The gold-plated pleasure palace where Trump holds court

Built by a cereal heiress in the Jazz Age, and bought by Donald Trump at a knockdown price, Mar-a-lago is now a gaudy, glittering members’ club where plutocrats and world leaders go to kiss the president’s ring. Tom Leonard reports

The tsars had their Winter Palace in St Petersburg, while Louis XIV had Versailles. Donald Trump has Mar-a-lago. Valued at $200m (£160m) and set in 20 acres on the billionaires’ playground of Palm Beach in Florida, it has a 20,000 sq ft ballroom, the walls inlaid with $7m (£5.6m) worth of gold leaf. There are gold-plated basins in the Ladies, and a library panelled with ancient English oak, its rare books as untouched as the day they were put there.

The Jazz Age château was built by an heiress who left it to the nation as a winter getaway for US presidents. Instead, they opted for the far more basic Camp David, a rural retreat outside Washington DC that Winston Churchill witheringly described as “a log cabin with all modern improvements”. But then Mar-a-lago was bought by Mr Trump… and the rest was somewhat inevitable.

The US president has dubbed this pleasure palace – part Trump family home, part jaw-droppingly expensive private members’ club – the “Winter White House”. Since then – in what may be a hint that he intends to come here all year round – Trump officials have started calling it the “Southern White House”. It has become the de facto Court of The Donald, the place where he flies in most weekends to mix business with pleasure in a manner that is causing alarm among those who see serious conflicts of interest in the arrangement.

After some of Mar-a-lago’s nearly 500 plutocratic members posted social media pictures of themselves rubbing shoulders with the president and his entourage, questions are being asked. Are backscratching deals being made there out of sight of voters? The club doubled its joining fee to $200,000 (£160,100) as soon as Trump became president, and the White House’s insistence that no one is trying to profit from anyone else has provoked hollow laughter.

Palm Beach is all about money. Its manicured landscape of luxury apartment blocks and mansions reputedly contains more millionaires than palm trees, and boasts one of the highest concentrations of wealth in the world. The lives of the immensely rich old men and their much younger wives who live there revolve around charity lunches and balls, as well as see-and-be-seen trips to the handful of ridiculously expensive,

members-only social clubs, such as the Everglades, the Bath and Tennis Club and Mar-a-lago.

In his memoirs, Mr Trump says Mar-a-lago is “as close to paradise as I’m going to get”. What he doesn’t say is that his journey to becoming the “King of Palm Beach” has been far from easy. The Wasp (White Anglo-saxon Protestant) elite of Palm Beach prides itself on being Old Money, and looked down its nose at the brash property developer from the moment he bought Mar-aLago, employing his characteristically ruthless business tactics to do so.

The 110,000 sq ft Mediterranean-themed mansion was built in the 1920s by Marjorie Merriweather Post, heiress to a breakfast cereal empire, at a cost in today’s money of nearly $94m (£75m). She lavished vast sums on the estate (the name of which is Spanish for “Sea-to-lake”), bringing in a famous Viennese theatre designer, stone from Genoa, 36,000 antique Spanish tiles, and 16th century Flemish tapestries. Workers used up America’s entire stock of gold leaf to gild the main living room, with its 42ft-high ceiling. There are 128 rooms, including 58 bedrooms and 33 bathrooms, a ballroom, theatre and golf course.

Ms Post left the property to the US government on her death, in 1973, but, costing $1m a year to maintain, it was later handed back to her daughters. The smell of mildew and neglect was hanging over the estate by the time Mr Trump and his first wife, Ivana, bought it in 1985 for a knockdown $8m (with furnishings). He got it cheap after claiming (incorrectly) that he had bought a neighbouring beachfront property, on which he threatened to build an eyesore house that would block Mar-a-lago’s ocean view. “That drove everybody nuts,” he boasted later. “They couldn’t sell the big house because I owned the beach, and so the price kept going down and down.”

Palm Beach’s snootiest “Old Money” club, the Bath and Tennis, reportedly refused to offer the Trumps membership, a slight that some believe fuelled his decision, when strapped for cash in 1995, to turn Mar-a-lago into a club of his own. Mr Trump made a point of inviting Jews, blacks and gay couples as members – all of them unwelcome at some older clubs. He

“Workers used up America’s entire stock of gold leaf to gild the main living room, with its 42ft-high ceiling”

claimed stars such as Steven Spielberg, Elizabeth Taylor and Diana, Princess of Wales had joined, but later admitted he had offered them free membership (which almost none took up).

Instead, beauty pageant contestants and rock stars flocked there, horrifying well-heeled locals with their endless late-night parties and concerts by performers including Céline Dion, Billy Joel and Diana Ross. The clash between old and new Palm Beach reached a nadir in 1998, when actress Jennifer Lopez and her then lover, rapper Sean Combs, alias Puff Daddy, stayed at Mar-a-lago and were reportedly spotted having sex in a beach chair – in full view of lunchtime diners at the Bath and Tennis Club.

