the power behind the throne

The aim in writing this blog is to post daily (or as near that as possible, work allowing)) on the world of the wealthy and powerful.

In the news currently, is this man:
         
he isn't wealthy in the sense of the Russian oligarchs or the Rothschilds with their untold billions,  though he is certainly not poor. But he is a classic example of power - how to get it, how to hold it, how to wield it, and how to come back bigger and better when you temporarily lose it.

                                                                                             

Yes, we meet again  the brilliant and mysterious Lord Mandelson, Baron of Hartlepool and Foy - known to his glamorous friends, and many enemies, as The Dark Lord, Mandy - or, so rumour says, to Rupert Murdoch as starfucker.

Mandy was one of the architects of New Labour and officially the King of Spin. He was Labour's campaign manager in 1997 when the party returned to power with a phenomenal majority, after 15 years in the wilderness. And that was the beginning of Mandy's rise to power, for he had backed Tony Blair for the No 1 job at No 10.

The combination of Mandelson and Blair made Mandelson.  Every power-behind-the-throne merchant needs a good 'man up front', and Tony was the perfect partner.

Tony was friendly and likeable where Mandy was menacing: Tony was warm and emotional where Mandy was cool and calculating: Tony was 'a pretty straight sort of guy' as he would label himself, where Mandy was a complex and secretive character. Mandy was media savvy, ruthless in his dealings with the press, Tony was the photogenic, spell-binding speaker with the great smile. The dark and the light. The Ying and theYang. A marriage made in heaven.

There were a couple of slip-ups - The Dark Lord has always had a tendency to recklessness - but even the slip-ups turned out well because with Tony's support, Mandy became European Trade Commissioner, and that job gives its holder access to real power on the world stage.

How Mandy  used it, and how it elevated him into the circles where true power exists, we'll talk about in my next post.

At the moment, back in London, Mandy has become almost overnight not only a member of the House of Lords, but the UK's Secretary of State, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, President of the Board of Trade and Lord President of the Council.  All this without even being an elected as an MP.  How about that for style?

But what need has he of all these names and titles?  He is, in fact, the top man  of the UK, the Prime Minister in everything but name, the power behind the power that rests in the occupant of No 10 Downing Street.

- or, as history might say, Lord Mandelson is the alter rex, the other King.

Yes, Lord Mandelson understands power, he knows where it lives, he has a feel for it and is comfortable around it.  And though he has many enemies, powerful people like and appreciate him.  And that's important.  Brilliance is not enough. The right people have to like you. 

Of course, those who don't like him use adjectives such as complex, vengeful, dangerous; they talk of his combination of suave charm and icy menace.

But the people who like him see clearly his strengths -  his steadiness in a crisis, his ability to communicate a sense of purpose, his sense of humour and his refusal to despair.

We last met him a few posts back, wheeling and dealing in Montenegro with two particularly powerful people who like him, Nat Rothschild and Oleg Deripaska. 

Oleg Deripaska - now there's a man of power.  Let's take a look at Oleg and the Mandelson connection next time.  

But it's the witching hour in London so  that's all for tonight.

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Roman, Eclipse and hubris

Abramovich's Eclipse, the biggest yacht ever built.

Something worries me about Roman and his Eclipse and I hear from afar the faint sound of distant warning bells. I'm a great fan of Abramovich, and I hope I'm wrong. But he is truly tempting fate.

The Greeks had a word for it - as always. The word was 'hubris'.

The dictionary meaning is - excessive pride: presumption: arrogance: insolence.

To the ancient Greeks in their world, it meant you were putting yourself on an equal footing with the Gods. You were saying to them, 'look how rich I am, and how powerful, and how big - as big and rich and powerful as you'.

The Greek Gods, a querulous and nasty tempered bunch at the best of times, took a very dim view of this sort of behaviour and always took their revenge on any such display of cheek and chutzpah.

For instance, Bellophoron was a great hero and slayer of monsters and his most famous deed was to kill the infamous chimera , a fire-breathing monster which had been terrorizing the countryside and taking many lives.

Seeing how all his predecessors had met horrible deaths when approaching the monster from the ground, Bellophoron, a very bright boy, decided the only way to succeed in dispatching the chimera was from the air.

