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The story of Donald Trump’s superyacht: The Trump Princess

Donald Trump loves a good deal

In 1988, the successful businessman Donald Trump bought the 86m Benetti build superyacht Nabila . He renamed her Trump Princess and used it until 1991.

For a superyacht built in 1980, Nabila was an impressive vessel. She was built for Saudi billionaire Adnan Khashoggi that paid $100 million for it and named after his daughter. Khashoggi is known for his involvement in arms dealing. His net worth was around $4 billion in the early 1980's.

When Khashoggi ran into financial trouble in the mid-1980's he took a loan of $50 million and put Nabila as collateral. He defaulted on the loan in 1987 and a Swiss holding company took possession of the yacht. It was placed with yacht specialist Burgess for a quick sale at an asking price of $50 million.

Learning that Nabila is for sale, Trump made a bid. Burgess had already two other offers, but Trump's bid was more appealing. A Burgess agent flew to New York and made Trump a proposal for $32 million. The sale was settled at $30 million. A bargain, for a yacht he never set foot on.

Trump refitted the vessel and named it Trump Princess .

Why did Trump buy the yacht? He does not like water sports, he's not keen on swimming and always tried to avoid the sun. He never owned a big boat before. He doesn't even like boats.

He was charmed by a "certain level of quality" and admitted that it's an incredible toy and a work of art. "I was buying a great piece of art at a ridiculously low price."

Unlike Trump, Khashoggi loved boats. He acquired his first yacht when his was 18 and traded up as his wealth increased.

In the 70's he owned two yachts but wanted something out of this world. So, he commissioned British designer Jon Bannenberg to draw the most impressive and sumptuous yacht.

Khashoggi didn't stop here he employed Italian designer Luigi Sturchio to produce an interior that is believed to have cost more than the yacht itself.

Also, he wanted the ship to be completely self-contained and included everything in the specifications: from a patisserie and a hair salon to a cinema room with an 800-film library and a hospital with an operating room.

Nabila had crew quarters for a staff of 52 people. It had a helicopter landing pad and two nine meter tenders. The fuel tanks were big enough for 8,500 nautical miles when cruising at 17.5 knots. It had three water-makers capable to produce 45.000 liters of fresh water from the ocean. Also, it had six huge refrigerators that could store a three-month supply of food for 100 people.

For Khashoggi and later for Trump, this vessel was an invaluable business instrument. Movie stars, political leaders and diplomats were invited on board. It is believed the yacht had 150 telephones and satellite communications in order for business sales to be arranged.

The yacht has five decks and more than 100 separate areas. The owner's suite is a full-beam area with a three meter wide bed. It has a dressing room and an impressive bathroom with onyx tiles. Next to the bedroom, there is a television room, a large sitting area and a private elevator that takes the owner to his private sundeck. The yacht has another two elevators on board, one for guests, one for crew.

Trump spent another $8.5 million for refitting the yacht at Amels in the Netherlands. Renamed Trump Princess , she set sail from the Azores to arrive in New York on July 4, 1988, in time for a huge party Trump threw on the yacht.

Like the previous owner, Trump used the yacht mostly for business. But not for long. In 1991, Trump sold the ship to Saudi Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal for $20 million. The Prince renamed the yacht Kingdom 5KR , the name under she still sails today.

For more about Donald Trump's Joy Rides click here .

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Kingdom 5KR

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KINGDOM 5KR yacht NOT for charter*

86m  /  282'2 | benetti | 1980 / 1993.

Owner & Guests

• Previous Yacht

Special Features:

• Impressive 9,789nm range
• Eleven cabins
• Lloyds Register classification
• Spa facilities
• Up to 31 crew

The 86m/282'2" motor yacht 'Kingdom 5KR' (ex. Nabila) was built by Benetti in Italy at their Viareggio shipyard. Her interior is styled by design house LUIGI STURCHIO and she was completed in 1980. This luxury vessel's exterior design is the work of Bannenberg & Rowell and she was last refitted in 1993.

Guest Accommodation

Kingdom 5KR has been designed to comfortably accommodate up to 22 guests in 11 suites. She is also capable of carrying up to 31 crew onboard to ensure a relaxed luxury yacht experience.

Onboard Comfort & Entertainment

Her features include a spa, gym and air conditioning.

Range & Performance

Kingdom 5KR is built with a steel hull and aluminium superstructure, with teak decks. Kingdom 5KR comfortably cruises at 17 knots, reaches a maximum speed of 20 knots with a range of up to 9,789 nautical miles from her 615,000 litre fuel tanks at 17 knots. Her water tanks store around 181,000 Litres of fresh water. She was built to Lloyds Register classification society rules.

*Charter Kingdom 5KR Motor Yacht

Motor yacht Kingdom 5KR is currently not believed to be available for private Charter. To view similar yachts for charter , or contact your Yacht Charter Broker for information about renting a luxury charter yacht.

Kingdom 5KR Yacht Owner, Captain or marketing company

'Yacht Charter Fleet' is a free information service, if your yacht is available for charter please contact us with details and photos and we will update our records.

Kingdom 5KR Photos

NOTE to U.S. Customs & Border Protection

Specification

M/Y Kingdom 5KR

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The Story of the Nabila

Written by Lars Zeppernick

Luxury yachts and boats have quite often been featured in James Bond movies, and one of the most famous examples of them was Adnan Kashoggi’s “Nabila”, named after his daughter, which doubled for the “Flying Saucer” in the Kevin McClory produced Bond movie Never Say Never Again .

The “Nabila” was built in 1980 by Fratelli Benetti shipyard in Viareggio (Italy), being the world’s largest private yacht at that time with a length of 281 ft. (85,65 metres). And even after a quarter century, it is still among the world’s largest yachts’ Top 25. The exterior design was done by Jon Bannenberg of London, while the interiors were done by Italian Luigi Sturchio.

The Bond crew was the first movie crew allowed on board of Kashoggi’s swimming palace, for which producer Jack Schwartzman made “a contribution to The Princess Grace Foundation for charity through the Kashoggi Foundation” and Kashoggi also got a Thanks “A.K.” in the movie’s end credits. This deal scored Schwartzman a few points with his leading actor Sean Connery, which otherwise he mostly failed during the lengthy shooting of Never Say Never Again .

In the movie, the vessel was called “Flying Saucer” (English for “Disco Volante”, as the its equivalent was named in Thunderball ) and served as Maximilian Largo’s mobile headquarters, at home on the seven seas. However, the ship’s command central that was shown in the movie was fictional, the work of production designer Stephen Grinds and art director Les Dilley.

The original yacht, at the height of a three storey building, featured five decks. It had three elevators, a 12-seat movie theatre, two saunas, a swimming pool, a discotheque, a jacuzzi, a billard room, eleven guest rooms with hand-carved onyx bathroom fixtures and gold-plated door-knobs and a master suite of 4 rooms, the bathroom of which had a solid gold sink. There also was a sun deck equipped with bullet-proof glass, sleeping quarters for 52 staff members, a three room “hospital”, secret passageways, push-button doors and windows and no less than 296 telephones. The steel hull ship made 18 – 20 knots and was powered by two 3000 hp Nohab Polar V 16 turbocharged diesel engines.

Several figures are known about the original price of the “Nabila”: while some sources speak of $70 million, others say that the boat itself was about $30 million plus $55 million for the luxury extras, which makes a total of $85 million. However, the building of the ship eventually led to bankrupcy of the manufacturer. The Benetti managers were very traditional and used to unwritten business rules among gentlemen—which Kashoggi wasn’t and didn’t care for. He was a tough bargainer and apart from keeping the price as low as possible, he had also insisted on several penalty clauses. After he had demanded a lot of changes during the build, Benetti had to ask for a necessary extension of the production timeframe, but he wouldn’t allow it and instead insist on the contract’s clauses—which were void after his many changing demands, but Benetti were unaware of this. The company never recovered from the losses and was sold to boat dealer Azimut in 1984, who then started to build their own boats on the shipyard, still using the traditional name Benetti.

When arms dealer Kashoggi was bankrupt himself in 1987 the “Nabila” was used to pay off a loan to the Sultan of Brunei, who sold the ship to billionaire Donald Trump at a bargain price of $29 million. Trump renamed her “Trump Princess” and had her refitted for $8 million at Amels in Holland. The boat—now with a white hull instead of the original grey painting—was brought to New York and was later partly used as a casino ship in Atlantic City.

“The Donald” himself never really had a thing for boats and he is said to never have spent a night on board. He more considered it a prize, a masterpiece “beyond a boat” and when he toured visitors, he boasted about the luxury features, such as the heliport on which he had painted a big “T” instead of the usual “H”.

In the early 1990s when Trump went bankrupt himself, he was forced to sell his beloved yacht—among other things—and thought that his name alone attached to the boat would justify to ask a price of $115 million for it. But he was dead wrong, as he didn’t even match the price for which he bought it himself. The new and current owner, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdul Aziz al Saud, a wealthy Saudi businessman with ties to the Royal family, claims that he only paid $19 million for it.

The boat got another refitting at Amels, where the hull was painted beige in order to reflect the colour of sand, more gold decoration was used on the interiors and arms systems were installed. Renamed “Kingdom 5KR” (after the Prince’s company’s name, his lucky number and his childrens’ initials), the ship is permanently anchored at the IYCA in the port of Antibes (South France) with frequent visits to Cannes.

To discuss this article regarding the history of the Nabila, visit this thread on the CBn Forums, the largest James Bond 007 forum on the internet. Additional research by Heiko Baumann.

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Khashoggi’s Fall

By Dominick Dunne

Adnan Khashoggi was never the richest man in the world, ever, but he flaunted the myth that he was with such relentless perseverance and public-relations know-how that most of the world believed him. The power of great wealth is awesome. If you have enough money, you can bamboozle anyone. Even if you can create the illusion that you have enough money you can bamboozle anyone, as Adnan Khashoggi did over and over again. He understood high visibility better than the most shameless Hollywood press agent, and he made himself one of the most famous names of our time. Who doesn’t know about his yachts, his planes, his dozen houses, his wives, his hookers, his gifts, his parties, his friendships with movie stars and jet-set members, and his companionship with kings and world leaders? His dazzling existence outshone even that of his prime benefactors in the royal family of Saudi Arabia—a bedazzlement that led to their eventual disaffection for him.

