled entrance hall and splendid marble staircase.

The Dooleys summered at the property until Major Dooley's death in 1924. Mrs Dooley died in 1926 and Swannanoa passed to her late husband's two sisters, who didn't waste any time getting rid of it. The mansion was sold for the knockdown price of $300,000 (£238k) and converted into a country club, which opened in 1929 but closed in 1932 on account of the Great Depression.

The mansion was left empty for years. During World War II, the US Navy floated plans to purchase the property but was put off by the cost. Swannanoa finally found a buyer in 1944 when local businessman A. T. Dulaney acquired the dilapidated house for $60,100 (£76k). He leased it to polymath Walter Russell and his sculptor wife Lao, who established a New Age university on the estate.

Russell died in 1963 and his wife continued to lease the property until her death in 1988, when it was repurposed as the Russell Museum. Owners the Delaney family shut the museum in 1998 and partly renovated the property, but the vacant Gilded Age mansion, which they describe as a “money pit”, still requires extensive work, though it does manage to function as a venue for weddings and other events. See more amazing abandoned stately homes full of secrets...

A monument to shameless corruption, the Mezhyhirya Residence in the Ukraine was the official summer house or dacha for the Soviet leadership, and passed to the Ukrainian government following the dissolution of the USSR in 1991. Viktor Yanukovych moved into the property in 2002 shortly after his election as prime minister and went on to spend millions of dollars of ill-gotten cash on it.

Yanukovych was evicted from the residence following the Orange Revolution in 2005 but returned as prime minister in 2006. The politician had the property privatised the following year. The estate's Soviet era buildings were demolished and work began on a five-storey stone and timber palace designed by Finnish firm Honka, which is thought to have cost at least $10 million (£8m).

Yanukovych, who was elected president in 2010, splurged millions of dollars of taxpayers' money on the blingy interiors, purportedly ordering scores of gilt and crystal chandeliers at $100,000 (£79k) a pop, $64,000 (£51k) doors, a staircase clad in fine marble priced at an eye-watering $430,000 (£340k), and more.

The no holds barred spending extended to the opulent bathrooms, which were fitted with the most expensive gold fixtures money could buy. Yanukovych installed an underground shooting range and dropped $3 million (£2.4m) on a golf course. A pricey bowling alley and tennis courts were also constructed.

Unbelievably, Yanukovych built a private zoo on the property, importing kangaroos and ostriches, and other exotic animals. Unhappy with the state of the road connecting his palace with the Ukrainian capital, the pro-Russian president even went as far as to have a new highway constructed linking Mezhyhirya with Kiev.

Yanukovych also had a garage complex built to house his vast collection of classic cars. Karma eventually caught up with the president, who was ousted by the Ukrainian Revolution in 2014 and fled the country. Wanted for high treason, Yanukovych is currently hiding out in Russia. His abandoned palace, a testament to the man's extravagance, is now a museum.

Staying with corrupt leaders, Mobutu Sese Seko, the former president of Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of Congo, was just as free and easy with other people's money, lavishing $100 million (£80m) on his 'Versailles in the Jungle', a luxe palace complex that was built in his home town of Gbadolite during the 1970s.

The complex boasted three sumptuous residences, including the glitzy Bamboo Palace. Mobutu packed the interiors with paintings by Monet and Renoir, ornate Louis XVI furnishings, Carrara marble and copious gilding. Ridiculously expensive Murano chandeliers hung in almost every room.

The palace in Gbadolite had a staff of 700 to cater to the president and his family's every whim, which were legendary. Mobutu even had an international airport built nearby just so he could charter Concorde and fly to Paris together with his aptly named first wife Marie-Antionette for full-on designer shopping sprees.

There was a swanky red-walled nightclub in the complex, which had a bar stocked with the best vintage champagnes, fine wines and spirits.  The Gbadolite complex also had several huge swimming pools, a five-star hotel for visiting dignitaries and a number of plush guesthouses to boot.

