Just one of Toni's many interviews:
Toni de Laroque is the first non-Muslim woman ever to represent an islamic government overseas and has played a unique role in putting the remote Maldive islands on the map. Nicola Tyrrell meets the Maldive LadyToni de Laroque is fidgeting with excitement "I phoned my little darlings in the Maldives and told them this was the opportunity of a lifetime," she beams. "They were terribly pleased - they even said thank you, which is ever so seen because they don't have a word for 'thank you' in their language." The eccentric 69-year-old has just clinched a deal with organisers of next year's Millennium 2000 Tall Ships race. With her help, the tiny coral-fringed archipelago of the Maldives will go down in history as an official port of call for the fleet taking part in the last global yachting extravaganza of the century. De Laroque wipes away a tear.
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"My little darlings are so good to me. I feel so lucky, so humble, to know they have accepted me." This is not the kind of talk one would expect from a head of tourism, but Toni de Laroque is hardly your average head of tourism. She has dedicated the best part of her life to promoting the remote cluster of atolls off the southern tip of India, and is officially known by the 250,000 inhabitants - her "little darlings" - as the Maldive Lady. This title, granted by presidential decree, makes her the only white woman ever to represent an Islamic nation overseas.
Since de Laroque first made contact with the Maldives 18 years ago, visitor numbers have increased from 7,000 to 350,000, and are expected to swell to 400,000 by the end of next year. Having made a vital contribution to that growth, she receives a daily post bag full of letters, poems, and photography from islanders thanking her for putting their small nation on the map. To mark her popularity, a national "Maldive Lady" cocktail has been named in her honour.
Toni de Laroque is no ordinary woman. Her life in a modest London flat, surrounded by a computer, fax machine and a dachshund call Posey, belies a highly privileged upbringing in Kenya as the daughter of a colonial shipping magnate. "Daddy was a big man, mummy did nothing and we had 12 indoor servants," she says. At 18, she made a fitting entrance on the London social scene as a debutante having taken a course in cordon bleau cooking, and learnt the art of throwing her voice for demonstration purposes, which came in handy when teaching back in Kenya where she gained her private pilot's license.
Since de Laroque first made contact with the Maldives 18 years ago, visitor numbers have increased from 7,000 to 350,000, and are expected to swell to 400,000 by the end of next year. Having made a vital contribution to that growth, she receives a daily post bag full of letters, poems, and photography from islanders thanking her for putting their small nation on the map. To mark her popularity, a national "Maldive Lady" cocktail has been named in her honour.
Toni de Laroque is no ordinary woman. Her life in a modest London flat, surrounded by a computer, fax machine and a dachshund call Posey, belies a highly privileged upbringing in Kenya as the daughter of a colonial shipping magnate. "Daddy was a big man, mummy did nothing and we had 12 indoor servants," she says. At 18, she made a fitting entrance on the London social scene as a debutante having taken a course in cordon bleau cooking, and learnt the art of throwing her voice for demonstration purposes, which came in handy when teaching back in Kenya where she gained her private pilot's license.
Two years later she was back in the UK working as a BOAC stewardess. "Those were the days when it was terribly hard to get in and it was all First Class. From the plane to Ceylon during the 50s, en route to Hong Kong and the Far East, I could see these tantalising islands off the coast, but could find out nothing about them. We would stop over in Ceylon, now Sri Lanka, for a week and I couldn't believe I kept drawing a blank."
Marriage and the birth of two children distracted her from the mystery islands for the next 25 years until, in 1980, she spotted a picture of Bandos island in a British Airways brochure. "I decided to send a letter addressed simply to the Manager of Bandos, Male, Republic of Maldives, Indian Ocean - I got a letter back from Mr Deen asking if I would like to visit."
Waheed Deen, was to play a vital role in what was to become de Laroque's personal crusade. She arrived on the island full of expectation, but was disappointed to find it packed with German and Italian tourists. "I couldn't believe it. The dive master - an Adonis with shock blonde hair and a red bandana - had sent a letter promising us scuba-diving lessons, but he met us at the jetty and said he wouldn't have time for at least two weeks! It was just too much. I wanted to know why the British didn't know about these islands, and demanded to see the Head of Tourism."
After two weeks and a fair amount of prompting, Deen granted her a ten-minute appointment with the Head of Tourism on the island of Male. Setting off alone in a little boat, she made her way across the water and tramped through the hot, sandy streets of the Maldives capital in search of a Mr Ahmed Mujuthaba. "I remember entering the Minister's office as a dripping mess of nonsense - the islanders were certainly not used to meeting mad Englishwomen, and he must have been terribly brave to deal idyllic little island, completely deserted, and just left me there, so I got a map and a boat boy who of course spoke no English, and I went off to explore."
This was to be the first of many visits. "The Maldive people are very gossipy, and news spread about the Englishwoman in her boat who would come visiting. They are very private people, but the invited me into their homes and trusted me - I suddenly found myself in their lives and they started calling me the Maldive Lady."