Now, reportedly broke, or broke by the standards of people with great wealth—his yacht gone, his planes gone, his dozen houses gone, or going, and his reputation in smithereens—he has recently spent three months pacing restlessly in a six-by-eight-foot prison cell in Bern, Switzerland, where the majority of his fellow prisoners were in on drug charges. True, he dined there on gourmet food from the Schweizerhof Hotel, but he also had to clean his own cell and toilet as a small army of international lawyers fought to prevent his extradition to the United States to face charges of racketeering and obstruction of justice. Finally, Khashoggi dropped his efforts to avoid extradition when the Swiss ruled that he would face prosecution only for obstruction of justice and mail fraud, not for the more serious charges of racketeering and conspiracy. On July 19, accompanied by Swiss law-enforcement agents, he arrived in New York from Geneva first-class on a Swissair flight, handcuffed like a common criminal but dressed in an olive-drab safari suit with gold buttons and epaulets. He was immediately whisked to the federal courthouse on Foley Square, a tiny figure surrounded by a cadre of lawyers and federal marshals, where Judge John F. Keenan refused to grant him bail. He spent his first night in three years in America not in his Olympic Tower aerie but in the Metropolitan Correctional Center. No member of his immediate family was present to witness his humiliation.

Allegedly, he helped his friends Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos plunder the Philippines of some $160 million by fronting for them in illegal real-estate deals. When United States authorities attempted to return some of the Marcos booty to the new Philippine government, they discovered that the ownership of four large commercial buildings in New York City—the Crown Building at 730 Fifth Avenue, the Herald Center at 1 Herald Square, 40 Wall Street, and 200 Madison Avenue—had passed to Adnan Khashoggi. On paper it seemed that the sale of the buildings had taken place in 1985, but authorities later charged that the documents had been fraudulently backdated. In addition, more than thirty paintings, valued at $200 million, that Imelda Marcos had allegedly purloined from the Metropolitan Museum of Manila, including works by Rubens, El Greco, Picasso, and Degas, were being stored by Khashoggi for the Marcoses, but it turned out that the pictures had been sold to Khashoggi as part of a cover-up. The art treasures were first hidden on his yacht and then moved to his penthouse in Cannes. The penthouse was raided by the French police in a search for the pictures in April 1987, but it is believed that Khashoggi had been tipped off. He turned over nine of the paintings to the police, claiming to have sold the others to a Panamanian company, but investigators believe that he sold the pictures back to himself. The rest of the loot is thought to be in Athens. If he is found guilty, such charges could get him up to ten years in an American slammer.

In a vain delay tactic meant to forestall the extradition process as long as possible, he had at first refused to accept hundreds of pages of English-language legal documentation in any language but Arabic, although he has spoken English nearly all his life and was educated partially in the United States.

People wonder why he went to Switzerland in the first place, when he was aware that arrest on an American warrant was a certainty there and that Switzerland could and probably would extradite him if the United States requested it. The answer is not known, although there is the possibility that Khashoggi, like others in that rarefied existence of power and great wealth, thought he was above the law and nothing would happen to him. Alternatively, there is the possibility, which has been suggested by some of his friends, that his was tired of the waiting game and went to Bern to face the situation, because he was convinced that he had done nothing wrong and was innocent of the charges against him. There was neither furtiveness nor stealth, certainly no lessening of his usual mode of magnificence, in his arrival in Switzerland on April 17. He flew to Zurich by private plane. A private helicopter took him from the airport to Bern, where he had three Mercedeses at his disposal and registered in a very grand suite at the exclusive Schweizerhof Hotel. Ostensibly, his reason for visiting the city was to be treated by the eminent cellular therapist Dr. Augusto Gianoli with revitalization shots, whereby live cells taken from embryo of an unborn lamb are injected into the patient to ward off the aging process. Dr. Gianoli’s well-to-do patients often rest in the Schweizerhof after receiving the shots.

But apparently the revitalization of vital organs wasn’t the only reason Adnan Khashoggi was in Bern on the day of his bust. He was killing two birds with one stone, and the other bit of business was an arms deal. Those closest to him are highly sensitive about the fact that he is always described in the media as a Middle Eastern arms dealer. True, he started like that, they say, but they object to the fact that the arms-dealer label has stuck, and cite, instead, his other achievements. As one former partner told me, “Adnan brought billions and billions of dollars’ worth of business to Lockheed and Boeing.” Be that as it may, Khashoggi will always be best remembered in this country for his anything-for-a-buck participation in the Iran-contra affair, one of the most pathetic episodes in the history of American foreign policy, as well as a blight forever on the Reagan administration. True to form, the business he was conducting in his suite at the Schweizerhof that day was a sale of armored weapons.

By Kase Wickman

By Eve Batey

When the Swiss police arrived at the suite, the other two arms dealers mistakenly thought they were after them, and a slight panic ensued. The arms dealers left immediately by another door in the suite and were out of the country by private plane within an hour of Khashoggi’s arrest. Khashoggi, remaining totally calm, asked the police if they would place him under house arrest in his suite in the Schweizerhof Hotel instead of putting him in jail, but the request was denied. Then he asked them not to handcuff him, and the request was denied. The prison in Bern where he was taken, booked, fingerprinted, and photographed is barely a five-minute walk from the Schweizerhof, but the group traveled by police car. The friends of Adnan Khashoggi deeply resent that the Swiss government release his mug shot to the media as if he were an ordinary criminal. I went immediately to Bern after the arrest, said Prince Alfonso Hohenlohe, one of Khashoggi’s very close friends in international society and a neighbor in Marbella, Spain, “but they wouldn’t let me in to see him. I sent him a bottle of very good French red wine and a message to the jail. I hear he is the best prisoner they have ever had. I would cut off my arm to get him out of this situation.”

For years now, misfortune has plagued Khashoggi. In 1987, Triad America Corporation, his American company, which was involved in a $400 million, twenty-five acre complex of offices, shops, and a hotel in Salt Lake City, filed for bankruptcy after its creditors, including architects, contractors, and banks, demanded payment. Khashoggi blamed the failure on “cash-flow problems.” His most recent woe, reported by Reuters after his imprisonment in Bern, is that the privately owned National Commercial Bank of Saudi Arabia is suing him for $22 million, plus interest. The process of falling from a great height is subtle in the beginning, but there are those who have an instinctive ability to sniff out the first signs of failure and fading fortune. Long before the public disclosures of seized planes and impounded houses and bankruptcies, word went out among some of the fashionable jewelers of the world, from Rome to Beverly Hills, that no more credit was to be given to Adnan Khashoggi, because he had ceased to pay his bills. Then came the whispered stories of how he was draining money from his own projects to maintain his high life-style; of unpaid servants in the houses and unpaid crew members on the yacht; of unpaid maintenance on his two-floor, 7,200-square-foot condominium with indoor swimming pool at the Olympic Tower on Fifth Avenue in New York; of unpaid helicopter lessons for his daughter, Nabila, even while the extravagant parties proclaiming denial of the truth continued. In fact, the more persistent the rumors of Khashoggi’s financial collapse grew, the more extravagant his parties became. Nico Minardos, a former associate of Khashoggi’s who was arrested during Iranscam for his involvement in a $2.5 billion deal with Iran for forty-six Skyhawk aircraft and later cleared, said, “Adnan is a lovely man. I like him. He is the greatest P.R. man in the world. When he gave his fiftieth-birthday party, our company was overdrawn at the bank in Madrid by $6 million. And that’s about what his party cost. Last year he sold an apartment to pay for his birthday party.”

Probably the most telling story in Khashoggi’s downfall was repeated to me in London by a witness to the scene, who wished not to be identified. The King of Morocco was staying in the royal suite of Claridge’s. The King of Jordon, also visiting London at the time, came to call on the King of Morocco. There is a marble stairway in the main hall of Claridge’s which leads up to the royal suite. Shortly after the doors of the suite closed, Adnan Khashoggi, having heard of the meeting, arrived breathlessly at the hotel by taxi. Used to keeping company with kings, he sent a message up to the royal suite that he was downstairs. He was told that he would not be received.

Shortly after I was asked to write about Adnan Khashoggi, following his arrest, his executive assistant, Robert Shaheen, contacted this magazine, aware of my assignment. He said that I should call him, and I did.

“I understand,” I said, “that you are the number-two man to Mr. Khashoggi.”

“I am Mr. Khasoggi’s number-one man,” he corrected me. Then he said, “What is it you want? What will be your angle be in your story?” I told him that at that point I didn’t know. Shaheen’s reverence for his boss was evident in every sentence, and his descriptions of him were sometimes florid. “He dared to dream dreams that no one else dared to dream,” he said with a bit of a catch in his voice. He proceeded to list some of the accomplishments of his boss, whom he always referred to as the Chief. The Chief was responsible for opening the West to Saudi Arabia. “The Chief saved the Cairo telephone system. The Chief saved Lockheed from going bankrupt.” He then told me, “You must talk with Max Helzel. He is a representative of Lockheed. Get him before he dies. He is getting old. Mention my name to him.”

An American of Syrian descent, Shaheen went to Saudi Arabia to teach English in the late fifties, and there he met Khashoggi. He has described his job with Khashoggi in their long association as being similar to that of the chief of staff at the White House. Anyone wishing to meet with Khashoggi for a business proposition had to go through him first. He carried the Chief’s money. He scheduled the air fleet’s flights. He traveled with him. He became his apologist when things started to go wrong. After the debacle in Salt Lake City, he said, “People in Salt Lake City can’t hold Adnan responsible. He delegated all responsibility to American executives, and it was up to them to make a success. Adnan still believes in Salt Lake City.” And he became, like his boss, a very rich man himself through the contacts he made. At the close of our conversation, Shaheen told me that it was very unlikely that I would get into the prison in Bern, although he would do what he could to help me.

The night before I left New York, I was at a dinner party in a beautiful Fifth Avenue apartment overlooking Central Part. There were sixteen people, among them the high-flying Donald and Ivana Trump , one of New York’s richest and most discussed couples, and a major topic of conversation was Khashoggi’s imprisonment. “I read every word about Adnan Khashoggi,” Donald Trump said to me.

A story that Trump frequently tells is about his purchase of Khashoggi’s yacht, the 282-foot, $70 million Nabila, thought to be the most opulent private vessel afloat. In addition to the inevitable discotheque, with laser beams that projected Khashoggi’s face, the floating palace also had an operating room and a morgue, with coffins. Forced to sell it for a mere $30 million, Khashoggi did not want Trump to keep the name Nabila, because it was his daughter’s name. Trump had no intention, ever, of keeping the name. He had already decided to rename it the Trump Princess. But for some reason Khashoggi thought Trump meant to retain the name, and he knocked a million dollars off the asking price to ensure the name change. Trump accepted the deduction.

“Khashoggi was a great broker and a lousy businessman,” Trump said to me that night. “He understood the art of bringing people together and putting together a deal better than almost anyone—all the bullshitting part, of talk and entertainment—but he never knew how to invest his money. If he had put his commissions into a bank in Switzerland, he’d be a rich man today, but he invested it, and he made lousy choices.”

