All those years of being called the Queen of Pop may have gone to Madonna's head. At first, it was just a nickname, but then she moved to the UK and started living in a countryside mansion as if she were true British royalty. Now she's gone a step further. She's the proud owner of the Quinta Do Relogio Estate in Lisbon, Portugal; a building which is quite literally a palace. It was once in the possession of the Portuguese aristocracy.
It's believed that Madonna and her children live in the palace for at least some of the year, which would make sense given that she parted with more than $8m to buy it. The palace was built in the 18th century as part of the Moorish revival movement. It's pictured here in a state of slight disrepair, but she's since had extensive repair and modernization work performed to get it back in shape. Somewhere within its walls is a full-sized chapel.
To insure one’s house, one’s car or to underwrite a life insurance policy, that is common practice. But who would pay an insurance premium for his/her thumb, legs or smile? Stars, of course.
At the top of the ranking are the legs of Mariah Carey, worth 810 million USD: The diva became, in 2006, the Gillette brand muse for the advertising campaign «Legs of a Goddess». She then took out an insurance policy with London Lloyds to protect her legs, a decision that is far from being insignificant. Among its customers, the London insurer then included several icons of music, such as Bob Dylan or Rod Stewart.
David Beckham’s body insured for 195 million USD: European champion with Manchester United in 1999, David Beckham was in 2006 the most renowned footballer of the planet. In relation to his sporting activities, he took out an insurance cover for his legs. The huge amount paid for his insurance would reportedly exceed the 103 million USD disbursed by Real Madrid for the cover of Christiano Ronaldo in 2009. The fashion model would later extend his insurance cover to his entire body.
15 million USD in insurance for Kim Kardashian’s curves: The curves of Kim Kardashian are her number one beauty asset. The reality TV star, who is crazy about plastic surgery, has underwritten an insurance policy worth 15 million USD to protect her famous butt.
The culinary critic Egon Ronay assured his taste buds: The famous Hungarian culinary critic has insured his taste buds since 1957, for the amount of 400 000 USD. An original insurance policy which allows him to cover his sense of taste without which he will no longer be able to practice his job.