He turned to Athena, one of the great Goddesses, and prayed in her temple all night, whereupon Athena, impressed with such a show of faith, gave Bellophoron the magical Pegasus, a winged horse. So, flying high above the fiery blasts coming out of the chimera's three mouths, our hero did for the chimera, to much acclaim and praise from all and sundry.

That was the problem. Success went to his head and he became positively triumphalist, thinking himself as good as anyone, and better than most, and figuring he belonged right up there with the Gods. So, taking his magic horse, he flew straight out of this world and up, up and away in the direction of Mount Olympus, the home of the Gods.

Unfortunately, they saw him coming - well, you would, wouldn't you, when a intruder hoves in sight on a flying horse. So gossip says Zeus, the top God, sent a buzzing fly to distract and irritate Bellerophon and he fell from Pegasus back into the world below. From that day forward, injured,  and cursed by the Gods, Bellerophon, wandered alone, devouring his own soul and avoiding the paths of men until he died.

Greek legends are full of stories of brave, beautiful, gorgeous young men, heros and winners all of them - who tempted Fate, or drew to themselves the attention of some jealous God.

Of course, we're all so civilised now we don't believe in Gods, or Fate, or whatever you call whatever is out there watching our escapades.

But if you look around the world, you'll see that hubris is still a recognisable factor in many a modern hero's downfall.

I'm surprised and disappointed in Abramovich. For a long time he was famous for keeping a low profile. It worked. It was a smart thing to do. Now he really has raised his head above the parapet. And it worries me that there are a lot of envious people out there who will have him in their sights.

more on the fabulous Eclipse

photo courtesy of the Daily Mail.

As promised, more details on Eclipse - the yacht to end all yachts.  Owned by the amazing Roman Abramovich:

Eclipse, which has said to have more than doubled in cost to £724 million, glided out of Hamburg a week or so ago on its maiden voyage.  It will be put through its paces over 10 days. under the watchful eye of 150 engineers and maritime experts.

Eclipse has 2 helipads, 2 swimming pools - the biggest doubles up as a dance floor when drained - and 6ft-wide cinema screens in 24 guest cabins.

The master suite has a retractable roof, so its owner can sleep under the stars.

With piracy on the high seas becoming a problem, Eclipse has a hull and windows able to withstand a missile attack.  And just in case, it has a mini-sub for emergency get-aways.

 It will also be fitted with a missile defence system. What can I say but 'Wow'.

Roman is due to take delivery of Eclipse on December 22 - and what a Christmas present that will be!

The definitive size of Eclipse cannot be confirmed owing to a confidentiality clause, but a spokesman for the shipyard says "It will be the largest private yacht of all time.'  Rumour says it is 557 ft.

(The current record for a large yacht is held by - surprise, surprise - Dubai, in the shape of a 524 foot vessel owned by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashin al-Maktoum, the prime minister of the United Arab Emirates.)

Abramovich also own the world's biggest private jet, a Boeing 767 nicknamed 'The Bandit'.

Eclipse is likely to need a crew of at least 60 people, said to include a security team of former veterans of the French Foreign Legion.

The most unusual feature of Eclipse is the anti-paparazzi shield.  Infrared lasers detect the electronic light sensors in nearby cameras.  When it detects such a device, it fires a focused beam of light at the camera, disrupting its ability to record an image.

More, and somewhat less frivolous, comments on all this to come on my next post.

Abramovich eclipses them all

Said to be the llth richest man in the world, Roman Abramovich already has 3 rather super yachts.

The first, Pelorus, was originally built for a Saudi shekih.  It is used for entertaining and has room for 22 guests and 40 staff.  It also has two helipads, an indoor pool and a steam.

the second, Escsasea, has a Chinese themed interior and is mainly used for cruising.

The third, Sussuro, is used for short journeys and to loan out to friends

Annual overhead for the boats is said to be more than £15million, and it costs £73,000 just to fill up the tanks of his current largest boat.

But hold on to your hats, boys, here comes No.4, the long rumoured and absolutely legendary yacht-to-top-all-yachts . . . . . . .

                                                                       " ECLIPSE "

a 557 footer costing around £300 million.

