Welcome to ego island: It's not just Obama. Branson's shamelessly invited legions of celebs and royals to his Caribbean idyll - and all for the greater glory of one man and his brand

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Barack Obama could have picked anywhere in the world to take his wife on that ‘very nice vacation’ he’d promised her after standing down as Leader of the Free World. 

So, one has to ask why he opted for Sir Richard Branson’s personal Caribbean paradise, Necker Island?

Of course, the certainty of blue skies, golden sand and warm seas would appeal, and the privacy such a hideaway affords. 

But Necker is a party island, beloved of the celebrity hoi polloi, from Kates Moss and Winslet to ex-Baywatch star David Hasselhoff and the odd royal, global guru or head of state who fancies a freebie.

Anyone, in fact, who doesn’t mind sharing a hot tub with the host for obligatory selfies, or being snapped joshing around with him on the beach or in the water — and then seeing those photographs shared with millions.

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Sir Richard Branson, third right, has invited a host of celebrities to his private paradise, Necker Island, in the Caribbean, including Harry Styles, left, and friends

Former US President Barack Obama was spotted enjoying watersports on vacation with wife Michelle at Necker recently

For even if you are a personal guest of Sir Richard, there is a price to be paid for a trip to Necker as the Obamas are discovering. 

The island has become a priceless PR asset for Branson and the Virgin brand, boosted even further in recent years by the shameless and strategic use of social media to showcase his celebrity guests to their hordes of followers.

Ever since Branson acquired Necker in 1979 for about £180,000, he has busied himself inviting the great, the good (and not-so-good), and the merely famous to enjoy it. Often, it is when they are down on their luck, perhaps after a high-profile spell in rehab or a headline-generating failed love affair.

But what a coup it was to reel in the Obamas and how thoughtful of him to give his friend Barack — they are in ‘close alignment’ apparently on climate change, conflict resolution, prison and drug reform and all sorts of other do-gooding — a chance to try the risky watersports his high office denied him for eight years.

The photos of the former president learning to kitesurf — Virgin just happens to sponsor kitesurfing competitions — were posted on Branson’s blog and made front pages around the world. The accompanying video has been viewed millions of times.

The 66-year-old billionaire’s sycophantic musings on the general wonderfulness of Mr and Mrs Obama are only marginally less nauseating than the shot of a beaming Barack playfighting — what was he thinking — with Branson as they lounge together in the back of a boat.

Branson’s hunger for publicity — any publicity — is legendary, but the Obamas are widely regarded as a couple who displayed real class and integrity in the White House. Was the louche luxury of Necker really their cup of tea?

In a 2015 TV documentary about the island, Branson, posing like a second-rate Hugh Hefner, boasted about how often his good-looking staff ended up sleeping with the guests.

A management team had once tried to put a stop to it all but the diktat hadn’t lasted a weekend. ‘That is not the way this island would run very well,’ Branson sniggered.

Meanwhile, Necker’s head of finance, ‘Milly’, boasted how she loved to let guests eat sushi off her naked midriff. ‘I love that I get to be an accountant and then go lay on a table and get people to suck soy sauce out of my belly button. Who else gets to do that?’ she said.

Sir Richard is often pictured spending time with his guests, such as Mariah Carey, pictured

Perhaps Barack and Michelle eschewed sushi night during their ten-day trip to Necker and nearby Moskito (which Branson also owns).

Sir Richard, who is worth £4 billion and has been based on Necker (a tax haven coincidentally) full time since 2013, was not in residence when the Obamas arrived in the British Virgin Islands on his private jet late last month.

However, he couldn’t resist trailing the VVIP visit by posting a picture of himself and the former president (taken earlier) for his 1.3 million followers on Instagram. Nor could he pass up on gate-crashing their holiday as the new photos show. One can only hope that he didn’t bid them farewell in his traditional manner — by baring his bottom at them.

Branson has described Necker as ‘a wonderful magnet to attract wonderfully interesting people’. Indeed. As the Obamas become part of the Necker Nexus, what’s on offer and who’s who on the sun loungers?

YOUR ISLAND GUIDE

If you are lucky enough to be a friend of Branson’s, then it will probably cost you nothing to stay on Necker. Mere mortals, however, need to shell out £40,000 a night.

