The Errol Flynn Blog

Dear fellow Flynn fans,

this is a post not completely unrelated to Errol. During a short trip to Stockholm, I had the great pleasure to stay on the former yacht of Barbara Hutton, the millionairess of old Woolworth wealth.

In her biography “Poor little rich girl”, author C. David Heymann describes how she nearly became the wife of Errol`s best buddy Freddie McEvoy. Despite being her constant companion during winter vacations, he passed the Barb, ah buck, when it came to tying the knot. After two marriages with very wealthy women, Suicide Freddie went on to marry a moneyless model. Mrs. Hutton meanwhile took interest in Freddie`s pal, poor prince Igor Nikolaiewitsch Troubetzkoy of Russia. Barbara compensated Freddie with a $ 100.000 check and they remained friends till his untimely death.

When Troubetzkoy finally fell from grace, it was our man Flynn, who sat down with princey and his prefered lawyer Melvin Belli to come up with a lucrative divorce strategy. Mulling over it, they spent endless nights together at a nightclub in Paris. The plot to make I.T. a millionaire though backfired, when he was offered only $ 900.000, falling short of a mill, he then vetoed, so he got nill. In the end he managed to get a monthly pension out of Barbara, when they settled things in private, renouncing the services of Errol`s advocate. Barbara subsequently fell prey to the last playboy, Porfirio Rubirosa, her fifth but not the least husband, whom she divorced after barely more than a month for a cool 3 millions and incentives.

But back to the boat. Originally built for NY magnate Mr. Billings in 1924, the then named “Vanadis” was at the time the largest diesel driven yacht in the world. She was given to Barabara Hutton by her father for her 18th birthdy. She kept her only for a year and sold her for $1 to the English Navy during WWII.

Enjoy,

— shangheinz