Three Rockefellers, Henry Kissinger and Elizabeth Taylor joined other rich and famous travelers on the road to Morocco Friday, heading for the "party of the decade."
Publishing magnate Malcolm Forbes chartered three planes to fly more than 500 of his powerful friends to the Mediterranean port of Tangier for his 70th birthday party.Forbes, chairman and editor-in-chief of the business magazine Forbes, held a champagne breakfast at New York's Kennedy airport before the three planes he chartered - a Concorde, a 747 and a DC-8 - took off for North Africa.
The combined wealth of his guests - who include the big names of U.S. banking and industry, politics, and media - is estimated conservatively at $40 billion.
Others included former Secretary of State Kissinger, New York developer Donald Trump, socialite Betsy Bloomingdale, fashion designer Calvin Klein, and Katharine Graham, chairman of the Washington Post.
But two people who would not be sharing the good life in Morocco were Ronald and Nancy Reagan, who had earlier been reported as being on the guest list. A spokesman for the couple in Los Angeles said the former president and his wife would not be attending the Forbes party.
Forbes was joined on his private plane, "The Capitalist Tool," by his frequent companion Elizabeth Taylor. Rumors of a marriage announcement have been denied. "We like each others' company too much," Forbes was recently quoted as saying.
A multi-millionaire, some say billionaire, "Ali Dada" Forbes chose to celebrate with a bash in the grounds of a palace he owns in Tangier, where wealth amid poverty is considered a blessing, not a sin.
The charter of the planes alone is expected to run to at least another $1 million. Add the cost of very tight security, caterers' fees, gardeners and waiters, and it is clear Forbes will not have much change from $3 million.