A US company in which Microsoft Corp chairman Bill Gates has a 10% stake has bought Cliveden Plc, owners of one of the UK’s most historic country houses, and the place most commonly associated with the Profumo sex scandal of the 1960s. Destination Europe Ltd, owned by US real estate company Lowe Enterprises, LF Strategic Realty Investors and Bill Gates’ investment vehicle Cascade, has agreed to buy hotel company Cliveden Plc for 42.8m pounds. Cliveden, a Berkshire mansion by the Thames, was the place where John Profumo, the UK Defense Secretary, began an affair with the call-girl Christine Keeler. who was also sleeping with the Russian attache, Captain Ivanov. Their naked cavorting in the pool on the estate in 1963 meant Cliveden became synonymous with upper-class hanky-panky.
