MAN OF MYSTERY

Southland Times, Issue 19357, 24 September 1924, Page 5

MAN OF MYSTERY

SIR BASIL ZAHAROFF MARRIED WEDS WIDOW OF SPANISH GRANDEE EUROPE’S RICHEST MAN. (By Telegraph—Press Assn.—Copyright.) (Australian and N.Z. Cable Association.) PARIS, September 23. (Received September 23, 11 p.m.) Sir Basil Zaharoff, the mystery millionaire bachelor, unexpectedly married the Duchess Valla Franca, whose husband, a Spanish Grandee, died in November. The marriage was a most secret affair, being held in the private chapel of the Chateau Balincour. Sir Basil Zaharoff has the reputation of being the richest man in Europe. UNCROWNED CALIPH. RICH BEYOND ALL DREAMS. The imagination of people has been stirred by stories of Sir Basil Zaharoff, described by the Press as “Europe’s man of mystery, the modern Haroun-al-Raschid,” and said to be rich beyond the dreams of Ali Baba. Financier, diplomatist, the power behind thrones, Zaharoff had never been photographed until he recently arrived in London, a remarkable fact in itself, for there is probably no personality to-day about which there has been so much romantic and colourful conjecture. MAN OF MAGIC MILLIONS.

Sir Basil Zaharoff, cosmopolitan, of Paris, Athens, Madrid, and Monte Carlo, the man of magic millions, is the uncrowned caliph of to-day. He knows all the capitals of the world more intimately than most of those who dwell in them, but how he has acquired the knowledge, is a secret he shares with no one. His life makes an intriguing story. He is financing bankrupt nations one day, influencing Governments the next, his fingers always on the threads' of the world’s affairs. iSr Basil Zaharoff is a hard man of business, but a princely giver, a man with untold wealth to satisfy his every wish. He owns all sorts of property, from theatres to half Monte Carle, he controls an army of banks and armament firms. Everything he touches turns to money. His Paris residence in the Avenue Hochfi is a wonder palace. Those who have dined there speak of the dinner service of beaten gold, the soup spoons of which are inlaid with rare bluestones imported from Canada. A HOME IN EVERY COUNTRY. It is said of Sir Basil Zaharoff that he has a home in every country, but in Monte Carlo it is that he entertains on a scale Oriental in its lavishness. Here the most sumptuous dinners, the most rare and costly dishes are but details in a bewildering entertainment. Rumour has put his fortune at £20,000,000, but it is probably larger than that. He gave £500,000 a year to the Greek Government during the Balkan wars, Athens received £lOO,OOO for a radio-tele-graph station. For the training of French athletes he gave £20,000, to a Chair of Aeronautics in the Paris Sorbonne £28,000, and a like amount to the University of Petrograd. There was a gift of £25,000 to Londofi University, and another of the same amount to Oxford. And these are only a few of his gifts. THE SINISTER SIDE. In spite of his philanthropy, however, there are those who suggest that his influence upon the affairs of nations is a sinister one. “The voice behind the throne, or, to be accurate,” said Colonel the Hon. Walter Guinness, in the House of Commons not long ago, “the voice behind the presidential chair, is probably Sir Basil Zaharoff’s.” The man of whom this was said is Greek by his mother, Russian by his father, French by nationality, and English by education.