Over the past few months, around 400 local construction workers have been tirelessly developing a resort on the private Greek island of Skorpios. Once inhabited by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, the island is now the property of the Russian oligarch and art collector Dmitry Rybolovlev, who has been embroiled in one of the art world’s most bitter legal cases for the past seven years.

The workers arrive on Skorpios by boat from nearby Lefkada, their phones confiscated so they cannot photograph anything. Around-the-clock surveillance from security cameras and snipers prevent intruders from crossing. A single cruise ship is permitted to dock at a small public beach, but only when the Rybolovlev family is not there.

Plans to transform the island into a luxury resort were first announced in 2019, when it was revealed that Rybolovlev’s company Mykinai SA would build a small beach hotel of 12 rooms and nine properties across the island. There are also plans for a helicopter landing pad, a marina for super-yachts, a football pitch (Rybolovlev owns AS Monaco), stables and a riding ring for 30 horses, tennis courts, restaurants and spa facilities. Once the resort is open in 2024, no more than 50 guests at a time will be expected to pay $1m each a week.

Yet the reality is more James Bond than Four Seasons. Accessible only by boat or helicopter, the remote island is almost medieval in its scale as a fortress. There is a drawbridge…