Formula 1 heiress Petra Ecclestone and Sam Palmer have insisted they have no regrets about relocating from Los Angeles to Dubai.
Parents of four Petra and Sam have fled their £65million mansion in LA, the city which Petra called home for 14 years after relocating from London, and started the new year with a new life in the United Arab Emirates.
Days into their move and the daughter of billionaire Bernie Ecclestone, 37, and her Essex-born estate agent husband, 42, have both raved about their ‘new era’.
After complaining about gun crime, homelessness and drugs in California, they have posted about the sense of safety they feel in their new home and the relaxed lifestyle in the sunshine.
The couple are parents to four children – twin boys, James and Andrew, ten, and daughter Lavinia, 12, whose father is Petra’s ex husband James Stunt, as well as their youngest, Minnie, four.
The kids have started at school this week, leaving Petra and Sam to enjoy all the benefits of their new life and share regular updates with their combined 150k Instagram followers.
Formula 1 heiress Petra Ecclestoneand Sam Palmer have insisted they have no regrets about relocating from Los Angeles to Dubai
Parents of four Petra and Sam have fled their £65million mansion in LA and started the new year with a new life in the United Arab Emirates
After ringing in 2026 at a lavish hotel party with Petra’s sister Tamara Ecclestone and her children, Petra has settled into her day to day Dubai life living in a plush hotel as they wait for work to be completed on their family house.
Posting a video of Sam and her children playing on the beach, Petra gushed last weekend: ‘Realising THIS is the whole point… family, sunshine, the beach… feeling grateful ☀️ #newera #2026mood #dubailifestyle.’
She also raved about her children’s school, posting whilst doing her skincare on the Wednesday school run that ‘the early starts are definitely worth the amazing school we get here, it’s un real.. UAE is so innovative with their approach to schooling, I am truly amazed every day.’
Former Essex estate agent Sam meanwhile has hit back at ‘negative’ comments he’s received, doubling down on his love for Dubai in an update shared on Wednesday.
‘The amount of negative messages I get about the weather is unreal. Yes I understand that it’s a desert but it’s also equipped with air conditioning,’ he insisted as he lounged around in the sunshine.
‘Take your negativity away from me, I don’t want to hear it anymore, I’m very much enjoyng Dubai. Stick that in your pipe, I’m off to go and do something fun.’
A day earlier he shared another update from the golf course as he enthused: ‘It feels absolutely unbelievable to be here. My mood is up. I dropped the kids off at school, come to the golf course, had a bit of breakfast.’
‘The school briefing yesterday took about twenty minutes, not three hours, loads of questions, it was absolutely awesome. I’m really, really happy I’ve made the move, everywhere’s spotless, everyone has rules.’
After ringing in 2026 at a lavish hotel party with Petra’s sister Tamara Ecclestone and her children, Petra has settled into her day to day Dubai life
The kids have started at school this week, leaving Petra and Sam to enjoy all the benefits of their new life and share regular updates with their combined 150k Instagram followers
The couple are parents to four children – twins, James and Andrew, ten, and daughter Lavinia, 12, whose father is Petra’s ex husband James Stunt, as well as their youngest, Minnie, four
The couple were living in a £31million mansion in Los Angeles, while retaining their £170million mansion in Chelsea, west London.
But over the past year they increasingly complained about how their life in California had deteriorated.
‘The crime in America is awful and we want a safe environment for our kids,’ Petra explained last month, adding: ‘It’s the gun crime and the shootings.
‘We ice-skated with our kids just before Christmas, and a homeless person dropped dead next to us. And seeing people smoke crack is not an environment we want to be in.’
Petra divorced her first husband, socialite James Stunt, the father of her eldest three children, in 2017 after six years of marriage.
Former Essex estate agent Sam has hit back at ‘negative’ comments he’s received, doubling down on his love for Dubai in an update shared on Wednesday
The couple were living in a £31million mansion in Los Angeles (pictured), while retaining their £170million mansion in Chelsea, west London
Petra has raved about her children’s school, posting that ‘the early starts are definitely worth the amazing school we get here, it’s un real’
Speaking in the capital, she said: ‘I do love London, but we won’t move back here for personal reasons.’
Her sister Tamara’s Kensington home was raided in 2019 by foreign thieves, who stole £26million of jewellery. Three of the burglars were deported after repaying just £37,000 of the proceeds.
Tamara said: ‘I have not received any compensation for the burglary but no amount could ever compensate for the aggressive home invasion we suffered.
‘My children are in fear that thieves could return to the house while they are sleeping. There will never be any justice for that.’
