Necker Belle Necker Belle The Necker Belle is a 105-foot (32 m) private charter catamaran yacht, offered through Virgin Limited Edition and based at the resort Necker Island. The "Belle" superyacht is one of the few luxury sailing catamarans in the world. Prior to being purchased by Richard Branson's Virgin, the yacht was called "Lady Barbaretta", and cost £5.3 million for Branson to obtain. It required a two-year refit to emerge as the Belle, operates with a crew of seven, and is currently captained by Captain Piers Helm. The refit won the "2010 best new refit" at the World Superyacht Awards. The
Louis Necker very busy collecting interest for his rich and noble clients in Utrecht, the Netherlands. An astonishing number of notarial deeds are on his name. In 1776 he became resident for the Republic of Geneva, succeeding his brother. When Emmanuel Haller was appointed in the Girardot bank in 1777, Louis became a silent partner. At some time (1777?) he became a friend of Benjamin Franklin. Jacques Necker was dismissed on 19 May 1781 as controller of the royal treasury. It seems the brothers were still cooperating as Jacques and Louis received annually 8 million livres as a pension. As a result