In London, on my way to Bern, I contacted Viviane Ventura, an English public-relations woman who is a great friend of Khashoggi’s. She attended Richard Nixon’s second inauguration in January 1973 with him. Ventura told me more or less the same thing Shaheen had told me. “The lawyers won’t let anyone near him. They don’t want any statements. There’s a lot more to it than we know. This is a terrible thing that your government is doing. Adnan is one of the most generous, most caring of men.”

The five-foot-four-inch, two-hundred-pound, financially troubled mega-star was born in Saudi Arabia in 1935, the oldest of six children. His father, who was an enormous influence in his life, was a highly respected doctor, remembered for bringing the first X-ray machine to Saudi Arabia. He became the personal physician to King Ibn Saud, a position that brought him and his family into close proximity with court circles. Adnan was sent to Victoria College in Alexandria, Egypt, an exclusive boys’ academy where King Hussein was a classmate and where the students were caned if they did not speak English. Later he went to California State University in Chico, and was overwhelmed by the freedom of the life-style of American girls. There he began to entertain as a way of establishing himself, and to broker his first few deals. Early on he won favor with many of Saudi royal princes, particularly Prince Sultan, the eighteenth son, and Prince Talal, the twenty-third son, who became his champions. In the 1970s, when the price of Arab oil soared to new heights, he began operating in high gear. Although Northrup was his best-known client, he also represented Lockheed, Teledyne National, Chrysler, and Raytheon in the Middle East. By the mid-1970s, his commissions from Lockheed alone totaled more than $100 million. In addition, his firm, Triad, had holdings that included thirteen banks and a chain of steak houses on the West Coast of the United States, cattle ranches in North and South America, resort developments in Fiji and Egypt, a chain of hotels in Australia, and various real-estate, insurance, and shipping concerns. The first Arab to develop land in the United States, he organized and invested many millions in Triad America Corporation in Salt Lake City. He became an intimate of kings and heads of state, a great gift giver, a provider of women, a perfect host, and the creator of a life-style that would become world-renowned for its extravagance. Even now, in the overlapping murkiness of deposed dictators, the Baby Doc Duvaliers, those other Third World escapees with their nation’s pillage, are living in the South of France in a house found for them by Adnan Khashoggi, belonging to his son.

Perhaps not surprisingly, having presented myself as a journalist from the United States, I was not allowed to visit Khashoggi in the prison at 22 Genfergasse in Bern. It is a modern jail, six stories high, located in the center of the city. The windows are vertically barred, and the prisoners take their exercise on the roof. At night the exterior walls are floodlit. For a city prison there is an amazing silence about the place. No prisoners were screaming out the windows at passersby. There were no guards in sight on the elevated catwalk. Much has been made of the fact that Khashoggi got his meals from the dining room of the nearby Schweizerhof Hotel, but that and a rented television set and access to a fax machine were in fact his only privileges. In the beginning, waiters in uniform from the hotel would carry the trays over, but they were photographed too much and asked too many questions by reporters. The waiters and the maître d’ that I spoke with in the restaurant of the Schweizerhof were reluctant to talk about the meals being sent to the jail, as if they were under orders not to speak. The evening I waited to see Khashoggi’s meal arrive, a young girl brought it on a tray. She was not in uniform. She got to the jail at precisely six, and the gourmet meal was wrapped in silver foil to keep it hot.

Everywhere, people speak admiringly of Nabila Khashoggi, the first child and only daughter of Adnan, by his first wife, Soraya, the mother also of his first four sons. Nabila is the only family member who remained in Bern throughout her father’s ordeal, although one of the sons, Mohammed, is said to have visited once. A handsome woman in her late twenties, Nabila at one time had aspirations to movie stardom. In 1981, she became so distraught over the notoriety and sensationalism of her mother’s divorce action against her father that she attempted suicide by taking an overdose of sleeping pills. Between father and daughter there is enormous affection and mutual respect. It was after her that Khashoggi named his spectacular yacht.

Nabila visited the prison on an almost daily basis, providing comfort and news and relaying messages to her father. The rest of the time she remained in total seclusion in her suite at the Schweizerhof. On occasion she dined at off-hours in the dining room, but she did not loiter in the public rooms of the hotel, and reporters, however long they sat in the lobby hoping to get a look at her, waited in vain. I wrote her a note introducing myself and left it at the desk. I mentioned the names of several mutual friends, among them George Hamilton, the Hollywood actor, who had sold Nabila his house in Beverly Hills for $7 million three years ago, during the period when Nabila was trying to launch a career as a film actress. The house was allegedly a gift to Hamilton from Imelda Marcos when she was still the First Lady of the Philippines. I also mentioned in my note that I had been in touch with Robert Shaheen, Khashoggi’s aide and friend, and that he was aware that I would contact her.

From there, I walked back to my hotel, the Bellevue Palace, and as I entered my room the telephone was ringing. It was Nabila Khashoggi. Polite, courteous, she also sounded weary and wept out; there was incredible sadness in her voice. She said that the lawyers had forbidden her or any member of her family to speak to anyone from the press, and that it would therefore not be possible for me to interview her. She thanked me, when I asked her how she was holding up, and said that she was well. In closing, she said in a very strong voice, “I think you should know that Robert Shaheen has not worked for my father for several years, and that we do not speak to him.” This information shocked me, after Shaheen’s passionate representation of himself to me as Khashoggi’s closest associate, but it was only the first of many surprises and contradictions I would encounter in the people who have surrounded Adnan Khashoggi during his extraordinary life. Intimates of Khashoggi’s told me that he often had fallings-out with those close to him, and that sometimes they would be reinstated in his good graces, and sometimes not.

Later that day Nabila Khashoggi called again to ask if I spoke German. I said no. She said there was an article in that day’s Der Bund, the Swiss-German newspaper, that I should get and have translated. The article was positive in tone, and said that perhaps the Americans did not have sufficient evidence to cause the Swiss to extradite Khashoggi. John Marshall, a British newspaperman based in Bern, said about the article, “The supposition is that the Americans have jumped the gun. The charges presented so far will not stand up in the Swiss court.” Everywhere, I heard people say, “If Khashoggi tells what he knows, there will be enormous embarrassment in Washington.” The reference was not to the charges pending against Khashoggi in the matter of Imelda and Ferdinand Marcos. It had to do with Iranscam. Roy Boston, a wealthy developer in Marbella and a great friend of Khashoggi’s, said, “I can’t imagine that the Americans really want him back in the United States. It would be a mistake. The president and the former president would be smeared. And the same with the King of Saudi Arabia. Adnan would never say one word against the king. But the Americans? Why should he keep quiet? If he really starts talking, good gracious me, there will be red faces around the world.”

One of the unknown factors in the Khashoggi predicament is whether the King of Saudi Arabia will come to his aid, and on that point opinions differ. “I don’t know how the king feels about Adnan now,” said Roy Boston. “He did a lot of handling of Saudi affairs, with the king and without the king. There is always the possibility that he is still doing things for the king.”

John Marshall said, “If the King of Saudi Arabia stands behind him, he will never let Khashoggi go to jail in the United States.”

“Do you think the king will come to Khashoggi’s rescue?” I asked Nico Minardos.

“No way!” he said. “The king doesn’t like him. Only Prince Sultan likes him now.”

The most mystifying family matter, during Khashoggi’s imprisonment, was the nonappearance of Lamia Khashoggi, the beautiful second wife of Adnan, who never visited her husband in Bern. Several people close to the Khashoggis feel that their marriage has for some time been more ceremonial than conjugal. Lamia sat out her husband’s jail time at their penthouse in Cannes with their son, Ali. I listened in on a telephone call placed by a mutual European friend who asked if she would talk with me. Like Nabila, she declined, under lawyers’ orders. When the friend persisted, she acted as if she had been disconnected, saying, “I can’t hear you. I can’t hear you. Hello … hello?” and then hung up.

Until recently Lamia, who was born Laura Biancolini in Italy, was a highly visible member of the jet set, palling around with such luminous figures as the flamboyant Princess Gloria von Thurn und Taxis, the young wife of the billionaire aristocrat Prince Johannes von Thurn und Taxis. At the Thurn und Taxises’ eighteenth-century costume ball in their five-hundred-room palace in Regensburg, Germany, in 1986, Lamia Khashoggi made an entrance that people still talk about. Dressed as Mme. de Pompadour, she came down the palace stairway flanked by two Nubians—“real Nubians, from Sudan”—carrying long-handled feathered fans. Her wig was twice as high as the wig of her hostess, who was dressed as Marie Antoinette, and her gold-and-white gown was so wide that she could not navigate a turn in the stairway and had to descend sideways, assisted by her Nubians. It was felt that she had attempted to upstage her hostess, a no-no in high society, and since then, though not necessarily related to the incident, their friendship has cooled. In the midst of the Thurn und Taxises’ million-dollar revel, attendees at the ball tell me, there was much behind-the-fan talk that the Khashoggi fortune was in peril. Khashoggi had secured oil and mining rights in the Republic of Sudan and had used those rights as collateral to borrow money. When his friend Gaafar Nimeiry, the president of Sudan, was overthrown in 1985, the succeeding administration canceled the contracts he had negotiated, and one Sudanese broadcaster protested that Nimeiry had sold the Sudan to Adnan Khashoggi.

Laura Biancolini began traveling on Khashoggi’s yacht, along with what is known in some circles as a bevy of lovelies, at the age of seventeen. She converted to Islam, changed her name to Lamia, and became Khashoggi’s second wife before giving birth to her only child and Adnan’s fifth son, Ali, now nine, in West Palm Beach, Florida. Marriage to a man like Adnan Khashoggi cannot have been easy for either of his wives. Women for hire were part and parcel of his everyday life, and he often sent girls as gifts to men with whom he was attempting to do business. “They lend beauty and fragrance to the surroundings,” he has been quoted as saying.