Doesn't the sight of this baby, unveiled in Hamburg shipyard recently, take your breath away?
And, what do you know, it comes with its own missile defence system.

It's late in London now, and I'm to bed to get my beauty sleep, but Eclipse deserves a bigger and better post to describe all its many wonders. 
So watch out for the next instalment tomorrow.
Until then, Goodnight.

St. Barthelemy - or St. Barths to its friends

St. Barthelemy is an island in the French West Indies and is a favourite playground for the rich and powerful.

Below you'll see the very short runway - this must be fun for the pilot!

The final two minutes of the approach to St Barths is extremely dramatic. The plane clears a very steep hill, banks, then dips abruptly to a tiny runway the size of a New York City block, which ends on the beach - St Jean's beach, as regular users will know. Coming in, the plane flies so low passengers can practically read the headlines on the magazine of beach dweller - though sunbathers are advised not to lay around on the part of the beach right by the end of the runway!

This little island is of international renown, a home and haven to the rich and famous, where they go to get away from the rest of the world. Houses here are among the most wanted in the world. Yet St Barths is a mere 25 square kilometers - Manhattan is twice as large.

It is a duty free port and often called the Paris of the Caribbean. Hermes and Cartier as there, plus many small boutiques, such as the legendary Stephane and Bernard.

As well as private residences it has the Guanahani Hotel, with its superb restaurant, Bartolomeo. For more fun, there's Le-Ti St Barths restaurant - where the Satuday night parties are legendary.

And now Roman Abramovich has splashed out £55 million on a 70-acre estate on the island. It has a large villa, Balinese-style bungalows, swimming pools and two floodlit tennis courts.

And it looks out onto Gouverneur Bay, where Roman will be able to moor his new yacht - the fabulous 557-foot long Eclipse, officially the largest yacht in the world. How about that for thinking big?

Next post, we'll have a look at the Eclipse in detail.

I'm back - with hot properties and powerful men

Back, with apologies! This was intended to be a daily log, but I'm just finishing a book which I must complete before Christmas, and with that and other work, my blogs have been shamefully neglected. However, here I am again, and hope to do better. So, off we go with our friends, the rich and powerful.

And what better example of both adjectives than the man I consider one of the hottest lookers of them all - Roman Abramovich, as above, in thoughtful mood.

What has the gorgeous Roman been up to? Well , he's been adding to his extensive property portfolio.

But before we go any further let's pause for a moment, and consider this question: if you had endless wealth, where in the world would you buy property, and how many homes would you buy? This is a game I often play myself, so I'm prepared when the moment comes. I already have my answer. Have you decided? So now, let's look at one rich man's answer to that question.
(Though I'm sure these are only the well known properties owned by Mr A. There will always be many things in the lives of the very which about which we know nothing. And why not? If you can't afford secrets, what's the point of being rich? )

Roman's main residence is in Russias, a 42 hectare country estate outside Moscow.

However, he also has homes in London, in the capital's most ritzy neighbourhood. He is currently merging eight apartments into one huge home in Lowndes Square, Knightsbridge. With properties in this area selling for something like £4,00 a square foot, the house when finished could be worth around £120/150 million.

He also owns a place on the French riviera, the Chateau de la Croe in Cap d'Antibes, formerly the home of the late Duke of Windsor.

In America, he has two properties in Snowmass Village, Colorado, a popular winter resort for skiing and snow boarding. He paid $11.8 million for a 5,600-square-foot ski-in ski-out house. Then two months later he paid $36.4 million for a 200 acre ranch in Wildcat Ridge. The property Roman has bought is a 14,300-square-foot house, it has 11 bedrooms and came with custom made furniture, includng a chair made of leather and mink. The former owner was Leon Hirsch, the surgical equipment tycoon.


Top left is an example of a property on the Ridge, don't know who this one belongs to, but it sure is pretty, and gives you a good idea of what you're getting when you buy on the Ridge.

Mr A's latest buy is a 70-acre estate in St Barthelemy, in the French West Indies. At nearly $90-million sale price, this has to be one of the most expensive private homes every sold.

Next post, we'll discuss more about St Barts, and why property there is amongst the most wanted in the world.