Yachts, estates, servants… The crazy lives of the ultra-rich

Welcome to “Saint-Tropez-sous-Bois”. The formula is from the journalist Jean-Baptiste Forray, who publishes The New Lordsan investigation into “those ultra-rich who colonized Sologne and distorted hunting”. There we discover misty forests two hours from Paris, where big bosses of the CAC40, politicians and stars of show business come to shoot deer and wild boar. Of the VIP hunting tourists who, by helicopter, can “go duck hunting in the morning in the Somme and deer hunting in the afternoon in Sologne”. On the sidelines of these discreet social gatherings, investment bankers and industry barons discuss big contracts in the corner of the woods, which has become a center of influence: “Hunting is one of the three major networks that count, with the Grandes Écoles and Freemasonry”.

Tax the super-rich

As the examination of the 2025 draft budget continues, the question of taxation of the richest. But who are these great fortunes? The so-called “ultra-rich” – adults whose assets exceed $50 million – were just under 4,000 in France in 2023, according to a report from UBS bank.

In addition to the argument of tax justice, wealth taxation is often invoked as a corollary of the impact of the ultra-rich on the environment. With their private jets, their yachts, their sumptuous properties and the polluting activities of their companies, 63 French billionaires would emit as much greenhouse gas in 2022 as 50% of the French population, according to Oxfam and Greenpeace.

French dynasties

But does money bring happiness? Within great dynasties, opulence often exacerbates tensions. Particularly at the crucial moment of successions, as illustrated the American series of the same name. Or, in France, the book by Raphaëlle Bacqué and Vanessa Schneider, Estates. Money, blood and tears (including season 2, Estates. Family secretshas just been published).

The two journalists depict the merciless world of Bolloré, Lagardère, Pinault, Arnault, Bettencourtpopulated by “siblings who tear each other apart, hatred to death, children who hate their parents, abusive fathers who do everything to remain the only heroes of their work”. But also young heirs chosen from a very young age to take over the management of the family group, and whose associations are closely monitored, for fear of a regrettable misalliance.

Tech billionaires

Alongside “traditional” families, a new category of ultra-rich appears: tech billionaires. “For around thirty years, we have discovered the great fortunes of the new digital economy at the top of the rankingsanalyzes the historian Fabrice d’Almeida in his World History of the Rich. Why they are the real power. He explains that these new rich have nothing to do with aristocrats reproducing Ancien Régime models, investing in art and land. “They don’t care about beautiful clothes, beautiful cars and super chic restaurants, they prefer to eat macrobiotics, live in a tribe and sleep at their workplace. What matters to them is the investment to death in artwork.”

Elon MuskJeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates… A handful of men now decide our future, writes journalist Christine Kerdellant in her book These billionaires are stronger than the States. A new plutocracy whose aim is not to govern: “They don’t care. Zuckerberg explained in 2016 that ruling 333 million Americans did not interest him: he has three billion members on his social networks. Their dream is no longer the State, it’s the conquest of space and immortality”.

Among the leaders of Silicon Valley and particularly among libertarians, like Elon Musk, a trend is gaining momentum: survivalism. Reddit co-founder Steve Huffman, 33, underwent eye surgery to increase his chances of surviving without glasses or contact lenses in the event of a disaster. While waiting for the end of the world, others are having bunkers de luxein Alaska or New Zealand. A trend that has been increasing since the start of the war in Ukraine, and which is now spreading to the Middle East. A bunker maker says: “Our latest order involves a 200 square meter shelter for 40 people that can accommodate vehicles and sports halls.”

The big Loto winners

They are neither heirs nor successful entrepreneurs: they made their fortune… by chance. These are the “big winners” of the Loto, who have sometimes won several million euros. There is the former cleaning lady who treats herself to a gold-plated bed, the generous person who pays for the village children’s canteen, those who choose to hide their winnings from those close to them…

Everyone admits that becoming rich overnight is not always a gift, that they do not necessarily have the required codes. So, when Jean-Jacques and Cathy, recent winners, ask the price of a bag in a luxury boutique in Saint-Tropez, the saleswoman immediately responds: “There’s no point, you won’t be able to afford it.” La Française des Jeux even organizes seminars so that the big winners can meet each otherto talk in complete peace about their hot air balloon escapades in Türkiye and their weekends in Las Vegas…

Jet-set et clubs VIP

To get a glimpse of the day of an ultra-rich person, you can also follow the Belgian multimillionaire Katywho navigates between his chalet in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, his house in Neuilly-sur-Seine, his grand apparently in Brussels and his villa in the chic seaside resort of Knokke-le-Zout. She says she has difficulty getting by on 20,000 euros per month… In conflict through lawyers with her daughter who is demanding half a million euros from her, she floats between art galleries and social cocktail parties, is surprised to not seeing her neighbor’s Ferrari and turns her rings around when she goes to drink a beer in a “popular” bar. “I don’t like to provoke…”

From New York to Saint-Tropez, the former American model and sociologist Ashley Mears has immersed herself in the world circuit of luxury nightclubs. In his book Very Important People. Money, fame and beauty: investigation into the jet-setshe reveals behind the scenes of these VIP clubs, between champagne showers and young women recruited by promoters for wealthy clients, “conspicuous waste of money as a ritual of domination” et “sexualization of social relations”.

Masters and servants

Among the external signs of wealth, there is one that is unmistakable: employment of servants. “We inherit a castle, but we also inherit cultural practices: one of them is to use servants and to be served,” observes sociologist Alizée Delpierre, author of Serve the rich. Servants in the homes of great fortunes.

Listening to the testimonies of these butlers, butlers, governesses, nannys is to immerse yourself in the princely lifestyle of the big houses, the little quirks and the extravagant whims. As this mistress of the house who demands that the basement’s marble checkerboard be polished with mohair sweaters and who throws cherry pits on top of the cabinets to trap his employees.

Sometimes, the service turns into servitude, even abuse. Damien was recruited by a countess who was looking for “a” servant… The young man is renamed “Muriel”, like all the previous employees in this position. He is forced to wear a woman’s costume with a padded bra, and above all… diapers, because the boss forbids her staff from taking bathroom breaks.

Cut off from the world

For the philosopher Frédéric Worms, the ultra-rich, like all the “ultras” (the extremists in politics, the most virulent football supporters, etc.), do nothing less than “destroy the world”. “It’s not just those who have a little more money than others, it’s those who barricade themselves, who are extremely different from the others. It’s these closed residences, these armored cars, these boats and these planes which are, in a certain way, at war with the rest of the world. Ultra-wealth is a break, a secession, the height of social division. The ultras structurally destroy the possibility of a common world. “

Bibliography

• Jean-Baptiste Forray, The New Lords. How did the ultra-rich who colonized Sologne and distorted huntingLes Arènes, October 2024
• Raphaëlle Bacqué, Vanessa Schneider, Estates. Money, blood and tears, Albin Michel, October 2022; Estates. Family secrets, Albin Michel, November 2024
• Fabrice d’Almeida, World History of the Rich. Why they are the real powerPlon, October 2022
• Christine Kerdellant, These billionaires stronger than States, editions of the Observatory, February 2024
• Vincent Montgaillard, Lotto millionaires. 49 stories of really lucky guys!editions of l’Opportun, May 6, 2016
• Ashley Mears, Very Important People. Money, fame and beauty: investigation into the jet-setLa Découverte, September 2023
• Alizée Delpierre, Serve the rich. The servants of the great fortunes, The Discovery, 2022