When she was only 10 years old Athina Roussel, the daughter of Christina Onassis and the only living descendant of her grandfather Aristotle Onassis, the Greek shipping magnate, declared she would give her fortune away. This week she starts.
Athina has put her mother’s jewelry collection, valued at approximately $16 million, up for auction at Christie’s in London. She doesn’t need the money – Athina inherited a fortune estimated at $2 billion.
Her mother, who died 20 years ago when Athina was only three, wore the pieces constantly. Athina reportedly sees them as irrelevant to her own lifestyle. The jewels went on view Monday morning; the auction takes place Wednesday.
Among the treasures on display are a 38-carat diamond, expected to fetch $4.4 million, and a rare Buddha by Carl Faberge, jewelry-maker to the last Russian czar, whose value is estimated at $500,000 to $700,000.
Two years ago, when she turned 21, Athina was expected to assume control of the Philanthropic Onassis Foundation. She was blocked by the trustees, who said her connections with Greece were too tenuous.
Her relations with her family have long been strained. In 2005, when she married Alvaro de Mirando Neto, a Brazilian Olympic showjumper 12 years her senior, her father, Thierry Roussel, refused to attend.
