The Sultan of Brunei DOES NOT live in Osterley

Google Gemini seems very certain that the once richest man in the world does not own property in west London despite reports to the contrary

The satellite photo from Google Earth reveals from right to left, a punting jetty, a lake house, a boat house, a tennis and basketball court, a lakeside swimming pool, the main house surrounded by outbuildings, a driveway and the gate to Windmill Lane

As you drive along the B454 between the Great Western Road and the Uxbridge Road, you can see a barbed-wire topped wall with an automatic gate.

The property, opposite Warren Farm, has an air of mystery and I have always wondered who owns it and what goes on behind its walls.

The road, Windmill Lane, which dips under the M4 suggests the possibility of illicit activity rather than wealth and glamour. A closer look at the property reveals two lines of fences and walls with the inner fence lined with CCTV cameras protecting an idyllic tree-lined lake.

A view of a corner of the lake house. You can just see the lake above the wall which is obscured by the reflection of the tree line.

A few weeks ago, a friend told me that the property owner was rumoured to be the Sultan of Brunei, which was definitely worth investigating.

The Sultan’s ownership of the property, which is known as the Aviary, has not been newsworthy in recent years apart from a 2019 demonstration at the gate in protest at plans to introduce stoning to death as a punishment for adultery and homosexuality in Brunei.

Brunei forms a small part of the island of Borneo which is otherwise divided between Indonesia and Malaysia. Hassan Bolkiah has been its ruler and prime minister since 1967 and a major beneficiary of the country’s immense oil wealth. Until recently, he was described as the world’s richest man.

Google Gemini is clear that the Sultan owns many properties but none in Osterley.

A similar search under Southall or Norwood Green rather than Osterley delivered similar results. I know generative AI is prone to errors but this seemed unusually definitive, especially as the sources it quotes do not make these claims.

I went to the Land Registry, where I discovered the correct address was: The Aviary, Windmill Lane, Southall, UB2 4NG. For the fee of £7, I was able to retrieve the true owner.

Further examination of the title register reveals that the property was once owned by Air Commodore Whitney Willard Straight, a US-born motor racing driver, socialite and war hero who became chief executive of BOAC, the forerunner of British Airways. The Aviary would have been a short drive from BOAC’s head office in Brentford and its centre of operations at Heathrow.

Straight bought the property, which was formally known as Woodlake, from George Francis Earl of Jersey, the owner of Osterley House. Records reveal that in 1966, Straight transferred some of his land to the Ministry of Transport for the construction of the M4 but there appears to have been no other owners apart from the Sultan of Brunei, who bought the property in 1979.

Little of what goes on at the Aviary is available from regular internet sources. A search of Ealing Council’s planning portal reveals several applications for woodland management. One application suggests there is a football pitch at the opposite side of the lake from the buildings.

The main building is grade 2 listed by Historic England and its records reveal some more information about the Aviary. It was built in the 18th century and was known as the Menagerie, as it housed the exotic bird collection of Mrs Robert Childs, the owner of Osterley House. Maybe the source of west London’s parakeets?

Horace Walpole commented on 'a menagerie full of birds come from a thousand islands' (National Trust 1980)

The Aviary Estate also features a stone bridge which was designed by Robert Adam, who rebuilt Osterley House in the 18th century. It’s possible that the bridge can be seen crossing the lake at the left of centre of the satellite photo.

The Sultan of Brunei visited London in December last year where he met Sir Keir Starmer at Downing Street to discuss the UK-Brunei Garrison Agreement. He may have made a quick trip to Osterley to stay in his lakeside idyll but we can’t be certain.

Although I’m sure the staff of the Sultan of Brunei would go to great lengths to ensure the privacy of him and his family, I’m not sure that this is the case with Google Gemini’s unusual take on the ownership of the Aviary. My normal rule is that when faced with a choice between “cock-up” and “conspiracy,” choose the former.