His previous wife, who was born Sandra Patricia Jarvis-Daly, the daughter of a London waitress, married him when she was nineteen, long before he was internationally famous. She also converted to Islam and took the name Soraya. They first lived in Beirut and later in London. A great beauty, she is the mother of Nabila and the first four Khashoggi sons: Mohammed, twenty-five, Khalid, twenty-three, Hussein, twenty-one, and Omar, nineteen. Although their marriage was an open one, the end came when he heard that she was having an affair with his pal President Gafaar Nimeiry of Sudan. He was already involved with the seventeen-year-old Laura Biancolini. In Islamic tradition, a divorce may be executed by the male’s reciting “I divorce thee” three times. Subsequently, Soraya experienced financial discontent with her lot and complained that the usually generous Khashoggi, whose life-style cost him a quarter of a million dollars a day to maintain, was being tight with his alimony payments to the mother of his first five children. With the aid of the celebrated divorce lawyer Marvin Mitchelson, she sued her former husband for $2.5 billion, which she figured to be half his fortune. She had, in the meantime, married and divorced a young man who had been the beau of a daughter she had had out of wedlock before marrying Khashoggi and bearing Nabila. She had also engaged in a highly publicized love affair with Winston Churchill, the grandson of the late British prime minister and the son of the socially unimpeachable Mrs. Averell Harriman of Washington, D.C. Concurrently with that romance, she bore another child, generally thought to be Churchill’s child but never publicly acknowledged as such. As choreographed by Marvin Mitchelson, the alimony case received notorious worldwide coverage, which caused great embarrassment to all members of the family, as well as an increased disenchantment with Khashoggi on the part of the Saudi royal family. Ultimately, Soraya received a measly $2 million divorce settlement, but, more important, she was also reinstated in the family. Right up to the bust and confinement in Bern, she attended all the major Khashoggi parties and even posed with Adnan and Lamia and their combined children for a 1988 Christmas family photograph.

Khashoggi’s private life has always been a public mess. “I haven’t spoken to my ex-uncle since 1983, after the Cap d’Ail scandal, when one of his aides went to jail for prostitution and drugs,” said Dodi Fayed, executive producer of the film Chariots of Fire and son of the controversial international businessman Mohammed Al Fayed, the owner of the Ritz Hotel in Paris and Harrods department store in London, over which there was one of the bitterest takeover battles of the decade. Dodi Fayed’s mother, Samira, who died two years ago, was Adnan Khashoggi’s sister. Khashoggi and Mohammed Al Fayed were once business partners. Since the business partnership and the marriage of Samira and Fayed both broke up bitterly, the relationship between the two families has been poisonous. Dodi Fayed’s use of the term “ex-uncle” indicates that he no longer even considers Khashoggi a relation.

The Cap d’Ail affair had to do with a French woman named Mireille Griffon, who became known on the Côte d’Azur as Madame Mimi, a serious though brief rival to the famous Madame Claude, the Parisian madam who serviced the upper classes and business elite of Europe for three decades with some of the most beautiful women in the world, many of whom have gone on to marry into the upper strata. Partnered with Madame Mimi was Khashoggi’s employee Abdo Khawagi, a onetime masseur. Madame Mimi’s operation boasted a roster of three hundred girls between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five. A perfectionist in her trade, Madame Mimi groomed and dressed her girls so that they would be presentable escorts for the important men they were servicing. The girls, who were sent to Khashoggi in groups of twos and threes, called him papa gâteau, or sugar daddy, because he was extremely generous with them. In addition to their fee, 40 percent of which went to Madame Mimi, the girls received furs and jewels and tips that sometimes equaled or surpassed the fee. One of the greatest whoremongers in the world, Khashoggi was generous to a fault and provided the same girls to members of the Saudi royal family as well as to business associates and party friends. His role as a provider of women for business purposes was not unlike the role his uncle Yussuf Yassin had performed for King Ibn Saud. After the French police on the Riviera were alerted, a watch was put on the operations and the madam’s telephone lines were tapped. In time an arrest was made, and the case went to trial in Nice in February 1984, amid nasty publicity. Madame Mimi, who is believed to have personally grossed $1.2 million in ten months, got a year and a half in jail. Khawagi, the procurer, got a year in prison. And Khashoggi sailed away on the Nabila .

Of more recent vintage is the story of the beautiful Indian prostitute Pamilla Bordes, who was discovered working as a researcher in the House of Commons after having bedded some of the most distinguished men in England. In a three-part for-pay interview in the London Daily Mail, she made her sexual revelations about Khashoggi shortly after he was imprisoned in Bern, a bit of bad timing for the beleaguered arms dealer. Pamella was introduced into the great world by Shri Chandra Swamiji Maharaj, a Hindu teacher with worldly aspirations known simply as the Swami or Swamiji, although sometimes he is addressed by his worshippers with the papal-sounding title of Your Holiness. The Swami, who is said to possess miraculous powers, has served as a spiritual and financial adviser to, among others, Ferdinand Marcos, who credited him with once saving his life, Adnan Khashoggi, Mohammed Al Fayed, and both the Sultan of Brunei and the second of his two wives, Princess Mariam, a half-Japanese former airline stewardess. (Princess Mariam is less popular with the royal family of Brunei than the sultan’s first wife, Queen Saleha, his cousin, who bore him six children, but Princess Mariam is clearly the sultan’s favorite.) The Swami played a key role in the Mohammed Al Fayed–Tiny Rowland battle for the ownership of Harrods in London when he secretly taped a conversation with Fayed which vaguely indicated that the money Fayed had used to purchase Harrods was really the Sultan of Brunei’s. The Swami sold the tape to Rowland for $2 million. Subsequently, he was arrested in India on charges of breaking India’s foreign-exchange regulations.

The Swami introduced Pamella Bordes to Khashoggi after she failed to be entered as Miss India in the Miss Universe contest in 1982. Pamella, a young woman of immense ambition, was invited to Khashoggi’s Marbella estate, La Baraka, shortly after meeting him. In her Daily Mail account of her five-day stay, she said, “I had a room to myself. I used to get up very late. They have the most fabulous room service. You can order up the most sensational food and drink anytime you want.” She despised the other girls who were sent along on the junket with her, referring to them as “cheapo” girls who “ordered chips with everything. They smothered their food with tomato ketchup and slopped it all over the bed. It was disgusting.” The girls were taken shopping in the boutiques of Marbella and told to buy anything they wanted, all at Khashoggi’s expense. In the evening, they dressed for dinner. She described Khashoggi as always having a male secretary by his side with a cordless telephone. “Non-stop calls were coming in.… It was business, business non-stop.” She slept with him in what she described as the largest bed she had ever seen. “I was very happy to have sex with him, and he did not want me to do anything kinky or sleazy.”

After their liaison, she became a part of the Khashoggi bank of women ready and willing to be used in his business deals. In the article, she described in detail a flight she was sent on from Geneva to Riyadh to service a Prince Mohammed, a senior member of the royal family, “who would be a key man in buying arms and vital technology.” The prince came in, looked her over, and said something to his secretary in Arabic. The secretary then took Pamella into a bathroom, where she was told to bathe and to wash her hair and blow-dry it straight. The prince, it seemed, wanted her with straight hair. Then she went to the prince’s room and had sex with him. The next day she was shipped back to Geneva. “He was somebody very, very important to Khashoggi. Khashoggi was keeping him supplied with girls. Khashoggi has all these deals going, and he needs a lot of girls for sexual bribes. I was just part of an enormous group. I was used as sexual bait.”

In an astonishing book called By Hook or by Crook, written by the Washington lawyer Steven Martindale, who traveled for several years with Khashoggi and the Swami, the author catalogues Khashoggi’s use of women in business deals. The book, which was published in England, was then banned there by a court order sought not by Khashoggi but by Mohammed Al Fayed.

In Marbella, Adnan Khashoggi is a ranking social figure and a very popular man. He has a magnificent villa on a huge estate that he bought from the father of Thierry Roussel, the last husband of the tragic heiress Christina Onassis. After Khashoggi bought his house in Marbella in the late seventies, he said to Alain Cavro, an architect who for twenty years has worked exclusively for him and who refers to him as A.K., “I want to add ten bedrooms, salons, and a big kitchen, and I want it right away. I need to have it finished in time for my party.” Cavro told me that he had ninety-three days, after the plans were approved. Workers worked twenty-four hours a day, in shifts, and the house was completed in time for the party. “A.K. has a way of convincing you of almost anything,” Cavro told me. “He can persuade you with his charm to change your mind after you have made it up. He builds people up. He introduces people in such a flattering way as to make them blush. He finds very quickly the point to touch them the most. Afterwards, people say, ‘You saw how nice he was to me?’ People feel flattered, almost in love with him.’ ”

Khashoggi was responsible for bringing Prince Fahd, now King Fahd, of Saudi Arabia to Marbella for the first time. That visit, which resulted in Fahd’s building a mosque and a palace-type residence in Marbella, designed by Cavro, changed the economy of the fashionable resort.

In the summer of 1988, a Texas multimillionairess named Nancy Hamon chartered the ship Sea Goddess and invited eighty friends, mostly other Texas millionaires, on a four-day cruise, starting in Málaga, Spain. The high point of the trip was an elaborate and expensive lunch party at the Khashoggi villa in Marbella. Khashoggi, already in severe financial distress, put on the dog in the hope of lining up some of these rich Texas backers to shore up his failing empire.

“Oh, darling, it was an experience,” said one of the guests. “There were guardhouses with guards with machine guns, and closed-circuit television everywhere. The whole house is gaudy Saudi, if you know what I mean. They have Liberace’s piano, with rhinestones in it, and the chairs are all trimmed with gilt, and a disco, naturally, with a floor that lights up. Do you get the picture? You can see Africa and Gibraltar from the terrace—that was nice. They had flamenco music pounding away at lunch. Some of the guests got into the flamenco act after a few drinks. I’ll say this for Mr. Khashoggi, he was a tremendously gracious host. And so was the wife, Lamia. She had on a pink dress trimmed with gold—Saint Laurent, I think—and rubies, lots of rubies, with a décolletage to set off the rubies, and ruby earrings, great big drop earrings. This is lunch, remember. He has built a gazebo that could hold hundreds of people, with silver and gold tinsel decorations, like on a Christmas tree. The food was wonderful. Tons of staff, as well as a lot of men in black suits—his assistants, I suppose. After lunch we were taken on a tour of the stables. The stables are in better taste than the house. Everything pristine. And Arabian horses. It was marvelous. It was amazing he could continue living on that scale. Everyone knew he was on his uppies.”

These days, Khashoggi is constantly discussed in the bar of the exclusive Marbella Club. Very few people who know him do not speak highly of his charm, his generosity, and the beauty of his parties. The cunning streak that flaws his character is less apparent to his society and party friends than it is to his business associates. “When Adnan comes back here, I told Nabila that I’ll give the first dinner for him,” said Roy Boston. “He has been a considerable friend to some people here in Marbella. He is always faithful to his friends. He remembers birthdays. He does very personal things. That’s why we like him. Now that he’s in trouble, no one here is saying ‘I don’t like him’ or ‘I saw it coming.’ ”

“He is a fantastic host,” said Prince Alfonso Hohenlohe. “He takes care of his guests the whole night—heads of state, noble princes, archdukes. He has a genius for seating people in the correct place. He always knows everyone’s name, and he can seat 150 people exactly right without using place cards. All these problems he is in are because of his great heart and his goodness. I was at a private dinner party in New York when Marcos asked him to help save them. For A.K., there were no laws, no skies, no limits. With all the money he had, he should have bought The New York Times, or the Los Angeles Times, and NBC. He should have bought the media. The media can destroy a president, and it can destroy Khashoggi.”

