ATHENS: It was the ultimate symbol of status and celebrity for Greece’s most famous dynasty — a private island playground for the legendary shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis and the location of his wedding to Jackie Kennedy.

But soaring taxes and maintenance costs — largely as a result of the Greek economic crisis — have prompted Athina Onassis, heir to the oil tanker and business empire built by her grandfather and the sole surviving inheritor of one of the world’s biggest shipping fortunes, to sell the family’s private island, Skorpios, to the daughter of a Russian oligarch.

Ekaterina Rybolovleva, whose father has substantial shares in the Bank of Cyprus, has picked up the idyllic isle for EUR117 million and in effect cut the last remaining ties of the House of Onassis with Greece.

“This is the end of an era, the end of the Onassis myth as Greeks have known it,” said Alexis Mantheakis, author of Athina Onassis: In the Eye of the Storm. “Skorpios was the iconic symbol of the Onassis legend and family.”

Purchased by the late magnate in 1962 for 3.5m drachmas — the equivalent of $10,000 — the Ionian isle was where Onassis entertained his opera singer lover Maria Callas. It was also where he married Jackie Kennedy in 1968 and the location of lavish parties that helped give birth to the concept of celebrity.

Establishing the rich man’s trend of owning island paradises, the tycoon shipped hundreds of plants and trees to the isle, turning it from a barren outcrop into a green resort almost overnight. Sand was transported in to create his own private beach. Bill Gates, the billionaire co-founder of Microsoft, and the pop star Madonna had both sought to buy the isle in the past.

Athina Onassis, 28, an avid equestrian now based mainly in Brazil, is known to have visited the island just once, to pay her respects to her mother Christina, who died of a drugs overdose and is buried on Skorpios with her grandfather and uncle Alexandros. “The last time she was there was in November 1998 to attend her mother’s 10-year memorial,” said Mantheakis, a former adviser to her French father, Thierry Roussel. “The three of us spent the night there but after that she never went back again.”

Athina is believed to have paid around EUR35m in inheritance taxes and maintenance costs since inheriting the isle. Hefty levies slapped on real estate by the Greek government in an attempt to reduce the country’s debt are also thought to have contributed to her decision to sell.

The tycoon’s only descendant, Athina came into her wealth at the age of 18. Her fortune included hundreds of works of art, properties and companies spanning three continents.

If she wanted to, she could dip into her 217 bank accounts to pay off the debts of most third world countries and still live comfortably. Although once known as the “poor little rich girl”, the heir in recent years has also sold off a number of Greek assets. To the surprise of friends and family, she recently auctioned the entire collection of her mother’s jewellery and a plot of land on the Athenian riviera where the dynasty’s ancestral home once stood.

“In one sense she has been a true Onassis in being totally unsentimental about financial matters,” said Mantheakis. “From what I know, all her cash is still in a trust formed by her father, which may also explain why she is selling assets.” While partly attributed to the Greek crisis, Athina’s decision to distance herself from her roots may also have as much to do with the notoriously bad relations she has with officials who run the Onassis Foundation.

A charitable organisation bequeathed by the shipowner to commemorate his son Alexandros, who died in a helicopter crash, the foundation cut ties with Athina for not speaking Greek and for her poor knowledge of the country and its customs. She was raised speaking Swedish to her stepmother and French to her father Roussel, the heir to a pharmaceutical empire.

Famously reclusive, the heir has remained tight-lipped about the latest sale. But Rybolovleva, 24, whose father Dmitry owns AS Monaco football club and has a history of snapping up trophy properties, says she regards her latest prized possession, which also includes the adjacent islet of Sparti, “as a long-term financial investment”.

By arrangement with the Guardian