Scott Kidder

The [Barclay] brothers love their privacy and are willing to go to great lengths to protect it, including changing the constitution of a small nation.

In 1993 they paid about $3.5 million for Brecqhou, a small private island in the territory of British fiefdom Sark. Wasting no time, the brothers built a castle (spires and towers included), issued their own postage stamps, and slapped the Barclay family crest on Sark’s flag in an attempt to turn the island into Barclayistan.

But they weren’t content to simply play make-believe; the Barclays wanted an actual kingdom, and, after seeking to change the island’s inheritance laws, they pushed landowners out of the legislative body, and, eventually, restructured the island’s compact as they saw fit.