One grand lady in Marbella reminisced, “Which party was it? I don’t remember. Khashoggi’s birthday, I think. There were balloons everywhere that said i am the greatest on them, and he crowned himself king that night and walked through the party wearing an ermine robe. It was so amusing. But odd now, under the circumstances.” Another said, “He’s the only host I’ve ever seen who walks each guest to the front door at the end of the party. Even when we left at 8:30 in the morning, he walked us out to our cars. He’s marvelous, really.” Another, an English peeress, said, “Alfonso Hohenlohe’s sister Beatriz, the Duchess of Arion, invited us to dinner at Khashoggi’s. I said I wouldn’t dream of going to Mr. Khashoggi’s on a secondhand invitation, and the next thing I knew, the wife, what’s-her-name, Lamia, called and invited us, and then they sent around a card, and so, of course, we went. There were eighty, seated. It was for that Swami, what’s-his-name, with a vegetarian dinner, because of the Swami—delicious, as a matter of fact. I said to my husband, or he said to me, I don’t remember which, ‘That Swami’s a big phony.’ But Mr. Khashoggi was very nice, and he entertains beautifully. Most of the people down here just feel sorry for him. For God’s sake, don’t use my name in your article.”

An American writer who spends time in the resort said to me, “That gang you were with last night at the Marbella Club, they’re all going to like him, but I know a lot of people here in Marbella who don’t like him, the kind of people he owes money to. He gives big parties and owes money to the help. I’ll give you the number of the guy who fixes his lawn mowers. He owes the lawn-mower fixer $2,000.”

Whether Khashoggi is really broke or not is anybody’s guess. Roy Boston said, “Is he broke? I can’t answer that. Four weeks before he was arrested, he gave a party here that must have cost a fortune. It was a big show, so he can’t be that broke, but he might be officially broke. If you are once worth $5 billion, you must have a little nest egg somewhere. He’s not stupid, you know.” A former American associate, wishing anonymity, said, “Adnan is not broke. I don’t care what anyone says. He’s still got $40 million coming from Lockheed. That’s a commission alone.” Steven Martindale thinks he really is broke. “He owes every friend he ever borrowed money from.” When Khashoggi’s bail was set in New York at $10 million one week after his extradition, however, his brothers paid it immediately.

In his business dealings with the Sultan of Brunei, Khashoggi never rushed things. “Khashoggi had a personal approach: he was willing to show the Sultan a good time, willing and eager to take the Sultan around London or bring a party to the Sultan’s palace in Brunei. He gave every appearance of not needing the Sultan, but rather of being another rich man like the Sultan himself who just wanted to enjoy the Sultan’s company,” writes James Bartholomew in his biography of the Sultan of Brunei, The Richest Man in the World. Business, of course, followed.

Alain Cavro, who supervised all the building and reconstruction projects undertaken by any of the companies within the Khashoggi empire, was a close observer of the business life of Adnan Khashoggi. In 1975, Cavro became president of Triad Condas International, a contemporary design firm that built both palaces and military bases, mostly in the Middle East and Saudi Arabia. When Khashoggi met with kings and heads of state, he would usually take Cavro with him. Khashoggi would say to his hosts, “Give me the honor to demonstrate what we can do, either something personal for you or for your country.” He meant a new wing for the palace, a pavilion for the swimming pool, a new country club, or, possibly, but not usually, even something for the public good. Whatever it was that was desired, Cavro would do the drawings overnight, and then Khashoggi would present the architectural renderings and follow that up with the immediate building of whatever it was, as his personal gift to the king or head of state. In the inner circle this process was called Mission Impossible; it was designed to show what A.K. could do. “In Africa, heads of state are impressed with magic,” said Cavro. Business followed. Cavro, totally loyal to A.K., said, “But these gifts must not be construed as bribes, but rather as a demonstration of how he could do things fast and well. A.K. felt that the heads of state were doing him a favor to allow him to demonstrate how he did things.”

Cavro described to me Khashoggi’s total concentration when he was involved in a business deal. When the pilot of one of his three planes would announce that they were landing in twenty minutes and that the chief of state was waiting on the tarmac, Khashoggi would go right on with what he was doing until the last possible second. Then he would change into either Western or Eastern garb, depending on where he was landing. In each of his private jets were two wardrobes: one contained his beautifully tailored three-piece bespoke suits from London’s Savile Row, in all sizes to deal with his continually fluctuating weight; in the other were white cotton thobes, headdresses, and black ribbed headbands, the traditional Saudi dress. As he deplaned, he would go immediately into the next deal and give that affair his full attention. He was also able to conduct several meetings at the same time, going from room to room, always zeroing in on the exact point under discussion. He constantly emphasized how important it is to understand what the other party to a deal needs and wants.

But long before Adnan Khashoggi’s arrest in Bern and his extradition to the United States, his time had passed. His position as the star broker of the Arab world was no longer unique. He had set the example, but now the sons of other wealthy Saudi families were being educated in the United States and England, in far better colleges and universities than Chico State, and were being trained to perform the same role as Khashoggi, with less flash and flamboyance. Khashoggi has, in fact, become an embarrassment. A Jordanian princess described him in May of this year as a disgrace to the Arab world.

With sadness, Cavro told me, “Salt Lake City was the beginning of the end for him. After he lost so much money, A.K. began to change. The parties were too extravagant. And his personal life.” He shook his head. “Everything was too frantic. Even his brother wanted him to lower his life-style. That kind of publicity is a disease.”

Dominick Dunne is a best-selling author and special correspondent for Vanity Fair. His diary is a mainstay of the magazine.

Dominick Dunne

Royal watch.

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Arms, harems and a Trump-owned yacht: How a Khashoggi family member helped mold the U.S.-Saudi relationship

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In the mid-1980s, Jill Dodd was a 20-year-old model working in Paris when she got an unexpected offer from her agent: She was invited to a gala pirate-themed party on the beach in Monte Carlo being thrown by the billionaire Saudi arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi .

Dodd had no idea who Khashoggi was or why she was invited. But, she says, being “naive and gullible,” she jumped at the chance and soon found herself on the beach dancing with the short, pudgy Saudi mogul. He ended up writing “I love you” in blood on her arm, she says.

It was the start of a wild 18-month relationship during which Dodd agreed to serve as Khashoggi’s “pleasure wife." She partied it up on his legendary yacht, the Nabila, and flew around the world on his private jet, having sex, doing cocaine, sitting by his side at high-stakes gambling binges in Las Vegas.

Today, Dodd — having gone on to have a successful career in the fashion business — looks back on her time globe-trotting with Khashoggi with no small degree of horror. “I really realized I was part of a harem,” she says. “It took a long time to come to the realization and be able to accept the fact that I had been sold without my knowledge. So I was sold like a prostitute would be sold.”

The flamboyant life and checkered legacy of Adnan Khashoggi are the subject of Episode 2 in the new season of the Yahoo News podcast "Conspiracyland : The Secret Lives and Brutal Death of Jamal Khashoggi ."

Adnan Khashoggi, who died in 2017, was Jamal Khashoggi’s cousin; their grandfathers were brothers in the holy city of Medina. Jamal Khashoggi knew his older cousin from family gatherings over the years and showed up for his burial in Medina four years ago, even while expressing nothing but disdain for his grotesque sybaritic lifestyle.

And yet, as "Conspiracyland" shows, Adnan Khashoggi played a crucial role in the evolution of the U.S.-Saudi alliance. Over the course of two decades, between the late 1960s and the mid-1980s, he brokered billions of dollars in arms sales from U.S. defense contractors to the Saudi military — deals that became the heart of a core arms-for-oil bargain that has sustained Washington’s relationship with Riyadh ever since.

Adnan Khashoggi “pioneered this relationship between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia,” says Ron Kessler, a former investigative reporter for the Washington Post, who wrote a biography of the arms dealer called “The World’s Richest Man.”

“Khashoggi was the emissary of the king,” Kessler says in "Conspiracyland." “And so he would kick back some of the commissions from the American companies directly to the king, as well as to the Saudi defense minister and princes. And everyone was happy. The king was happy, he got his money, Khashoggi got his cut. … The spectacular wealth, the display, the parties, all attracted business. And it was like bees around honey. It was really an incredible episode in history.”

The fear of disrupting that arms-for-oil money flow was ultimately a major factor in persuading the Trump White House not to impose any price on the Saudis for the gruesome murder of Adnan’s cousin Jamal, who at the time of his death was a columnist for the Global Opinions section of the Washington Post.

Trump himself made that painfully clear when he cited giant Saudi arms purchases as his chief reason for not imposing any sanctions on Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman even after the CIA concluded he had authorized the operation that killed the journalist inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2, 2018.

“If we abandon Saudi Arabia, it will be a terrible mistake,” Trump said at the time. “They're buying hundreds of billions of dollars' worth of things from this country. If I say 'We don’t want to take your business,' if I say 'We're going to cut it off,' they will get their equipment, military equipment, from Russia and China. I’m not going to tell a country spending hundreds of billions of dollars — and helping me out do one thing very importantly, keep oil prices down so they're not going to 100, 150 dollars a barrel — I'm not going to destroy the economy for our country by being foolish with Saudi Arabia.”

As with much else with Trump, such positions were taken against the backdrop of business deals between him and various Saudi moguls that began with Adnan Khashoggi. In 1991, Trump — envious of the Saudi mogul’s lifestyle — arranged to buy his yacht, the Nabila, for $29 million, touting it on the David Letterman show as “probably the greatest yacht ever built. It's really been kind of a great investment.” (Trump renamed it the Princess, apparently after his daughter Ivanka.)

But not that great an investment. Three years later, when Trump was facing bankruptcy over his floundering Atlantic City casinos, he was bailed out by yet another Saudi mogul — Prince Alwaleed bin Talal — who bought the yacht from him for $20 million. Although he may have taken a bath on the boat, the sale was the start of a gushing Saudi spigot to the Trump Organization that continued for years.

Wealthy Saudis pumped millions into his company coffers, buying up apartments in Trump buildings, at least as much as, if not more than, Russian oligarchs did. In 2001, three months before the 9/11 attacks, in which 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudi nationals, the Saudi government plunked down $4.5 million to purchase the entire 45th floor of Trump Tower in Manhattan, eventually turning it into the offices of the country’s United Nations mission.

"Saudi Arabia, and I get along great with all of them, they buy apartments from me, they spend $40 million, $50 million,” Trump declared at a 2015 campaign rally in Mobile, Ala. “They spend so much money. Am I going to dislike them? I love them.”

It was an affection that continued right into his presidency, when Trump made placating the Saudis a centerpiece of his Middle East strategy — and ultimately persuaded him to impose no price on the country’s leaders for the state-sponsored assassination of Adnan Khashoggi’s cousin Jamal.

