Aristocrat Lady Sophia Hamilton sparks row with Serbian ambassador over extension

Aristocratic former catwalk model Lady Sophia Hamilton and her banker fiancé have enraged Serbia’s ambassador to London with a fresh bid to extend their £12 million townhouse.

The couple’s original plans for a mega-basement, with a swimming pool and sauna, were withdrawn in 2015 after uproar among neighbours in a cul-de-sac near the Royal Albert Hall which was once home to Sir Winston Churchill.

They have now returned with a smaller scheme which has a ground-floor extension, a basement with playroom, gym and shower, and extends a second-floor bedroom onto a roof terrace.

The plans add about 1,250 sq ft to the 5,000 sq ft Victorian four-storey home and have upset Serbian ambassador Dr Ognjen Pribicevic.

In a letter to Kensington and Chelsea council, he says turning a flat roof into a terrace would “invade my privacy”, adding: “If the proposal goes forward the residents and their guests will have direct insight of what goes on in my garden, glasshouse, and bedroom.

“It would not only affect my diplomatic activities but also seriously undermine the privacy of the ambassador and his family.”

He also claimed construction lorries in the narrow street would “cause chaos threatening to undermine my daily activities as ambassador of Serbia” and left him no choice but to complain to the Foreign Office.

The plans drew objections from five other neighbours.

Portia Rowlands, who lives in a former home of Winston Churchill and his wife Clementine, said: “Having up to five lorries a day will have a big impact of the noise and disturbance we will feel within our house.”

Tim Barlow added: “This no-through-road is very narrow, making it difficult for lorries to turn around.” Jasmyne King-Leeder, 70, who lives in a flat in Virginia Woolf’s childhood home, said trucks would have to reverse down Hyde Park Gate “having only inches to spare from residents’ cars parked on both sides of the street”.

The applicants’ architects said the plans had been “greatly reduced” to mitigate any potential construction traffic issues. Council officers have recommended the planning committee approve the application.