Clearing out the state's coffers, the president even splashed out on a mini replica of Beijing's Forbidden Palace. The so-called Peking Palace was completed in the early 1970s. It was used by Mobutu and his family as a retreat and doubled up as a pavilion for welcoming foreign dignities and other VIPs.

Mobutu was deposed in May 1997, having embezzled up to $15 billion (£12bn). The ex-president fled to Morocco, where he died later that year. Gbadolite was looted and all its valuables were removed or destroyed. The jungle has since reclaimed the complex, which lies ruined and abandoned. See more stately homes from around the world in our gallery...

Like Africa's Versailles in the Jungle, Kinmel Hall, which is nicknamed the 'Welsh Versailles', has been left to decay, though it isn't in quite as bad shape as Mobutu's former palace. The splendid chateau-style mansion dates from the 1870s. A 'calendar house', it had 365 rooms at its height, one for every day of year. A room was even dedicated to ironing newspapers at one time.

The sprawling country house was built for copper tycoon Hugh Robert Hughes, who became known as HRH due to his suitably regal lifestyle. The mansion passed through several families and was last used as a private home in 1929, when it was sold to the highest bidder and converted into a boy's school.

Kinmel Hall became a spa for rheumatoid suffers in the 1930s and a military convalescent home during World War II. The mansion changed hands again after the war when it reopened as the Clarendon School for Girls. A fire in 1975 forced the school to relocate and Kinmel Hall was acquired and restored by businessman Eddie Vince, who used it as a Christian conference centre.

There were plans to transform Kinmel Hall into a luxury hotel, but the project never came to fruition. In 2011, a mystery buyer bought the mansion for a bargain $1.9 million (£1.5m) with the intention of developing the elusive hotel.

Ambitious plans were unveiled in 2012, but work on the new hotel failed to commence. Kinmel Hall went even more downhill. Looters descended on the abandoned property in 2013 and made off with a set of carved wooden panels gifted to Hughes by Queen Victoria, who is believed to have stayed at the house in the 1870s.

Kinmel Hall was added to the Victorian Society's Top 10 Most Endangered Buildings list in 2015 due to its worsening state. The current owner, who resides in the Cayman Islands, has pretty much left the grand mansion to rack and ruin, and the restoration bill is now likely to cost in the region of $25 million (£20m). Love history? See more stately homes struggling to survive.

This venerable historic plantation house in Leesburg, Virginia sits on 212 acres and dates back to 1700. The mansion was rebuilt in 1902 in a Colonial Revival style by its then owner Elijah Brokenborough White, who hired the most prestigious artisans he could find to deck out the rooms, which are notable for their fine panelling.

The 20-room house also featured one of America's first intercom systems. White bred champion racehorses at the estate and was wealthy enough to maintain the elegant Neoclassical property to a T. During its heyday in the 1920s, the mansion hosted grand balls and dinner parties that were attended by local politicians and other VIPs.

After White's death, the house was inherited by his daughter Jane Elizabeth. She died at the property in 1970. Selma Mansion passed to the Epperson family, who rented out the property as a wedding venue. The house changed owners again in 1999 when it was acquired by Dutch businessman Peter J. ter Maaten.

Maaten effectively abandoned the property in the early 2000s. Left to the elements, Selma Mansion began to fall apart. The crumbling house was slowly reclaimed by nature and the interiors were targeted by vandals. Period features were smashed up or stolen, and parts of the roof caved in.

By 2009, Selma Mansion was on its last legs. In dire need of restoration or basic remedial works at the very least to preserve the structure and save the leaky roof, the house was designated one of the state's most at-risk historic sites by Preservation Virginia. Selma Mansion languished on the endangered list for the next seven years.

In 2016, local resident Sharon Virts spotted the house on the list and vowed to buy and restore it. Delighting conservationists, Virts and her husband Scott Miller persuaded Maaten to sell and succeeded in acquiring the property for $1.2 million (£953k). Rescued from ruin, Selma Mansion is currently being restored to its former glory. See more of America's most endangered historic houses...