Next on "Conspiracyland": Episode 3, "Jamal and Osama"

Adnan’s younger cousin Jamal pursues a very different path that leads him to the caves of Afghanistan, where, as a young reporter for the Arab News, he champions the fight against the Soviet occupation being waged by a fellow Muslim Brother who was then his good friend: Osama bin Laden. It is the start of a long and complicated relationship between Khashoggi and bin Laden that years later leads to a fateful series of meetings in Khartoum, Sudan, in which the Saudi journalist is recruited to try and persuade the terrorist leader to return to the kingdom.

In case you missed it:

Episode 1 — Exclusive: Saudi assassins picked up illicit drugs in Cairo to kill Khashoggi

Cover thumbnail photo illustration: Yahoo News; photos: Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images, Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

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• Les mondes du luxe

The megayachts return to sea

By Bettina Bush Mignanego 01 septembre 2020

In this strange summer, as spectacular megayachts crossed the seas, news broke that the Cannes Yachting Festival 2020, the nautical rendezvous scheduled to take place from September 8-21, had been cancelled. And yet, optimism still seems to be on the wind in the Italian shipyards that are leaders in the larger yacht segment – an optimism the bosses of Fincantieri and Azimut-Benetti explain in this exclusive to Luxury Tribune.

It's no coincidence that the first real megayacht in history was built in Viareggio, Italy in the 1970s. Commissioned by Saudi business magnate Adnan Khashoggi, the Nabila – named after Khashoggi’s daughter – was christened in 1979, and was long seen as an exercise in eccentric folly. Designed by Joan Bannenberg, and with interiors that were unmistakably Luigi Sturchio, Italian interior designer specializing in luxury yachts, the Nabila was 86 meters long with five decks, 22 cabins, a medical center with an operating room, a movie theatre, a disco, two kitchens, a pastry shop and 52 crew members. More importantly, though, the megayacht was Khashoggi’s trump card, cementing his place in the international jet-set, eventually celebrated in a song by Queen and featured in the James Bond movie “Never Say Never Again”. But the Nabila 's story did not end with Khashoggi. In 1989, she was bought by Donald Trump and renamed the Trump Princess . She eventually made her way into the hands of Saudi prince Al-Waleed and currently sails as the Kingdom 5KR . Meanwhile, the Benetti shipyard where she was built was bought by Azimut and is now known as Azimut-Benetti. According to the Global Order Book, she is still the yacht that any yacht over 24 meters has to measure up to, according to leading shipbuilders.  

12% growth over the past five years

It’s been forty years since the Nabila ’s maiden voyage and the Italian shipbuilding industry continues to dominate the international megayacht market, with no less than 268 boats under construction in 2019 out of a total of 621 worldwide. According to UCINA Confindustria Nautica's data on the megayacht sector, in 2018 the sector grew by 78.5% compared to 2010. The luxury yacht segment, comprising the high-end yachts and superyachts, is an 8.5 billion-euro market and has increased by around 12% in the last five years - a significant record, and one that can stand up to the results of any of the other Made in Italy luxury sectors. Looking at the biggest boats specifically, Italy has also produced two superyachts that now rank among the longest 20 in the world, both built by Fincantieri, Europe's largest maritime group, with revenues of 5.8 billion euros in 2019.  

But how do we explain the relatively good health of the megayacht sector in these turbulent times? Giovanna Vitelli, Vice President of Azimut-Benetti, told us how she sees it. “For 21 years we have been at the top of the world rankings for the production of yachts over 24 meters in length. And the market is flourishing even this year, despite the grim international situation. Our main concern in the first months of 2020 was to be able to guarantee the delivery of the yachts. We organized work into three shifts in all shipyards, and the fact that we were able to work in the water and outdoors allowed us to comply with the required hygiene measures. The orders we have received in the last few months have confirmed the great interest in investing in important yachts, probably because they are considered a safe place during the pandemic, and certainly also because of the desire to invest in a beautiful object. In the United States, our largest market, we have seen an increase in sales that has been double that of 2019. This year in Cannes we were scheduled to present the Magellano, a 25-meter yacht designed by Vincenzo De Cotiis and conceived for extended journeys in the name of absolute pleasure, with a charming look that I would define as soothing, perfect to enjoy the beauty of the sea.”

It’s a philosophy that is markedly different from the days of the Nabila , which has withstood the test of time and is still regarded today as the ultimate contemporary yacht. But not everyone knows that Khashoggi was not easy to please and even then, heading into the heady days of the 80s, he was already looking forward to the Nabila II , then still in the design stage and fated to never leave the drafting table. The contract was to be awarded to the best proposal among the four most popular designers of the time: Bannenberg, Gilgenast, Paolo Caliari and Alberto Mercati. It was Mercati who brought home the prize. “What fascinated me at the time was having to think about the world’s largest boat,” he recalls. “That’s why I went back to the concept of German cruisers from the Second World War, and racing boats like the Penguin . She was to be innovative on all levels: the upper part of the yacht would slide, the indoor pool would be expandable, the foredeck was cobra-shaped... Khashoggi was enthusiastic, but then he was arrested and nothing ever came of it. It would have cost 75 billion lira, but I didn't even get paid for the project proposal.” And so the dream of a 120-meter successor to the Nabila remained unfulfilled.

Besides the boats that sprung from Khashoggi’s dreams and sailed from the Azimut-Benetti shipyard, quite a few more of the largest superyachts sailing the seas today were also built in Italy. Daniele Fanara, senior vice president of Fincantieri Yachts, talks about these giants. “The Fincantieri Group set up Fincantieri Yachts to cater to this particular segment,” he says. “To date we have built two of the world's most prestigious megayachts: the Serene , 134 meters long, delivered in 2011, the 15th largest yacht in the world; and the Ocean Victory , 140 meters long, the 11th largest, delivered in 2014. And we are currently working on several other projects.” When asked about the latest craze for superyachts, Daniele Fanara is coy. “I can only talk in very general terms, but you can have a helicopter hangar that disappears below the deck of the ship, swimming pools that turn into dance floors, an open-air cinema, as well as indoor and outdoor waterfalls, revolving lounges, wellness areas with snow rooms.” Some of these features can be found on the Serene , the Fincantieri yacht owned by Saudi Prince Bin Salaman on which, according to Artnet, he recently exhibited Leonardo da Vinci's Salvator Mundi, the masterpiece that sold for the record price of $450 million. A jewel aboard another jewel... But this is another story – a story about dreams, flights of fancy and the race for the pinnacle of luxury.         

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Home | About us

Azimut|Benetti is the first global leading private Group in the yachting sector. Thanks to continuous innovation and experimentation, it has been the world’s leading manufacturer of megayachts* and the shipyard with the widest range of models on the market for 24 years.

*global order book, boat international.

The Group was born from the passion for the sea, the intuition, the commitment and the courage of Paolo Vitelli, founder of Azimut, a company that produces the widest range of yachts in the world. Then, in 1985, Vitelli takes over the shipyard “Fratelli Benetti” of Viareggio, historic signature of megayachts favored by the international jet set. Thus begins an extraordinary adventure that brings the nautical made in Italy to the world leaders. In the 2000s, shipbuilding was joined by a dense network of exclusive services. In fact, with the birth, in 2008, of Yachtique, design and furniture boutique, and the entry, in 2010, of Lusben, the group completes its offer, including refit & repair. Over the years, a prestigious network of marinas has also been developed, an oasis of pleasure and well-being with customer service points.

Lorenzo Benetti founds the Benetti Shipyard in Viareggio.

Benetti launches “Gabbiano” 22M, charming the international jet set thanks to owners such as Prince Rainier III of Monaco and Grace Kelly.

University student Paolo Vitelli founds Azimut Srl, a sailboat charter business. Over time, an increasing number of nautical brands trust the company to distribute their boats in Italy.

The innovative AZ 43′ Bali is born, the first model in the AZ range in fiberglass.

AZ32 Targa is born, the first and only avant-garde cruiser of its kind on the market. The “Targa of the sea” immediately attracted the attention of new owners with different needs, becoming a real must for sea lovers

Benetti launches the iconic “Nabila”, the largest 86-metre Gigayacht of the time. Given her extraordinary beauty, Nabila appears in the James Bond film with Sean Connery, “Never Say Never Again”

Azimut launches “Falaika” 30M, the largest fiberglass yacht ever built delivered in just 100 days. She was favored by some of the most expert shipowners of the time, such as Christina Onassis, who ordered her to celebrate the baptism of her daughter.

The founder of Azimut Yachts, Paolo Vitelli, acquires Benetti. An event that marks the beginning of a new era for the prestigious Italian shipyard. Azimut | Benetti Group will become the first and largest private group of yachts and megayachts in the world.

Azimut participates in the transatlantic crossing with the Atlantic Challenger; yacht designed in collaboration with Pininfarina. Cesare Fiorio is the brilliant skipper and Winthrop Rockefeller one of the passengers on board.

Benetti introduces the Classic, Vision and Tradition lines, the first luxury pocket yachts. More than 100 units sold.

Benetti promotes the avant-garde in the yachting industry with M/Y REVERIE 70M. The Shipyard confirms its leadership among shipbuilders capable of executing very complex orders.

Azimut introduces Magellano 74, the first crossover yacht ever built.

For the first time in history, a yacht drops anchor in Times Square. A truly unexpected show, Azimut S6 becomes the absolute protagonist of the New York design festival 2019.

Benetti presents Oasis Deck™. An unprecedented concept of yacht design, developed by the shipyard with the British studio RWD. A huge success and an iconic element developed in the future on models such as the Oasis 34M and the B.Now Family.

The mission

For over 50 years, passion, quality and attention to detail have been the values that distinguish the Azimut|Benetti Group brands. From production to service, through hospitality. Every day, these values are shared with customers, suppliers, employees and collaborators. Only in this way is the quest for excellence and uniqueness possible. The continuous investments in the human factor, technology and research, together with the development of an ethical, social and environmental responsibility distinguish Azimut|Benetti in the international panorama. And they make it the undisputed protagonist of boating, Italian enterprise and global change.

“Looking back, no one can say that we have ever been conservative, which is a cause for great pride and satisfaction. We will continue to look beyond”.

(paolo e giovanna vitelli).

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Dillon1018 Member

Does anybody have pics of the exterior and interior of Kingdom 5KR preferably when she was Nabila. I think that she looked much better before both refits…..The first being as Trump Princess and the Second being Kingdom 5KR. Thanks !!!!!!

pierberio New Member

try to type "Nabila yacht interior"...................... I don't know if I can quote the website. in my computer is the third image, click and open the page. It's Nabila. (I have a pair of magazines of the period with the same photos. Good vision.

