According to reports in the British and Greek Press today, Skorpios, the magnificent private island getaway in the Ionian Sea made famous by Greek Tycoon, Aristotle Onassis, has been put up for sale by the sole heir to his legend and legacy, Athena Onassis.
Skorpios, the island of legendary international jet set glamour, the island where Onassis stunned the world and especially Maria Callas, on October 30, 1968 when he married President John F Kennedy's widow, Jacqueline Kennedy, is also Onassis' final resting place along with that of his children, Alexander and Athena's mother, Christina.
Among those who have written about the rumored sale is writer Alexis Mantheakis, former press spokesman, adviser and friend to Athena's family. He writes in his Greek Political Issues blog that
Athina maintains Scorpios in pristine condition with an army of gardeners, servants, sailors and mechanics at a cost of around 1.5 million USD per annum, but never visits the island and is not known to have been to the family tombs there to light a candle or to say a prayer for her mother Christina, her uncle Alexander who died in a plane crash at 24, nor for her granddad who made her and Doda's present jet setting lifestyle possible.
Her mother and family rest quietly in the silence of the tiny island chapel of Panagitsa encased in milk-white Pendelian marble tombs. Only the weekly visits of a cleaning woman who comes to change the flowers in the chapel and to light a candle at each of the four tombs disturbs the serenity of the last Onassis resting site.
The cost of maintaining Scorpios, the reluctance of the heiress and her husband to visit Greece and the family island, and her past liquidation of hallmark Onassis properties and valuables indicates that it would only be a matter of time before Athina put Scorpios on the block. The Sunday Express report indicates that the time for this too may have come.
The last link of Athena (the correct spelling of her name) - Helene Roussel de Miranda Onassis to her Onassis heritage may be about to be severed. But there is always a twist in the Onassis legend. Athina is only 24 years old, very early in the game for anyone to predict the future of any of the Onassis women who historically have proved to be notoriously unpredictable. Time will tell, but Scorpios or no Scorpios, the last surviving descendant of the fabled dynasty may prove everybody wrong in the end. (To read entire article - click here)
We don't know if the rumours are true, as there have been many similar ones before, including one reported by the Daily Telegraph in May of 2004. We hope that it is not true and that Athena does not want to sever every bond that ties her to the Onassis legacy. We would like to think that she would be proud of her family and the legacy her grandfather and mother left.
However, it is her inheritance and if she feels that she will gain real happiness by getting rid of the Onassis Legacy Baggage as it were, and which she may consider as an oppressive burden, then who are we to stop her?
The legacy is hers and she can dispose of it as she wants. Athena has had enough tragedy in her young life. We in the Global Greek World can only wish her luck and happiness and hope that she can get on with her life in the way she wants to live it, far from the eyes of a voracious world press.
If the rumours do prove to be true this time, may we respectfully suggest to the Board of the Onassis Foundation that, the right thing to do would be to buy the island in order to set it up as an Onassis Family Memorial Museum, thus ensuring it's existence as an ongoing and living tribute to it's founder, Aristotle Onassis, the man to whom the Onassis Foundation owes it's very existence.
Statue of Aristotle Onassis at Nidri Port, Lefkada
To read the Daily Express Story Click Here
To read about Onassis on Wikipedia Click here
To read about the Alexander Onassis Public Benefit Foundation Click here
However, it is her inheritance and if she feels that she will gain real happiness by getting rid of the Onassis Legacy Baggage as it were, and which she may consider as an oppressive burden, then who are we to stop her?
The legacy is hers and she can dispose of it as she wants. Athena has had enough tragedy in her young life. We in the Global Greek World can only wish her luck and happiness and hope that she can get on with her life in the way she wants to live it, far from the eyes of a voracious world press.
Statue of Aristotle Onassis at Nidri Port, LefkadaTo read the Daily Express Story Click Here
To read about Onassis on Wikipedia Click here
To read about the Alexander Onassis Public Benefit Foundation Click here
no matter how much she may choose to ignore the greek influence in her life, she cannot deny it
ReplyDeleteAgreed, but she has not grown up with any Greek influence in fact.
ReplyDeleteHer Mum died when she was 3 and she grew up in a house where mostly Swedish French and English were spoken. No attempt was made as she was growing up to teach her Greek, which was against her Mum's wishes from what we have heard but we don't know all the facts.
Any Greek influence is only in the genes and what she feels. If she doesn't feel 'Greek' then no one can force her to feel something so intrinsic and basic to 'being' Greek. It just doesn't work...
Hopefully it will come to her later in life as she searches for roots, or when she has her own children ...
So far there is no confirmation that the island is for sale - it would be a pity if this last link with her grandfather is severed but then again Athina owns it and it is up to her, and her alone, to decide what to do with her property, a property for which for which she has paid more than 50million USD in taxes and upkeep.
ReplyDeleteAlexis Mantheakis