In good memory, with all my respect, with lot’s of Love, to my exclusive friends MM and RCA.

In guter Erinnerung, mit all meinem Respekt, mit viel Liebe, an meine exklusiven Freunde …

Em boa memória, com todo o meu respeito, com muito amor, para meus amigos exclusivos …

En buena memoria, con todo mi respeto, con mucho amor, a mis amigos exclusivos  …

Marbella is a municipality in southern Spain, belonging to the province of Málaga in Andalucia, Spain.

After the Second World War, Marbella was a small village with only 900 inhabitants.

Ricardo Soriano, Marquis of Ivanrey, moved to Marbella and popularised it among his rich and famous friends.

In 1943 he acquired a country estate located between Marbella and San Pedro called El Rodeo, and later built a resort there, beginning the development of tourism in Marbella.

Soriano’s nephew, Prince Alfonso of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, descendant of a high-ranking aristocratic family acquired another estate, Finca Santa Margarita.

In 1954 he opened it as the Hotel Marbella Club, an international resort aimed at movie stars, business executives and the nobility.

In 1966, Prince Alfonso brought in a Beverly Hills architect and, with the assistance of the Banus family, who were personal friends of dictator Francisco Franco developed the high-end tourist resort Puerto Banus.

The resort opened in 1970 in attendance of Franco’s designated successor, Juan Carlos (then Prince of Asturias), Prince Rainier of Monaco and his wife Grace Kelly, and Aga Khan IV.

In 1974, Prince Fahd arrived in Marbella from Montecarlo. Until his death in 2005, Prince Fahd was a frequent and profligate guest Marbella welcomed his retinue of over a thousand people spending petro – dollars.

What is known as Marbella‘s Golden Mile is actually a stretch of four miles which begins at the western edge of Marbella city and stretches to Puerto Banús.  

The area is exclusive and home to some of Marbella‘s most luxurious villas and estates with spectacular views of mountain and sea, such as the Palace of King Fahd, as well as some landmark hotels, among them the Melia Don Pepe, the Hotel Marbella Cluband the Hotel Puente Romano.