Ocean Member

Initially she had colour-scheme of grey hull and white superstructures. Was names after the owner's (Adnan Kashoggy) daughter. If you are interested can send her photo to you as well, but so far send you the Yacht photo in her initial view.

Attached Files:

ychtcptn Senior Member

This would be good to add to the Trump Princess thread but it is locked. Interesting article with pictures and floor plans. https://books.google.vg/books?id=tO...sc=y#v=onepage&q=trump princess yacht&f=false

Titch New Member

When she was Nabila, the (Filipino) crew would every morning emerge with a sheep, walk it to the front of the boat, tie it to a designated post, and slit its throat, leaving it to bleed away for Kosher needs. .......Later dutifully returning to hose down the blood. It's not a pleasant ritual to witness. Not in Monte Carlo. Kashoggi owned the boat at the time and stayed on board with his then young son.

Fishtigua Senior Member

When I was a young man, I used to be the marine superintedent of the Mill Reef Club, a very, very exclusive residential complex in Antigua. They owned the land, golf club, marina and of cause a private island, Green Island. The Trump Princess dropped anchor right in the middle of the tiny bay, pushing out the smaller sail boats anchored there. They ran tenders hither and thither, jetskis and waterskis everywhere. Generally being a PITA. Both Mrs. Mellon and Mrs. Macy phoned me and asked if I could move them away for spoiling it for everybody? I gladly accepted the challenge. The young Lady Astor, always game for a laugh, joined me as crew on the Boston Whaler to go and tell Trump to, in her words, "P*ss off". There, on the aftdeck, was Ivana swanning around in her ridiculous leopard print swimsuit and cape, wearing huge sunglasses and the brightest red lipstick. As I pulled-up to the portside gangway I was met by the 1st Mate, Ian Insull, an old mate of mine. I said in a loud voice "May I speak to the Captain, please"? I got a thumbs-up from Ian and he went off to get the skipper. Now the skipper was an old family friend, John Bardon, who used to borrow my Dad''s old wooden sloop to go sailing, to restore his sanity away from superyachts. John came to the bottom of the ladder and said "They've been a bloody nightmare this week, Dave. I told him we shouldn't anchor here but he insisted. I'll see what I can do to move". With that, he went and told Donald that they had to move. Half an hour later, they upped anchor and left the bay. The club members were pretty impressed with what I'd achieved, I didn't tell them I knew the crew, and had a jolly nice dinner or two from it. Yes, I'm very proud to say it. That was the day I told Donald Trump to P*SS OFF and he did.

Hahaha thank you for sharing such a fun story. ! Very well dealt with too. I guess that would be construed as a quality problem

captholli Senior Member

Titch said: ↑ When she was Nabila, the (Filipino) crew would every morning emerge with a sheep, walk it to the front of the boat, tie it to a designated post, and slit its throat, leaving it to bleed away for Kosher needs. .......Later dutifully returning to hose down the blood. It's not a pleasant ritual to witness. Not in Monte Carlo. Kashoggi owned the boat at the time and stayed on board with his then young son. Click to expand...

Chuckybas Member

Fish! This is a great story! Definitely a feather in your cap. Does it rank in your top 5 best moments in the industry? Best moment or maybe best story? I'd be really pleased if it was me.

Chuckybas said: ↑ Fish! This is a great story! Definitely a feather in your cap. Does it rank in your top 5 best moments in the industry? Best moment or maybe best story? I'd be really pleased if it was me. Click to expand...

Fishtigua said: ↑ Chuck, he was a vile man even before his GOP run. The vileness is now shining through for everyone to see. Nope, he barely makes my top 10. He doesn't even own his own country yet. Click to expand...

RER Senior Member

Chuckybas said: ↑ While I am not against picking on him AT ALL, I would imagine a lot of personalities in that income level are full of ego and demands when they are on (very high profile) vacations. The stories you could tell... Click to expand...

nmna Senior Member

Mr. Khashoggi has passed away, aged 81.

nmna said: ↑ Mr. Khashoggi has passed away, aged 81. Click to expand...

DBowman78 Senior Member

Gage Rowden Active Member

A lot of history behind this yacht. Unfortunately doesn't do a lot of traveling anymore. Hardly any.

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AJ: On Board the 50 Metre Benetti Superyacht

Two superyachting dynasties, Benetti and Bannenberg, staged a long-overdue reunion to mark the arrival of AJ.  

When Benetti launched a family of 50-metre yachts built with a fibreglass hull and aluminium superstructure, the builder’s goal was to offer owners the utmost flexibility in terms of design and layout in a compressed delivery time. AJ and its “Dolce Vita with a contemporary twist” interior by Bannenberg & Rowell exemplifies this goal – and continues an illustrious design partnership.

Like Vica and Zazou , her predecessors in Benetti’s FB800 series, AJ features an exterior by Benetti with forward thrusting lines that mask the verticality of multiple floor-to-ceiling windows. They also share the same pre-engineered platform.

Ferdinando Pilli, Benetti’s custom engineering manager, explains why the Italian shipyard is moving its production in the 40-metre-plus range towards pre-engineered platforms. “Using a platform brings advantages both to the shipyard and the owners,” he says. “We work within tried and true parameters and the owners don’t have to wait for prototyping.” Add that Benetti has begun the yachts in this series on spec and you get some serious acceleration on build time too.

However, despite the strong Benetti family resemblance between the three, these are no cookie-cutter yachts. “Our FB800 series is designed to stay just under 500GT [and] as long as owners don’t add enclosed spaces that increase volume or move structural bulkheads, they’re free to design the interiors as they please,” Pilli says.

In the case of AJ , it was Bannenberg & Rowell who decided how to play with the interior spaces. Benetti called in the design studio when it started the yacht on spec, writing another chapter in the Bannenberg family’s long history with the Italian builder.

“My father Jon designed the Benetti yachts Nabila and Multiple ,” Dickie Bannenberg says. “ Nabila was launched in 1980 and Multiple in 2002, just before my father died. I’d be surprised if anyone could find a design firm that goes back as far as us and Benetti do. Viareggio was a sort of spiritual home for my father; he rented a house there for years, he was doing so much work in the area. He loved checking in at the shipyard and he loved exploring the backstreet restaurants. So it feels great to be able to continue that relationship; it means a lot to me.”

On this project, Bannenberg & Rowell had few constraints. “We do appreciate the trust placed in us by Benetti with this project,” Bannenberg says. “By and large, we were given complete freedom to come up with an interior theme, but the design still had to be commercially viable and appeal to a wide customer base. We have quite a lot of experience with this kind of build, so I like to think that we’re aware of the commercial sweet spots and know how to build a marketable interior, something that appeals but isn’t bland and has character. We know the sensitivities.”

The first space that welcomes guests boarding the yacht from the passerelle is a spacious aft deck furnished with deep sofas and a large L-shaped bar in teak, burnished brass and stone. This informal space establishes a convivial tone that continues in the main deck saloon, where many of the same materials are repeated for continuity. “We can’t design to hose money around but at the same time anyone who is buying a boat from a shipyard like Benetti is expecting something bespoke and special,” Bannenberg says. “So you have to tread that line: careful of materials while keeping a good sense of luxury.”

While the owner of the first yacht in this series, Vica , opted for outdoor dining space on the main deck, furnishing the saloon with sofas and a grand piano, Bannenberg & Rowell chose a more traditional layout with living and dining spaces indoors. The London studio set a light base tone by panelling the walls with brushed spruce and using cream carpeting and bleached oak on the floors. While the tonality is neutral, the surfaces have texture that keeps them visually engaging: the spruce, for example, has been specially treated to bring out its rich grain.

Bannenberg describes the interior as “Dolce Vita with a contemporary twist. We used a clean and consistent palette with not too many changes in materials but some quite strong themes.” For example, bold textured rings are inlaid on the walnut doors throughout the yacht. “Devices like the rings give personality and make the space memorable,” Bannenberg says.

Bannenberg & Rowell likes to mix shapes, materials and finishes in unexpected combinations, a design philosophy that expresses itself in the yacht’s lobby. The staircase spirals like the centre of a seashell through the three levels of the yacht, its circular motion contrasted by angular V shapes in the balustrade. The rounded back wall is lined in natural grass matting accented with ultra-smooth machine-polished stainless-steel hoops. “Benetti does great stainless-steel work, so we didn’t want to pass up on that, and the matting adds an element of texture,” Bannenberg says. Stair treads are thickly carpeted while the handrail is covered in a cushion of tobacco-toned leather, making this a space you want to linger in.

After passing through the owner’s study, the first thing to catch the eye on entering the master cabin is its fixed balcony. Floor-to-ceiling sliding-glass doors open on to this private nook that is a perfect spot for breakfast, reading or a cocktail or two. With this addition to its other spaces, the owner’s suite is really like a yacht within a yacht, a perfect area that offers everything you want from a holiday on the water, including refuge.

Furnishings in the owner’s suite pick up a mid-century vibe. The extra-large bed in tufted leather and bleached oak seems to float in the centre of the suite, while custom furnishings in spruce with contrasting walnut bands have a retro feel.

AJ has asymmetrical his-and-hers dressing rooms and a full-beam bathroom with separate heads. “This is one of the areas where the various FB800 owners have all opted for different layouts,” says Pilli. “One owner wanted separate bathrooms and a single closet space; another wanted symmetrical dressing rooms and a single bathroom.” AJ bathroom has a large, central tub faced in travertine and backed by a panel of mosaic that shimmers like a pearlescent seashell. A shower ensures that all bathing options are covered.

In addition to the two VIP and two twin cabins on the lower deck, AJ has an additional guest cabin on the upper deck. “Here too owners have opted for different solutions: some have used this space as a den with a dayhead, others have gone for the added cabin,” says Pilli. All cabins have luxurious furnishings in leather and neutrally toned fabrics while the yacht’s ring motif is picked out on the doors and etched into the Eramosa stone floors in the bathrooms.

The upper deck reveals the FB800 series’ emphasis on the great outdoors. The curved glass doors that lead from the upper saloon to the aft deck open wide so that movement between the two spaces flows. Outdoor areas, including symmetrical conversation corners and a dining table for 14 shaded by the overhang, complement the indoor living space with a television, games table and bar. The wide open and spacious foredeck has a large sofa, armchairs and extra-wide loungers for enjoying the sun.

With its two spa pools, the 135-square-metre sundeck could more accurately be called a splash deck. “We had originally planned a single round pool aft, but when the owners wanted two, a rectangular one with glass sides for the children and a round one with spa jets for the adults, we were happy to accommodate them,” says Pilli. A dumb waiter serves the bar and dining area under the hardtop, making this a perfect all-day space.

