NECKER
HE’S FAMOUS THE WORLD OVER AS THE INSPIRATIONAL ICON BEHIND THE FAR REACHING VIRGIN CORPORATION, BUT WHEN SIR RICHARD BRANSON CHOOSES TO INDULGE HIS OTHER PASSIONS FOR EXPLORATION AND ADVENTURE, HE’S GOT THE PERFECT EXOTIC HIDEAWAY TO ESCAPE TO AND A SELECTION OF SEAFARING LUXURIES TO CHOOSE FROM
I
s Sir Richard Branson a risk taking adventurer first, billionaire second, or vice versa? Though the golden haired entrepreneur and CEO of Virgin and its many successful subsidiaries funds his life of leisure through his apparently bottomless bank account, he would be the very first to state that those billions would never have been made had it not been for the many risks he took along the way.
While it may be true that the days of getting a third mortgage on his house to fund a new idea are well behind him, Branson smiles when he admits unsurprisingly that he “doesn’t have a mortgage” on any of his many abodes around the globe. The risk taking and swashbuckling style that catapulted him up the entrepreneurial ladder to the heady heights at which he finds himself now has certainly not left him.
Images of Branson aboard a hot air balloon or some other airborne contraption are easy
26 | SPRING 2017 | ONBOARD
to come by, but there’s one place above all that captures the heart of this buccaneering billionaire: Necker Island. The 74-acre component of the aptly named British Virgin Islands was purchased by Branson at the age of 28 and now doubles up as his private home and party pad to entertain all manner of notables, from his nephew’s wife Kate Winslet to Princess Diana and Barack Obama.
Purchased in the late Seventies for £180,000, the acquisition was typical of Branson’s maverick nature. “At that point, even though Virgin Records had started up, I did not have the cash to buy an island by any means,” explains the 66 year old. “Luckily for me, the realtor didn’t know the truth of the situation and offered me an all expenses paid trip to see the island before buying. As if that wasn’t enough, I made sure I invited the object of my affection, Joan, to come with me.
“I fell in love twice on that weekend. Once with the beautiful girl sat next to me as the
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