The Lex Chapter: Basil's Bar, Mustique

To say that Basil Charles has had a colourful life would be an understatement. Basil Charles was born and brought up on St Vincent and one day whilst working as a car mechanic, he was involved in car accident. An English aristocrat found him unconscious in the road and made sure he went to hospital and received the correct treatment. A year later when Basil had recovered he decided to try his luck on the new island of Mustique.

When he arrived he met island creator Colin Tennant, Tennant liked the look of Basil and gave him a job in the Cotton House bar (which I talked about here). After a few years delighting the locals with his signature cocktails and charisma, Tennant recognised Basil's talent and gave his own bar. Basil’s Bar was born.

Basil's laid back charm was adored by everyone and it lead to him mixing with everyone including British aristocrats and celebrities that escaped to Mustique. Basil is seen here with Princess Margaret. Basil and his then partner Viscountess Royston also attended the banquet welcoming the HRH Queen Elizabeth II when she visited Mustique.

Basil's fame was propelled to world wide superstardom when he was invited by the Middleton's to the Royal Wedding in 2011. The press was fascinated with the idea an 'ordinary,' barman would be attending the wedding of the century but to those who have had the pleasure of meeting with Basil know he is anything but 'ordinary.'

On this visit I hung out a few times in Basil’s Bar and even got to meet the character himself. As I mentioned our friend was turning 30 and his lovely sister threw him a big party at Basil's. We drank margaritas and chatted to locals who've known our friend Rob for years as well as remembering T's Grannie.

Karaoke is infamous in Basil's, and although we didn't belt out any Elvis songs (like the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge allegedly do) we did get to go in the music room. The music room is next to the stage and it is packed full of records and cd's, although last week we just used the laptop to look up songs and put on some classics like this.

I only met Basil a few times last week but his tropical charm is evident. We bumped into him again at Bryan Adam's birthday party and he was in the party spirit (as were we - a lot of rum punch). Basil really is one of life's great characters, one British newspaper described him as the Godfather of the Glitterati, I think that title suits him well, well that and his OBE!