Venice: my part in ruining the wedding of a tech billionaire

The Herald Scotland

25-06-2025

Alas, it has not been that way for the Sanchez-Bezos party. Since Venice emerged as the location, protesters have made it their life's work to be as big a pain in the posteriore as possible. Their latest threat was to jam the area around one party venue with activists riding inflatable crocodiles. Not only has this forced the rewrite of a classic nursery rhyme ('If you see an inflatable crocodile, don't forget to scream!'), it has meant yet another revision to the couple's plans.
'Bezos is on the run,' said one protester. 'This is a crazy victory for a small group of people with no money who went up against one of the richest men on the planet.'
Venice protest (Image: Getty)
A resident told the Wall Street Journal: 'It's absurd to treat this city like it's Disneyland. The message this wedding sends is that rich people can do whatever they want. We shouldn't kneel before wealth like this.'
Quite right, except it is not that simple. Not all rich people are condemned equally. Remember the wedding of George Clooney and Amal Alamuddin in Venice in September 2014? Scotland couldn't go because we were busy with that referendum thing, but we sent a gravy boat from John Lewis and wished the happy couple well. In Venice there were no protests, no giant banners unfurled, everything was sweetness and light for the Hollywood actor and his human rights lawyer partner.
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They were the right sort of rich, you see. It can be a tricky business sorting out which camp you are in, so I wouldn't be surprised if Ms Sanchez is puzzling over the rules. For instance, you can start off 'bad rich' and end up 'good rich', like Carnegie. Or you could be relatively skint but people think you are filthy rich and despise you accordingly (the Mitfords). Royal wealth is invisible and must not be criticised because, well, they do so much for the country, don't they (don't they?).
Venice (Image: PA)
Inherited, self-made, found, stolen: it's all money, money, money in the end. The rich have it and want to keep it, regardless of any upheaval they might have to go through. As reported in the Times on Tuesday, Britain will say cheerio this year to a record 16,500 millionaires (up from 10,800 in 2024), due to tax rises and the weak economy.
It is not just the UK. The Henley Private Wealth Migration Report says 142,000 people worldwide with liquid assets of $1 million plus (£740,000) will pack their LV bags and go somewhere more wealth-friendly.
This matters because they take their money with them. Dr Juerg Steffen of Henley & Partners, which commissioned the report, called the UK a 'cautionary tale in this new era of wealth migration'. By his reckoning, £66 billion in investable assets had walked out the door. Imagine what that could do for the NHS, or child poverty.
Such redistribution sounds the stuff of make-believe, but not so fast. Nigel Farage, leader of Reform and the man some are tipping as the next British PM, has also been pondering the question of wealth. For a one-off fee of £250,000, says Farage, a rich person could buy a special 'Britannia card' that spares them from having to pay UK tax on their overseas earnings. The money raised from the 'tens of thousands' who would take up the offer would then go to the poorest 2.5 million. Straight into their bank accounts, bish, bash bosh.
The Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, described Farage's Robin Hood-style plan as 'a massive tax cut for foreign billionaires'. Others said it would mean savage cuts to public spending and punishing tax rises to make up for what was lost to the public purse. Farage refused to answer questions on any of this at the media launch, insisting he wasn't clever enough, and anyway the criticism sounded like 'completely off the wall nonsense'. Now there's a title for the manifesto when the time comes.
So far, we have dealt with the conventionally wealthy, but fortunes come in many forms. You might have little in the bank but live in a lovely place that others spend a fortune to visit. In Scotland, that could mean Edinburgh, Skye, somewhere on the North Coast 500, Glasgow - you name it, others want a piece of it, so why shouldn't locals recoup some of the costs? As a tourist you accept that, up to a point.
Bezos has reportedly donated a million euros to local causes in Venice. Plus, he is spending up to ten times as much on goods and services while he is there. That's a pretty good payday for most people. But no, we are supposed to be horrified at the vulgar excess of it all and the strain being placed on an already fragile environment. For Venice today, read Edinburgh or Skye tomorrow.
Anyone would think Venice was some heavenly wilderness barely touched by human presence. That's not how I remember it. Gorgeous, yes, impressive certainly, but a place that had been relying for too long on maximising the tourist buck. Venice should be saying thanks to the new Mr and Mrs Bezos, and in fairness, some are.
Every visitor who ever put a sweaty paw on the ancient walls, or walked the city's alleyways, or bought an over-priced meal, has put a strain on Venice, not all of it made up by spending. It is a city that belongs to the world. Not one couple or one generation or one wealth bracket, but the world. So act accordingly. And if you get a minute Lauren, drop us a line to say how it went. On an e-card, of course.
Alison Rowat is a Herald feature writer and columnist