After seeing designs for what was known as ‘the most beautiful yacht in the world’ in 1993, the then billionaire and the 45th President of the United States set his heart on buying her. Donald Trump wanted four decks, several lounges, a helicopter landing pad, a gallery filled with majestic palm trees and of course at least one swimming pool. He also requested that the yacht would be 420 feet long which would make her the largest yacht in the world at the time. He placed his order at Oliver Design, a Spanish ship designing company and decided to call her ‘Trump Princess’.
(Oliver Design/Fortune.com)
Not the First Princess
The majestic yacht designed in 1993 by Oliver Design was not the first Trump Princess owned by Donald Trump. The billionaire had already bought his first ‘Trump Princess’ from the Sultan of Brunei in the 1980s. The second larger ‘Trump Princess’ was commissioned from the Dutch shipyard Amels. In 1991 Trump’s Taj Mahal casino faltered and he was forced to sell the first ‘Trump Princess’ to Prince Al-Waleed from Saudi Arabia. The New York Times reported that the yacht was one of Trump’s assets that were seized by the banks as part of a debt restructuring program. That same year Trump also had to sell nearly half of the Plaza Hotel which resulted in the book value of his holdings to be reduced by as much as US$700 million. This was only the start of Trump’s financial downward spiral and the idea of having the most beautiful yacht in the world built had to be abandoned, despite Trump already forking out US$170,000 to Oliver Design to flesh out the design.
(Oliver Design/Fortune.com)
Over Two Decades Later
Years later the designs are still with Jaime and Inigo Oliver, and the boat builders still visit the billionaire from time to time – they were even invited to attend a family baptism. Is it too late for the President of the United States to have this dream yacht built? Even though he can probably afford it now, the Trump Princess would be dwarfed by the current superyachts sailing the oceans, and would certainly not be good enough for the man who not only rebuilt his empire after several bankruptcies, but also managed to become the President of the US.