The Saudi crown prince leading a corruption crackdown that has seen dozens of his country’s wealthiest men locked up has been revealed as the buyer of "the world's most expensive home," a report has said.

The Chateau Louis XIV, a 50,000 sq ft palace near Versailles that Kim Kardashian once considered as a potential wedding location, was sold for €275 million (£200 million) in 2015.

The buyer was not identified at the time, but the New York Times now reports that its investigation shows that the purchaser was Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

The newspaper’s probe showed a paper trail that leads from the purchase of the castle, which Forbes magazine has called the "world's most expensive home,” to the heir to the Saudi throne.

The claim is likely to embarrass the 32-year-old prince who is preaching fiscal austerity at home while leading a major crackdown on corruption and self-enrichment by the oil-rich kingdom’s elite.