As such, the island has been a canny investment, too, with an affluent corporate clientele scrambling with oligarchs to book a holiday, wedding or honeymoon there. So what do you get for your money?

The Great House on Necker was rebuilt after a fire caused by a lightning strike in 2011 in which Kate Winslet famously rescued Branson’s 87-year-old mother Eve (although the feisty Mrs Branson later disputed the claim).

It reopened in 2013 with six bedrooms and a master suite, each with a king-sized bed, en suite bathroom and balcony.

Branson’s private residence, Temple House, is also available to rent (from £5,510 per night) when he’s elsewhere, as is a smaller property, the Love Temple (£3,418), next door. 

The island, pictured, has several residences staffed by 60 people, with enough room for 34 guests, although it could cost up to £40,000 per night

There are six Balinese style villas nearby (£3,713), each with a private outdoor dining area. Guests can also be accommodated in the four luxury cabins on his catamaran, the Necker Belle.

The island is considered to be ‘full’ when there are 34 guests in situ. 

They are looked after by 60 staff, including three five-star chefs who can dish up anything from a fine dining tasting menu to floating sushi bars (when Milly’s not available) or a beach barbecue.

The new Beach House provides an entertainment complex, with a bar, cinema and a dining area for up to 40 people, and a viewing deck overlooking the island’s two tennis courts. 

There are two pools plus water-skiing, kitesurfing and parasailing on offer, or guests can just enjoy the wild life, including 200 flamingos, lemurs, a pair of iguanas, and tortoises.

THE CELEBRITIES  

KATE WINSLET: The Oscar-winning actress visited in August 2011, with children Mia and Joe, and then-boyfriend, male model Louis Dowler, to join a house party made up of Branson family and friends. 

During the drama of that house fire, she fell for fellow guest Ned Rocknroll, Branson’s nephew and now her husband.

RONNIE AND SALLY WOOD: Ronnie chose Necker for his 2012 honeymoon with third wife Sally, who is 39 to his 69. He has known Branson for years — the Stones signed to Virgin Records in 1992.

Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood, left, and actor David Hasselhoff, right, are among the famous faces to visit Necker

DAVID HASSELHOFF: The ex-Baywatch star enjoyed a post-panto sojourn with Welsh girlfriend Hayley Roberts in 2012 — and got to meet his ‘hero’ Ronnie Wood there. 

Hasselhoff and Branson became friends after the latter made a guest appearance, water-skiing, on Baywatch.

RACHEL HUNTER: Branson has known the Kiwi model and former Mrs Rod Stewart for years. 

In 2011, she helped him promote a charity dinner in Auckland and the following year she had a holiday in Necker. (Rod, of course, is Ronnie Wood’s best friend.)

NATALIE IMBRUGLIA: The actress and singer is a close friend of Branson’s daughter, Holly.

HARRY STYLES: One Direction star Harry popped over to Necker in 2013 after his romantic holiday with singer Taylor Swift on nearby island, Virgin Gorda, ended abruptly. 

A photograph of Styles with Branson and two blondes in a hot tub was duly shared with millions.

Former Wimbledon champion Boris Becker, pictured with wife Sharlely, have also been invited to the paradise

KATE MOSS: Following the ‘Cocaine Kate’ scandal and her spell in rehab, Branson invited supermodel Moss to Necker in 2005, where she had a fling with a friend of Branson’s son, Sam — male model Jamie Burke, 11 years her junior.

PETER GABRIEL: Branson calls the former Genesis star and fellow environmentalist a ‘good friend’, and Gabriel spent Christmas 2012 on Necker when he played piano for late night sing-alongs.

SIR MICK JAGGER: Mick has been spotted on Necker — a short hop from his own holiday home on Mustique.

GEENA DAVIS: The actress spent her 1993 honeymoon with second husband, film director Renny Harlin, on Necker.

Inspired by island life, they made a pirate film in 1995, Cutthroat Island — one of the biggest flops in cinematic history.

RUBY WAX: Comedian and counsellor Ruby Wax, a guest of Branson, wrote in the Visitors’ Book: ‘For this kind of luxury, you can beat me to a pulp.’

HARRISON FORD: The actor enjoyed a water-sports holiday (he paid) in the mid-Nineties with his teenage children and then wife Melissa Mathison.

MEL GIBSON: After visiting in the mid-Nineties he was so impressed he bought his own island, Mago, in Fiji, in 2005.

