Colin Tennant

Colin Tennant was the extremely eccentric man who owned the Island of Mustique. He was a British Aristocrat, born in 1926 to the 2^nd Baron Glenconner.  He married Lady Anne Coke in 1956, and together they had three sons and twin daughters.  Lady Anne had served as one of Queen Elizabeth’s Coronation Maids of Honour and was a friend of the Queen’s sister, Princess Margaret.

In 1956 Colin Tennant bought the Island of Mustique for a mere 45,000 Pounds Sterling!  Just three miles long and one and a half miles wide the Island had no roads, jetties or running water, but Colin was charmed by its beauty and set about trying to make improvements.  He built a village for the Island’s inhabitants and made an effort to grow fruits and vegetables. He wanted to start a cotton plantation but it wasn’t economically feasible, and by 1968 he needed financial help.  He found some partners, and that’s what eventually led to the formation of the Mustique Company.

Meanwhile, Princess Margaret got married in 1960, and spent her honeymoon cruising around the Caribbean on the Royal Yacht Britannia.  The newlyweds stopped at Mustique to visit the Tennants, and Colin gave them a plot of land as a wedding gift. Princess Margaret loved the beauty of the Caribbean Island and decided to build a holiday home on the piece of land Colin had given her. Princess Margaret named her villa “Les Jolies Eaux”, and it quickly attracted international attention.  Suddenly the dry rock called “Mustique” was in demand as a hideaway for the rich and famous, and plots of land were sold to seriously wealthy people wanting to build villas on the Island.

I had met Colin Tennant but didn’t know him well. He was a mercurial man, charming one moment, throwing tantrums the next.  He seemed to care for the locals on the island, even built a small school, but I knew that working on Mustique wasn’t very easy.  Several Bequians worked there full-time and some of the stories I heard made me cringe, but hey, at least they were employed!  Each villa boasted maids, butlers and gardeners, and the home-owners were waited on in the comfort and style to which they were accustomed.

When Colin Tennant’s father died he inherited his Peerage title and Baronetcy along with an estate in Scotland.  He also inherited a great deal of money, and decided to throw a week-long party to celebrate his 60^th birthday.  This would be a birthday bash to beat all birthday bashes, Lord Glenconner had more to celebrate than just a birthday!  Colin chartered the newly-built Windstar, at that point the world’s largest sailing ship, and the Windstar carried his guests from his home situated between St. Lucia’s Pitons to at his Great House on Mustique.  There would be several parties (including a barbecue at Lower Bay on Bequia) but the big affair, a costume party, was to be held on Mustique.

The country’s Prime Minister, Son Mitchell, was encouraged to invite ten people from Bequia to the costume party, and Mac and I were two of them!  Of course I wanted to go but was worried about a costume, the theme was “India” and I was at a loss for ideas.  No worries, Lord Glenconner  (no longer simply Colin Tennant!) would be supplying the costumes, and in due course he sent a suitcase to the Frangipani packed with everything we would need.  I can remember standing around the suitcase with Marie Kingston and Pat Mitchell in a bedroom at the Frangi.  We opened it to discover amazing costumes, amazingly diaphanous costumes!  We would be dressing like a Sultan’s Harem for heaven’s sake, the costumes were see-through!

The Bequia contingent included Pat Mitchell, Mac and myself, Bert and Kay King, Marie Kingston and Bob and Maranne Berlinghof.  The Windstar would be stopping at Bequia, and those invited to the costume party would be going on board for the trip to Mustique.  Mac and I chose to sail over with Bob and Maranne on their yacht Apogee, we had been invited to spend the night at Gustav Dalevalle’s villa on Mustique and would therefore not be a part of the Windstar’s maiden voyage to the Grenadines.