Elton John ‘had more Fabergé eggs than Russia’s Kremlin’
Sir Elton John wore a typically understated look at his 50th birthday party in 1991. (Getty)
Sir Elton John once claimed to have more Fabergé eggs than the Kremlin, according to reports
Fabergé eggs are among the rarest, most fabulous and most expensive treasures on Earth.
So it stands to reason that Sir Elton John, a man rarely accused of being modest, reportedly once claimed to have more than the actual Kremlin.
The singer is said to have made the outlandish claim in 1979, when he became the first openly-LGBT+ musician to tour in the Soviet Union.
Sir Elton John outside the Summer Palace in St Petersburg in 1979. (Getty)
During the historic engagement, Sir Elton was invited on a special tour of the Kremlin, where 10 gilded Fabergé eggs were proudly displayed.
“Elton was offered a VIP tour and our wives managed to tag along,” recalled Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, filmmakers who accompanied the singer on his tour.
“They were shown all the royal historical artistic treasures left over from the tsars.”
As Sir Elton and the two women stumbled out of the fortress and into the Red Square, he confided in them that he’d been somewhat disappointed by the Kremlin jewels.
“He was shocked to discover that he had a bigger Fabergé collection”
Clement and La Frenais shared the anecdote in their new book, More Than Likely.
Elton John once spent £300,000 on flowers.
According to The Telegraph, it would cost at least £1 million to buy a single Fabergé egg.
Sir Elton’s fortune was recently valued at £320 million, a figure which will no doubt increase thanks to the success of his biopic, Rocketman, and his ongoing Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour.
In his heyday, the singer was infamous for his extravagance, and once admitted to spending £30 million over the space of two years.
I like spending my money.
Speaking at a High Court hearing in 2000, Sir Elton confessed to splurging £293,000 on flowers alone between January 1996 and September 1997.
When quizzed about his spending, Sir Elton told the court: “I’m a single man. I like spending my money.”
Sir Elton was, at the time, in a relationship with David Furnish, who he entered into a civil partnership with in 2005.
The couple welcomed their first child Zachary in 2010, with a second, Elijah, joining the family in 2013. They converted their civil partnership to a marriage in 2014.