Destined to later be the home of Pink Floyd's David Gilmour, this storied Elizabethan mansion in Oxfordshire was built in 1580 for the Bishop of Reading, and is thought to have served as a mental asylum during its long history. Selfridges owner Sir Charles Core acquired the 10-bedroom manor house during the 1950s and sold it on in 1972 to Alvin Lee, lead singer for the band Ten Years After, who built a recording studio in the barn.

Lee put down several albums at the studio but let go of the property, which was snapped up by David Gilmour from Pink Floyd in 1980. The band's giant inflatable pig was stored on the premises and two Pink Floyd LPs were recorded in the studio. Gilmour sold up in 1986, and the manor house and recording studio eventually passed to Frankie Goes to Hollywood producer Trevor Horn.

Horn transformed the property into Hookend Productions, which was the UK's most luxurious and state of the art recording venue from the late 1980s to 2000s. An impressive line-up of musicians recorded singles and albums there, including Rod Stewart, the Manic Street Preachers, Seal and the Smiths.

During his stay at the manor, Morrissey claimed to have been visited by the ghost of a monk. The phantom would appear during the wee hours of the morning as if to wake people to pray. In fact, rumour has it that David Gilmour gave up the property because his wife Ginger was so freaked out by the paranormal activity, she refused to stay there.

Tragedy struck at the manor in 2006 when Horn's wife Jill Sinclair was shot accidentally by their son Aaron, who was practising with his air rifle and had no idea his mother was nearby. Sinclair fell into a deep coma and never fully recovered. Horn decided to sell up following the accident, and the property was bought by producer Mark White in 2009 for $15 million (£12m).

White invested in the studio but the house lay neglected for years. Trevor Bishenden aka TrevBish Photography captured the dilapidated interiors last year when the manor appeared to be completely abandoned with rising damp and wallpaper peeling off the walls. Fortunately, Hook End has since been given a new lease of life and is in the process of being renovated. Love this? Check out more historic buildings brought back from the brink.

Back in 1983, Michael Jackson teamed up with Paul McCartney to record 'Say Say Say', and the former Beatle stayed at Sycamore Valley Ranch in California while the pair were recording the video. After visiting McCartney there, Jackson fell in love with the place and promised he would buy it some day. True to his word, the King of Pop acquired the ranch in 1988 for a purported $19.5 million (£15.2m).

The Thriller singer renamed the property Neverland after the magical island in Peter Pan, and set about creating his very own amusement park. Jackson had two railways and a station (pictured) built to complement the Tudor-style six-bedroom mansion that came with the property and installed a petting zoo and numerous amusement rides.

Neverland had everything from a Ferris wheel and pirate ship ride to a carousel and bumper cars. Jackson hosted glittering events at the ranch, including the 1991 wedding of his close friends Elizabeth Taylor and Larry Fortensky. In 1995, Jackson and then-wife Lisa Marie Presley also hosted an event at the theme park attended by children from around the world.

In 2003, Jackson was charged with child abuse and Neverland Ranch was turned upside down by police searching for evidence, but the singer was eventually acquitted on all charges. Jackson complained of feeling “violated” following the search and vowed never to live at the ranch again.

In 2006, Neverland shut down and most of the staff were sent packing. Up to his eyeballs in debt by this point, Jackson struggled to hold onto the property. Investment firm Colony Capital bought a majority stake in 2008 for $22.5 million (£17.8m), and the ranch's amusement rides were removed.

After Jackson's death in 2009, the ranch fell into disrepair and the property was put up for sale in 2015 with an asking price of $100 million (£79m). Despite lowering the price to $67 million (£53m), Colony Capital has been unable to offload the now renovated ranch and it remains unsold and unlived in. Looking for a fixer-upper? You can buy these abandoned buildings for sale.