SEBASTIAN SHAKESPEARE: Christian Candy stamps his feet over £2million tax on London mansion 

Among his greatest triumphs was selling a single Knightsbridge apartment for £100 million. But Christian Candy is now savouring another sweet victory.

The luxury property developer has, I can disclose, just got the better of the taxman in the latest round of a protracted battle over almost £2 million stamp duty.

That’s the amount which Candy, 45, is claiming back eight years after his acquisition of one of London’s most covetable properties, Gordon House, for £68 million.

Set in four acres and formerly part of the Royal Hospital — home to the Chelsea pensioners — Gordon House also has its own orangery, built by Sir John Vanbrugh, architect of Blenheim Palace and Castle Howard, and a smaller building called Creek Lodge.

Candy paid for two leases in 2012, the longer one being for 201 years and costing £48 million, which was to be paid in four instalments.

But, two years later, as court documents explain, and after paying the first instalment, Candy gave the property to his elder brother, Nick, ‘in consideration of natural love and affection’.

The gift came at a cost, with Nick Candy paying the second and third instalment, and agreeing to pay the fourth in due course — and the stamp duty all over again.

This prompted Christian to apply for repayment of £1.9 million stamp duty which he had paid — only to be rebuffed by the taxman, who ruled against him.

But Candy, who is now based in Monaco, took his case to court where Judge Nicholas Aleksander has ruled that he can appeal against the taxman’s decision.

It’s a significant victory. ‘The Revenue has been onto people about lease arrangements because it fears that they’re being used to avoid payment of stamp duty,’ a London property specialist tells me.

Gordon House, where Nick Candy lives with his wife Holly Valance and their daughters, has now been reconfigured with the creation of a subterranean ‘lifestyle’ space, which includes a 60-foot swimming pool, cold plunge pool and jacuzzi, sauna and steam room, dance studio, three treatment rooms, cinema and 60-foot, two-lane bowling alley.

Tamara and the Duchess, but who’s the copy Kate?

Where Kate leads, others follow.

The 49-year-old socialite Tamara Beckwith shared a photo on social media of her sporting the same shimmering £1,595 emerald dress from The Vampire’s Wife as worn by the Duchess of Cambridge during her tour of Ireland this week (below).

According to Beckwith, Kate takes centre stage in the fashion stakes. Alongside the snap, she wrote: ‘Sharing is caring, what a great look, super fabulous on the dazzling Duchess of Cambridge, best dresser ever.’

Ex-Beatle Sir Paul McCartney, who was knighted for services to music in 1997, says of his gong: ‘I see it as a school prize. It’s like you did OK that year, so you get the art prize or something.

‘So in that way, I really appreciate it.’

Corona bug brings Ellie down to earth

Pop star Ellie Goulding has been grounded. 

‘This is my first performance in a while because I’ve been advised not to travel because of coronavirus,’ she told me at last night’s Global Awards 2020.

‘As soon as I can travel again I’ll be going on tour, until then I’m homebound. So many artists on my label have been told not to travel. We’re just going to wait and see what happens. I’ve been good at washing my hands but I don’t think I’ll be putting a mask on.’

The singer, 33, who wed Old Etonian art dealer Caspar Jopling last year, says she’s enjoying married life. 

‘He’s good and married life is going quite well, but we’re just both quite busy.

‘We work in different worlds, but he tends to be busier than me.’

Wizard! Why a signed Harry Potter is set to fetch £90,000

J.K. Rowling is the first billionaire author in history, and now the woman who discovered her is conjuring up her own financial reward.

It was Bryony Evens, an office manager at the Christopher Little Literary Agency in London, who fished out the first three chapters of Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone from the slush pile in 1996 and, after reading them, insisted that the author send the entire book.

And — abracadabra! — Pottermania was born. Evens is now selling her first edition signed copy of the debut novel at Bonhams next week, and it is expected to fetch between £70,000 and £90,000.

The book contains a personal inscription: ‘To Bryony, who is the most important person I’ve ever met in a signing queue and the first person ever to see merit in Harry Potter. With huge thanks, J. K. Rowling.’

Look out Gary Lineker! Radio 2 presenter Jeremy Vine has his eyes on your £1.75 million-a-year job at BBC1. 

‘My dream job, if I had the time to do it, would probably be to present Match Of The Day,’ Vine tells me at radio’s ARIA awards. 

‘I love football but I don’t know anything about it, so I’d just say: ‘Ooh, looks like they’re playing the midfield diamond.’ But I am an avid Chelsea fan.’ 

The money would be handy, as Vine earns only a paltry £290,000 a year from the BBC. 

Britt’s diva fit over draughty dressing room

Don’t mess with a Bond girl.

Britt Ekland has criticised the backstage facilities at the Queen’s Theatre, Barnstaple, where she starred in The Cat And The Canary, claiming they left her ill.

Sir Rod Stewart’s ex says she suffered ‘draughts strong enough to fly kites on’ and that ‘buckets were required in the dressing room to collect rain water. I am a Viking warrior, but is it any wonder I became ill with a chest infection? Venue management’s reason was: ‘Ooh, it’s an old theatre’, as though that’s acceptable.’

Britt once declared: ‘I love luxury, I love the high life.’

Perhaps the message didn’t reach Devon?