There have been even seamier scandals surrounding Mar-aLago. Jeffrey Epstein, the billionaire, convicted paedophile and friend of Prince Andrew, was a regular visitor. Virginia Roberts, who alleged in court papers that she was encouraged to sleep with Andrew by Epstein – claims strenuously denied by the Prince, and which were later struck out by a judge – worked there as a changing room assistant, aged 15.

Trump has inevitably put his mark on Mar-a-lago, making it bigger, grander and much, much golder. The vast “Donald J. Trump Dining Room” was unveiled in 2005 and, dripping in vast chandeliers, was the setting for his wedding to Melania 13 years after his divorce from Ivana. In the years between, he had also married and divorced second wife Marla Maples. Trump has also introduced such tasteful touches as a large painting of himself dressed in tennis whites and looking ridiculously handsome and athletic: the portrait, in the imposing library – now a bar – is modestly titled The Visionary.

Over the years, Trump has fought a string of legal battles with the town’s authorities, including one in which he unsuccessfully fought their demand that he shorten the club’s 80ft flagpole. Last year, he sued the council for what he called “deliberate and malicious” moves to direct flights from the local airport over Mar-a-lago. Now that he’s president, he can fly a flag as high as he likes, while the sky above is a no-fly zone when he’s in residence. As for his diehard opponents, even they are reportedly admitting defeat. “Everyone is lining up to kiss the ring,” said a local. “The fact is that he is the most important man in the world.”

When Trump recently took the Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe, for a round of golf on his Palm Beach course, the White House press corps – who follow the president everywhere – weren’t allowed to watch. But Mar-a-lago guests got front-row seats when, later that weekend, the two leaders learned that North Korea had fired a ballistic missile into the sea off Japan. The pair were dining on the resort’s patio when the news broke. Guests snapped photos, later posted on social media, of worried US and Japanese officials huddled over laptops as they coordinated their response. As Mr Trump sat with a phone stuck to his ear, nearby diners could reportedly hear policy decisions being discussed. “Wow… the centre of the action!!!” commented a club member who posted photos on Facebook.

Washington politicians were indignant. “There’s no excuse for letting an international crisis play out in front of a bunch of country club members like dinner theatre,” complained Nancy Pelosi, the Democrat leader in the House of Representatives.

There were also security jitters when a guest posted a Facebook photo of himself with a smiling man in uniform, who was holding a briefcase. “This is Rick… he carries the ‘football’,” said the guest, referring to the nickname for the emergency briefcase containing access codes for the president to launch a nuclear strike.

The club is a profitable business – earning Trump $15.6m (£12.5m) in 2014. Its management insists Mar-a-lago is now run by his sons, Donald Jr and Eric, but the profits go into the family pot. The management admits his presidency has seen a rise in membership applications, but says they will be vetted. Members – who must pay $14,000 (£11,200) a year, plus $2,000 (£1,600) minimum for food, on top of the joining fee – include property developers, financiers and industrialists whose businesses will be heavily affected by Trump policies.

The problem is compounded by the fact that the club doesn’t reveal its members’ identities, log visitors, or allow public access. As such, say critics, it’s an inappropriate place to conduct government business. Yet the Trump camp counters that there’s no question of guests having preferred access to the president. “It assumes the worst of us and everyone, and that is

unfair,” says Eric Trump.

The White House has said Donald Trump will not – and has not – discussed policy with Mar-a-lago members; but, embarrassingly, some have already revealed that isn’t quite true. Richard Lefrak, a New York property developer and old Trump chum, admitted the president had recently buttonholed him at Mar-a-lago about whether he wanted to build the $20bn Mexican border wall. And at least three club members are reportedly being lined up as US ambassadors. Wilbur Ross, a multibillionaire financier and reportedly also a member, is now Mr Trump’s commerce secretary. Democrats in the Senate are calling for the members’ list to be published.

Palm Beach historian Laurence Leamer insists the cynics are mistaken about the relationship between Mar-a-lago members and their all-powerful host. “These people aren’t trying to get access, or get him to pass some bill,” he told me. “They just like being with the president.” From its gaudy decor to its menu full of dishes named after the great man, the club has always been a celebration of The Donald. Long before he won the election, many guests would visit the club only when he was there. “It’s primarily a dinner and lunch club, and people pay an extraordinary amount for that,” says Leamer. “If Trump is there then they want to be there. It’s about showing you’re a member of the elite.”

As for why the president wants to be there, Leamer explains: “He needs to be applauded, particularly now when there’s so much negativity towards him.” He and Melania have received standing ovations on entering the club’s dining room. Mar-aLago is a place that “revives him”, says Leamer. “Within the confines of the club, he’s adored.”

A longer version of this article first appeared in the Daily Mail © Daily Mail.

“Jennifer Lopez and her then lover, Puff Daddy, were reportedly spotted having sex in a beach chair – in full view of lunchtime diners”