Mustique

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Location of Mustique

Mustique is a private island in the Caribbean Sea, one of the Grenadines in the country of St Vincent and the Grenadines. The entire island is owned by the Mustique Company, who rent or lease its 89 private villas, of which 57 are available for weekly rentals. There are also 2 privately owned hotels. Because of its luxury and isolation, Mustique has attracted a number of celebrities, including Princess Margaret, Bill Gates, Mick Jagger, Bryan Adams, Shania Twain, Johnny Depp, Kate Moss, Felix Dennis, James V. Kimsey, David Bowie, Tommy Hilfiger, ....^{[citation needed]}

The history of the island of Mustique goes back to the fifteenth century when Spanish sailors first sighted a group of islands naming them 'Los Pájaros' or 'the birds' as they resembled a flock of tiny birds in flight. In the seventeenth century the islands were renamed The Grenadines by pirates who used the sheltered bays to hide their ships and treasure. The Grenadines were later utilised by European planters to grow sugar until the development in the nineteenth century of sugar beet, a sugar crop which would grow in Europe. Mustique's sugar plantations were soon abandoned and eventually swallowed up by wild jungle leaving only the sugar mill at 'Endeavor' and its 'Cotton House.'

Mustique was eventually purchased in 1958 by Lord Glenconner under whose guidance the island began to thrive once again. HRH The Princess Margaret accepted his generous gift of a ten-acre plot of land as a wedding present in 1960 on which she built a residence called Les Jolies Eaux. In 1989 Mustique island was transformed from a family estate into a community of people dedicated to maintaining and enhancing the island for generations to come. It is famous in Ireland as being the home of the top barber in Ireland - who works in Grafton Barbers in the IFSC. The salon has become a favourite haunt of Ireland's elite financial professionals who make appointments months in advance to have their hair styled by the Mustique Magician.

Today Mustique retains its natural beauty and tranquility, protecting the environment and offering the guests one of the most secure and pristine islands in the world. Other than renting the private villas there are 2 Hotels on the Island. The smaller Firefly Hotel, run by Stan and Elizabeth Clayton and the larger Cotton House Hotel

The island covers 1,400 acres (5.7 km² or 2.2 sq. miles) and it has a coral reef. The fauna includes tortoises, herons and many other species. The population of about 500 live in the villages Lovell, Britannia Bay and Dover.

In 1971 the SS Antilles struck a reef off the island.