Royal residence: Inside Countess Raine Spencer's Grosvenor Square home

Wetherell highlight that the apartment was sold as a “shell and core” unit and will now need substantial refurbishment and modernization to create a magnificent apartment overlooking London’s No.1 garden square.

Once refurbished the apartment will offer two bedroom suites, both with dressing areas and luxurious ensuite bathrooms, and a triple reception room, spanning the entire width of the apartment, with four tall sash windows offering views over Grosvenor Square. It will also provide a spacious family kitchen/breakfast room and a separate pantry/utility room. Wetherell calculate that the apartment could cost up to £1.5 million to refurbish and dress, with the completed apartment being worth up to £10.5 million.

To to give buyers an understanding of how the interiors could be transformed into a magnificent new residence Wetherell commissioned Casa e Progetti, the award-winning luxury design studio which specialises in state-of-the-art virtual staging and cutting-edge computer-generated imagery, to create an artworked floorplan and portfolio of stunning CGI interior images to show buyers how the apartment could look once refurbished.

Using the signature techniques of Raine Spencer’s favourite interior designer David Hicks as inspiration Casa e Progetti used CGI technology to create a series of stunning rooms and dressed interior concepts for the apartment.

Countess Raine Spencer (1929 – 2016) was the daughter of romantic novelist Dame Barbara Cartland and the stepmother of Diana, Princess of Wales. Raine married three titled aristocrats, her first husband was the Hon. Gerald Legge, later the 9th Earl of Dartmouth (m 1948, div 1976), her second John Spencer, the 8th Earl Spencer (m 1976, d 1992), and finally Count Jean-Francois Pineton de Chambrun (m 1993, div 1995).

In 1948 Raine married the Hon. Gerald Legge, the heir to the Dartmouth Earldom, and the couple used the two bedroom apartment at 47 Grosvenor Square as their London pied-a-terre, with the with interiors done by then up-and-coming designer David Hicks.

Wetherell say that the apartment sale in Grosvenor Square is the latest in a trio of home sales in Mayfair the agency has done with Indian buyers. Ultra-high-net-worth Indian buyers have been the most active overseas purchasers in Mayfair’s property market this year, especially for homes priced above £15 million, accounting for 25% of all international buyers in Mayfair. There are over 656,270 Indians living in London and some 3,000 Indian families own or annually rent holidays homes in Mayfair.

Peter Wetherell, Founder & Executive Chairman of Wetherell says: “The former Mayfair apartment owned by Raine Spencer at 47 Grosvenor Square has been purchased by an Indian buyer to serve as their London pied-a-terre. The apartment was purchased as a “shell and core” unit but once refurbished and interior designed, it will serve as an excellent long-term investment and London residence.”