Issue link: https://www.balharbourdigital.com/i/1546381
Mention the island of Mustique to any jet-setting traveler and its allure is well-known: an elusive, exclusive enclave of the Caribbean beloved by British royalty and those who know them. If you've ever mulled a Mustique trip yourself, but wondered where to start, here's the ultimate cheat sheet. It's designed to make any first-timer's visit so remarkable, they'll make sure it isn't their last. BY MARK ELLWOOD T hink of this 1,400-acre island as the ultimate country club, perhaps even a private country. Certainly, that was the vision of British aristocrat Colin Tennant, who bought the land in 1958; it's one of the Grenadine islands south of Saint Vincent, and Tennant paid £45,000 (the equivalent of around $985,000 today) to commandeer it. The eccentric and irascible Tennant envisaged the ultimate playground for wealthy Britons, helped along by the fact that his wife, Anne, was a lady in waiting to Princess Margaret. Cannily, Tennant gifted her land on his Caribbean island as a wedding present, and she built a villa there, Les Jolies Eaux; her magnetism and prestige helped attract boldfaced visitors, lured also by Tennant's legendary, louche parties. Still, the cost of developing the island from scratch proved too onerous for even that wealthy aristocrat, and he eventually sold a controlling stake in the Mustique Company in 1976. That HRH Princess Margaret on Mustique, circa March 1972, holding court with friends, including The Hon. Colin Tennant, Lady Anne Tennant, Basil Charles, and Nicholas Courtney. At left, Toucan Hill villa QUE C O U R T E S Y O F T H E M U S T I Q U E C O M PA N Y; G E T T Y I M AG E S 135 135