Access to the water or a tender is an easy run down two curved staircases from the main deck. The transom area is another place where various owners have adapted the FB800 platform to their needs: one owner decided to forgo a beach club so that he could have two large tenders, while one went for a classic beach club plus bathing platform layout. AJ's owner dedicated a slice of his beach club to a glass-sided sauna. The logistics of this sweating-in-plain-sight set-up make ending a sauna session with a cooling dip fast and convenient.

While Bannenberg is pleased with AJ , he is already looking forward to the next chapter in the Benetti/Bannenberg collaboration. “I hope to be coming down to Livorno soon to see Metis , the 63-metre Benetti we recently did for a German owner. There we did some fun things in custom stainless and carbon fibre.” To be continued…

Benetti and Bannenberg

Nabila , the legendary 86-metre yacht commissioned by the Saudi businessman Adnan Khashoggi and designed by Jon Bannenberg, began the Benetti/Bannenberg collaboration.

Launched in 1980, Nabila had some unusual features such as a secret passageway and 296 telephones, but it’s her outward pointing funnels, designed so that they wouldn’t interfere with helicopters ferrying guests in and out, that really characterise her look. She has played the role of Flying Saucer, the evil Maximilian Largo’s headquarters at sea in the James Bond movie Never Say Never Again and inspired Queen’s 1989 song Khashoggi’s Ship .

She has had a few men in her life. After Khashoggi, Nabila was owned by the Sultan of Brunei and then by Donald Trump (pictured top left), who renamed her Trump Princess . Nabila’s current owner, another Saudi, named her Kingdom 5KR .

While the Fratelli Benetti shipyard closed its doors following the challenging build, Paolo Vitelli, the subsequent owner of the rebranded Benetti, kept ties with Bannenberg. Multiple, a 50-metre yacht and the second Jon Bannenberg design for Benetti, was launched in 2002, shortly after the “man who could design anything” died. Featuring multiple round portholes, the yacht is still plying the waters with elegance and grace today.

After his father’s death in 2002, Dickie Bannenberg rebranded his studio Bannenberg & Rowell and continued working with Benetti, designing the interior of 44.2-metre Lady Sheila , 56-metre FB261 and RJ . The latest Benetti/Bannenberg collaboration, the new 63-metre Metis , was also recently delivered.

All photography Giovanni Malgarini

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Russia’s Navalny defends himself in new trial that could keep him locked up for decades

Jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny appeared before a Russian court on Monday to defend himself against new charges of extremism that could extend his prison term by decades.

The hearing took place at the IK-6 penal colony in Melekhovo, about 145 miles east of Moscow, where Navalny is already serving sentences totaling 11.5 years .

His supporters accuse Moscow of trying to break him to silence his criticism of President Vladimir Putin , something the Kremlin denies.

Journalists were not admitted to the courtroom but were able to watch a video link from a room nearby, with barely intelligible audio.

Navalny, looking thin with cropped hair and dressed in a black prison uniform, could be seen seated at a desk, leafing through papers and conferring with one of his lawyers.

He then stood and spoke for three minutes, contesting the authority of the Moscow city court judge to try him in a penal colony far from the capital.

“Taking into account the current circumstances, and criminal law, you should withdraw,” he said.

He also demanded that his parents be allowed inside the hearing, saying they had come to Melekhovo believing it would be an open session.

Soon afterward, the court adjourned for a break.

Asked for comment on the case, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “We are not following this trial.”

An entry in the court record last month showed the new charges relate to six different articles of the criminal code, including inciting and financing extremist activity and creating an extremist organization.

Russia has outlawed Navalny’s campaign organization as part of a crackdown on dissent that started well before the conflict in Ukraine and has intensified in the nearly 16 months since it started. Last week one of his regional campaign leaders was jailed for 7.5 years.

In a tweet posted on his account by his supporters last month, Navalny responded with typical irony to the new charges.

“Well, Alexei, you’re in some real trouble now ... The Prosecutor General’s Office has officially provided me with 3,828 pages describing all the crimes I’ve committed while already imprisoned.”

He said he had not been allowed to read the material to find out what exactly he was accused of because he was once again in solitary confinement and allowed only a mug and one book.

Navalny, 47, earned admiration from the disparate opposition for voluntarily returning to Russia in 2021 from Germany, where he had been treated for what Western laboratory tests showed was an attempt to poison him with a Soviet-era nerve agent .

The Kremlin denied trying to kill him and said there was no evidence he had been poisoned with such a toxin.

It was not immediately clear which specific actions or incidents the new charges referred to.

One relates to “rehabilitation of Nazism” — a possible reference to Navalny’s declarations of support for Ukraine, whose government Russia accuses of embodying Nazi ideology. Ukraine and its Western allies dismiss that charge as baseless.

In April, investigators formally linked Navalny supporters to the murder of Vladlen Tatarsky , a popular military blogger and supporter of Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine who was killed by a bomb in St Petersburg.

Russia’s National Anti-terrorism Committee (NAC) said Ukrainian intelligence had organized the bombing with help from Navalny’s supporters.

This appeared to be a reference to the fact that a suspect arrested over the killing once registered to take part in an anti-Kremlin voting scheme promoted by Navalny’s movement.

Navalny allies denied any connection to the killing. Ukraine attributed it to "domestic terrorism."

'I am not afraid': Yulia Navalnaya, 'first lady' of the Russian opposition movement, emerges as a force to be reckoned with

"If we keep silent, [the government] will come after any of us tomorrow," Yulia Navalnaya, the wife of the Russian opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, wrote on Instagram last month. It was the beginning of a day of mass protests across Russia, where tens of thousands would take to the streets to demand the release of her husband. Police would detain over 5,000 people and arrest 1,600 by the day's end.

In the largest show of dissent in Russia for years, Navalnaya, 44, would find herself among the thousands arrested since protests began on Jan. 23. "Sorry for the poor quality. Very poor lighting in the police van," she humorously captioned a selfie in police custody.

Her role as the wife of Vladimir Putin's top critic has earned her the title "first lady" of the opposition by supporters. But Navalnaya has emerged as a force in Russia in her own right. Now, as her husband faces over two years in prison, many are wondering if she might step into the leadership role left empty by his absence, potentially heading the opposition movement herself.

"While Navalny remains in prison, there will be a lot of pressure now on Yulia Navalnaya to play a great public role as a leader of the opposition," former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul told NBC News’ Know Your Value. "She has all the credentials. She is smart, charismatic, principled and fearless." Whether or not she wants to step into that role, McFaul explained, is another question.

The couple met 23 years ago on a beach in Turkey, taking residence in Moscow. While her husband rose to prominence as an anti-corruption blogger, Navalnaya, an economist, opted for a relatively private life, making few public appearances and speeches at Navalny's protests and campaign events over the years. But after her husband's apparent poisoning by his own government in August, she swiftly stepped to the forefront to pressure the very man she and Western leaders believe to be responsible: Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Holding press conference after press conference where Navalny lay comatose in the hospital, the image of the formidable woman with icy blonde hair and black sunglasses emerged. She warned journalists that he remained in danger in Russia and alleged he was being kept due to the Kremlin pressure. She even wrote to Putin directly to demand her husband's release from the country.

Putin "immediately gave the order" to let Navalny go, he later said after receiving Navalnaya's letter. The family then flew to Germany, where Navalny remained in recovery for five months. The Russian government has repeatedly denied responsibility for the nerve agent attack.

"Alexei Navalny could not have a better partner in life than Yulia Navalnaya. She shares his convictions, his bravery, his fearlessness," Ambassador McFaul explained. "She also has raised and protected their two children in a way that has generated deep admiration among supporters of democracy in Russia. Without question, Yulia saved her husband's life last summer."

Navalny also credited his wife for his miraculous recovery in August. "Yulia, you saved me," he wrote on Instagram , shortly after regaining consciousness at a hospital in Berlin. The couple flew back to Moscow in January, steadfast despite the extraordinary risk they faced.

She addressed a crowd of supporters last month, telling them: "I am not afraid, and I urge you all not to be afraid either."

Senior members of Navalny's anti-corruption organization, FBK, have dismissed speculation of Navalnaya assuming a more prominent leadership role. "Alexei Navalny is the leader of our movement," Ruslan Shaveddinov, a project manager for FBK, stated . "It certainly sounds nice, but we are not discussing it now," Shaveddinov explained. Navalny allies have since paused street protests in the immediate future, instead focusing on securing his release from prison.

But supporters have continued to raise the possibility of Navalnaya taking a larger role in leadership. Nadya Tolokonnikova, a member of Feminist punk rock and activist group Pussy Riot, also vocalized hopes of Navalnaya becoming president in the future.

Women are largely left out of political leadership in Russia, making up just 16 percent of the lower house of Parliament. Currently, Russia has only one female governor, Natalya Komarova, out of 85 subjects in the entire federation. In a 2020 political empowerment index report, The World Economic Forum ranks Russia 122 out of more than 150 countries.

"In Russia ... we don't see the politicians' wives at protests," Navalnaya said in a 2013 speech during her husband's run for Moscow mayor. "But politics storms into families' lives whether you like it or not."

Navalnaya's recent role as the "first lady" stands in contrast to the Soviet tradition, according to Dr. Valerie Sperling, professor of political science at Clark University and author of " Sex, Politics, and Putin: Political Legitimacy in Russia ." "You didn't see the Soviet leaders with their wives," Sperling explained.

In addition to her husband, Navalnaya herself may have been poisoned while on a family vacation last year, according to CNN . Flight records showed three Russian security operatives, the FSB, flew to Kaliningrad while the family vacationed there. She fell ill and experienced the same symptoms her husband would later describe as sudden exhaustion and disorientation as a result of his nerve agent attack. Nevertheless, she recovered, and the exact cause of her illness was never determined.

She has also been the subject of propaganda efforts by Russian state media. "The male character of Yulia Borisovna influenced the division of power within the family," NTV, a pro-government station, reported , referring to her patronymic name. "She raises the children and, like a tyrant, controls everything at home."

These are gendered tactics, Dr. Sperling explained, that make up a regime's "toolbox" to wield or destroy a politician's legitimacy. "The quickest and lowest common denominator way of undermining politicians is to say that they're not doing masculinity or femininity correctly."

"If she's a mother, she'll be told that she does motherhood incorrectly. If she's too powerful, then she'll be a tyrant and a man," Sperling said. When it comes to Navalnaya, she's been targeted because she's threatened an imbalance of power, taking on a role that's inappropriate for women.

Despite the efforts, Navalnaya has remained undeterred. She draws her strength from her life as a mother, a wife, and an ordinary citizen. "You write that I'm strong. I'm not strong, I'm normal," she addressed over a million supporters on Instagram . She went on: "There is no reason to retreat and to be afraid. We will still win."