HEATHER MILLS McCARTNEY: She had a holiday on Necker at Branson’s invitation a few months before her marriage to Sir Paul ended in 2006. 

She returned for a £250,000 week-long ‘divorceymoon’ in July 2008 with a party of 20 friends, including her vegan shoe designer, the owner of a local B&B and her estate agent.

Kate Winslet, left, once saved Sir Richard's 90-year-old mother Eve, centre, from a blaze at one of the island's main residences in 2011 

ROBERT DE NIRO: Actor De Niro is remembered for partying all night back in the early 2000s. 

As a token of his gratitude he had a wooden Buddha shipped to the island. Sadly, this was destroyed in the 2011 fire.

EDDIE MURPHY: Comedian Eddie Murphy had his honeymoon with wife Nicole and four bodyguards in 1993 on Necker. 

He spent hours watching videos of his own movies and listening to music. The couple divorced in 2005.

GEORGE MICHAEL: The late singer holidayed on Necker in 2005 and more recently had a very private birthday party there.

MARIAH CAREY: Singer Mariah Carey, who was briefly signed to Virgin Records, has been to Necker several times as Branson’s guest. 

In 2004, she was the star turn on a TV show about Necker, and was seen flirting with her host on an enormous four-poster bed.

DEMI MOORE: Visited several times at the height of her fame — although nowadays she holidays at her former husband Bruce Willis’s house on the Turks and Caicos Islands.

KELLY BROOK: The TV presenter and model has been to Necker at least twice. In 2012 she posted pictures of herself frolicking on the beach. 

In 2015 she was back again, with pictures on Instagram of herself as ‘Castaway. Necker.’

BORIS BECKER: The former Wimbledon winner is a repeat visitor to Necker, taking part in Branson’s Necker Cup –— a six-day pro-am tournament — in 2013, 2014 and 2015. 

In 2015, he posted pictures of himself and wife Lilly relaxing in a hot tub between matches.

THE ROYALS 

PRINCESS DIANA: One of the first famous faces spotted on Necker was the late Princess of Wales in 1990 with Princes William and Harry, her mother Frances Shand Kydd, and her two older sisters and their children.

Princess Diana, second left, visited the island with sons Harry, left, and William, centre, in 1990

SARAH FERGUSON: A long-standing friend of Branson, the Duchess of York has taken numerous breaks on Necker and was there to celebrate his 60th birthday in 2010.

BEATRICE AND EUGENIE: Princess Bea holidayed on Necker in 2012 with her now ex-boyfriend Dave Clark who worked for Branson’s Virgin Galactic space operation. Both girls — along with their mother —attended the island wedding of Holly Branson in December 2011.

KATE MIDDLETON: The Duchess of Cambridge is a close friend of Holly Branson. During her brief split from Prince William in 2007, she took a holiday on Necker.

PRINCE HARRY: Prince Harry attended close pal Sam Branson’s 27th birthday party on Necker in 2012. Another friend indiscreetly posted a picture on Facebook of the Prince lying apparently drunk on the beach. He was back on Necker in 2015 for New Year.

Actress and model Kelly Brook took this sultry snap while she was on the island in 2016

THE POLITICOS 

NELSON MANDELA: The late president of South Africa was a founding member, with Branson, of The Elders, a Virgin-backed not-for-profit group who meet on Necker in the ‘Elder’s Temple’ to consult on poverty, climate change and HIV.

Other Elders include KOFI ANNAN, the former secretary general of the United Nations and ARCHBISHOP DESMOND TUTU who recalled that rock star Peter Gabriel gave him his first ever swimming lesson there. 

JIMMY CARTER, the former US president, is another Elder who has enjoyed Necker’s delights.

TONY BLAIR: The former Prime Minister was invited to Necker in 2008 to join an ‘environmental war room’ discussing global warming problems with other leading figures in business and politics. (And Cherie, of course, came, too.)

PS NO ROOM AT THE INN FOR ...

BRAD PITT and JENNIFER ANISTON wanted to spend their honeymoon in 2000 on Necker, but the island was fully booked.

And it is said that oligarch ROMAN ABRAMOVICH tried to book a vacation, but Branson intervened.

Perhaps he just didn’t fancy someone even richer than him checking out the soft furnishings.