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Prince Nicolas Petrovic Njegos and the world jet-set

By Robin Turner, in Western Mail, July 26, 2006, Cardiff, UK

See online: icWales.

COMMENT [1] BY H.R.H. PRINCE NICOLAS PETROVIC NJEGOS REGARDING TODAY’S REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT GENERAL POLICY IN MONTENEGRO AND HIS ALLEGED CONNECTIONS WITH CELEBRITIES OF SHOWBIZ:

“First of all this dismemberment of Montenegro, this sale piece by piece, without concern of the long-term interests of the country and of its inhabitants, without visions of future, despairs me. Additionally, I’m flabbergasted and amused at the same time to learn that I lead a double life and that, in same time as I have a hard life as architect in Paris, I would be in connection with celebrities of showbiz in Montenegro. I confirm that it is a big lie! If only all the article [2] was just an hoax! — Nikola Petrovic Njegos.” [3]

Catherine Zeta-Jones The cachet of Catherine Zeta-Jones and her superstar husband Michael Douglas is being sought to give a brand new image to a country with a damaged reputation. The Swansea-born Oscar winner and her “Hollywood Royalty” husband have been given the not inconsiderable task of turning formerly war-torn Montenegro into “the new Monaco”.

The Hollywood couple have admitted “we collect houses like others collect paintings” [4]. And since the couple built a new home overlooking Bracelet Bay in Limeslade, Mumbles, in 2002, average house prices in the seaside village have rocketed 79%. Their presence in Mumbles is even credited with selling a new 42-home development next door known as Mumbles Point. A spokesman for builders Bryant Homes said, “They went like hot cakes and there is no doubt being close to the home of Hollywood stars helped.”

Now, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas have been personally encouraged by the heir to the Montenegro throne, Crown Prince Nicholas, to add to their property portfolio by investing in his country. Catherine Zeta-Jones, who owns homes in Wales, New York, Los Angeles, Aspen, Bermuda, Canada and Mallorca with her husband — says, “Like people collect art, we collect homes. We love architecture. It’s like a passion.”

Prince Nicholas, (full title the hereditary Grand Master of the Dynastic Order of Danilo I and House Order of St Peter) is a Paris-educated architect and founder and president of the Cetinje Biennale of Contemporary Art, a dazzling cultural centre in Montenegro. He wants to replicate the millionaires’ paradise of Monaco following his country’s separation from Serbia. A friend said, “The Crown Prince is helping turn the area, which is full of baroque palaces and castles, into the next Monaco. As well as the Douglases, he is thought to be talking to Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich (owner of Chelsea FC) with a view to encouraging him to buy a property there too [5].”

The Catherine Zeta-Jones effect is worth millions. Her decision to build a home in Mumbles sent average prices there rocketing from £137,218 in 2002 to £247,274 in 2005. Film makers pay her an estimated £5m per movie because of her drawing power and communications firm T-Mobile and cosmetic giants Elizabeth Arden are locked into multi-million-pound advertising contracts with the “Darling Bud of Mayals”. The golf playing actress has been cited as a major reason for women taking up the male dominated sport and OK! famously paid her and Michael Douglas £1m for the picture rights to their New York Wedding.

Geoff Haden, spokesman for Tourism Swansea believes her tearful 2003 Oscar acceptance speech in which she mentioned her Swansea home dispensed with years of negative perceptions of the city as “industrial”. And research by the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufacturers and Commerce suggests Catherine Zeta-Jones and other Welsh artists help inspire people from small countries all over the globe because they “punch above their weight”.

Liisa Linnoila, who works at Finland’s Embassy in London, said Wales had triumphed when facing similar challenges to her own country. Like Wales, Finland has had to learn to cope with living next to a much larger neighbour (Russia) and has strived to create a bilingual society. She said, “You are like us Finns. I never get the impression that you are inferior to any others. On the contrary, I admire you keeping the language and producing people on a world stage like Catherine Zeta-Jones, Anthony Hopkins and Richard Burton.”

Western Mail

[1] In Le Courrier des Balkans, La jet set mondiale à l’assaut du Monténégro, December 9, 2006.

[2] Referring to the original article by Veseljko Koprivica, “Svetski i domaći džet-set osvaja Crnogorsko primorje”, published in Danas on December 5, 2006, relaying information published this summer in the British press that Prince Nicolas would be in connection with celebrities of showbiz and would support today’s real estate investment general politics in Montenegro.

[3] ORIGINAL QUOTE: “Tout d’abord ce dépeçage du Monténégro, cette vente à la découpe, sans soucis des intérets à long terme du pays et de ses habitants, sans visions d’avenir, me désespère. D’autre part je suis estomaqué et amusé à la fois d’apprendre que je mène une double vie et que, dans le même temps que je galère comme architecte à Paris, je serais en contact avec des célébrités du showbiz au Monténégro. Je confirme que c’est un gros mensonge ! Si seulement tout l’article* n’était qu’un canular ! — Nikola Petrovic Njegos.”

[4] The Douglas and Zeta-Jones property portfolio:
MALLORCA
The couple have a £5m typically Spanish villa with nine bedrooms and two swimming pools overlooking the sea in the north of the holiday island where Douglas is the unofficial “face of tourism”.
QUEBEC
A plot of land worth £1.2m on a former Franciscan monastery boasting acres of wilderness, spring-fed lakes and private islands. Plots on the undeveloped lake-side area are still available from Mont-Tremblant Real Estate Company, but Lac Desmarais — in Tremblant, Quebec — is only available to the “select few”. The site is 120 miles north of Montreal, in the Laurentian Mountains, which for the past century has built itself up to be an exclusive retreat for the rich.
ASPEN, COLORADO
The pair have an all-wood, ski-lodge style home with stunning mountain views. Their neighbours are Donald Trump and film star Kevin Costner.
NEW YORK
Douglas has for many years had a $4m apartment in Manhattan, New York. It was in the Plaza Hotel in the Big Apple that the couple married.
BERMUDA
Douglas has owned Longford House, an exclusive mansion, since 2001 and his family has long held an interest in the Ariel Sands hotel and luxury resort at Hamilton.
WALES
The couple spend time at Silverhurst, Mumbles, with Catherine’s parents Pat and Dai, whenever they visit Wales. The six-bedroom mansion, in a private gated community containing three homes, has bullet proof windows, not so much as a defence against terrorists or kidnappers, but good batsmen at the adjacent Mumbles Cricket Club.

[5] On February 27, 2007, in a written reply to the London Sunday Telegraph, Mr. John Mann, Head of Public Relations at Millhouse LLC (Moscow) — the investment and asset management company of Roman Abramovich — categorically denied Mr. Abramovich was seeking “to build a luxury tourist resort in Montenegro.”
Almost one year later, on February 29, 2008 in The Montenegro Times, Mr. Mann confirmed again his previous statement, pointing Mr. Abramovich never sought to “turn the country into a new Dubai” or to “purchase property in Montenegro”. He also denied the Russian billionaire had any contact with the law firm of leading Montenegrin lawyer Dragan Prelević, saying “neither Mr. Abramovich nor anyone representing him has ever conducted business with Dragan Prelević or Prelević’s law firm.”