Marriage and the birth of two children distracted her from the mystery islands for the next 25 years until, in 1980, she spotted a picture of Bandos island in a British Airways brochure. "I decided to send a letter addressed simply to the Manager of Bandos, Male, Republic of Maldives, Indian Ocean - I got a letter back from Mr Deen asking if I would like to visit."
Waheed Deen, was to play a vital role in what was to become de Laroque's personal crusade. She arrived on the island full of expectation, but was disappointed to find it packed with German and Italian tourists. "I couldn't believe it. The dive master - an Adonis with shock blonde hair and a red bandana - had sent a letter promising us scuba-diving lessons, but he met us at the jetty and said he wouldn't have time for at least two weeks! It was just too much. I wanted to know why the British didn't know about these islands, and demanded to see the Head of Tourism."
After two weeks and a fair amount of prompting, Deen granted her a ten-minute appointment with the Head of Tourism on the island of Male. Setting off alone in a little boat, she made her way across the water and tramped through the hot, sandy streets of the Maldives capital in search of a Mr Ahmed Mujuthaba. "I remember entering the Minister's office as a dripping mess of nonsense - the islanders were certainly not used to meeting mad Englishwomen, and he must have been terribly brave to deal idyllic little island, completely deserted, and just left me there, so I got a map and a boat boy who of course spoke no English, and I went off to explore."
This was to be the first of many visits. "The Maldive people are very gossipy, and news spread about the Englishwoman in her boat who would come visiting. They are very private people, but the invited me into their homes and trusted me - I suddenly found myself in their lives and they started calling me the Maldive Lady."
In England she made it her business to promote the islands, giving talks to schools, appearing on radio and television, and sailing as a guest speaker on Canberra.
At the end of three years, the Maldive Government gave her the official title Maldive lady in recognition of her self-made ambassadorial role. Fifteen years on, she has divorced her husband of 27 years, moved into a flat off King's road and set up a company, Maldive Travel, with backing from Maldive friends. "I was given very little money to start it up and I knew nothing about telexes or how to run a business, but my friends in Male were always there to help me," she says.
De Laroque has come a long way since making her first tentative steps with a small stand at the 1986 World Travel Mart at London's Olympia. "I had no props at all, so I decided to hang a few T-shirts up for decoration - it looked like a shop window," she laughs. Today she has no need to advertise. She sends 800 clients a year to the islands, and many of them are repeat visitors. "I am very picky about who I send out. If I think someone is looking for a gin palace holiday, then I simply turn them away. The Maldives are not wildly sophisticated - if the weather is bad there is nothing to do. There is little entertainment, you are stuck in the middle of the Indian Ocean, and all the food is imported. I simply refuse to sell it badly."
Maldive Travel is the only overseas company owned by the Maldivians and dedicated to tourism, but it would be unjust to call it a tourist office. De Laroque looks after Maldive businessmen in London and serves as guardian for Maldive children, mentoring them through school and university. "When Muslims give you their children to look after, it's the highest accolade you can have," she says proudly. She has also set up libraries on several islands, and has also shipped out more than 10,000 books to fill them.
Her passion is extraordinary, but what makes a London debutante grow up to dedicate her life to the welfare of an island backwater? "Today it's so difficult to get away from the rat race, and there is such serenity in the Maldives. It is a very healing and calming place with the most intense beauty," she says. "There are no beggars, no crime and it is so clean and private."
At the end of three years, the Maldive Government gave her the official title Maldive lady in recognition of her self-made ambassadorial role. Fifteen years on, she has divorced her husband of 27 years, moved into a flat off King's road and set up a company, Maldive Travel, with backing from Maldive friends. "I was given very little money to start it up and I knew nothing about telexes or how to run a business, but my friends in Male were always there to help me," she says.
De Laroque has come a long way since making her first tentative steps with a small stand at the 1986 World Travel Mart at London's Olympia. "I had no props at all, so I decided to hang a few T-shirts up for decoration - it looked like a shop window," she laughs. Today she has no need to advertise. She sends 800 clients a year to the islands, and many of them are repeat visitors. "I am very picky about who I send out. If I think someone is looking for a gin palace holiday, then I simply turn them away. The Maldives are not wildly sophisticated - if the weather is bad there is nothing to do. There is little entertainment, you are stuck in the middle of the Indian Ocean, and all the food is imported. I simply refuse to sell it badly."
Maldive Travel is the only overseas company owned by the Maldivians and dedicated to tourism, but it would be unjust to call it a tourist office. De Laroque looks after Maldive businessmen in London and serves as guardian for Maldive children, mentoring them through school and university. "When Muslims give you their children to look after, it's the highest accolade you can have," she says proudly. She has also set up libraries on several islands, and has also shipped out more than 10,000 books to fill them.
Her passion is extraordinary, but what makes a London debutante grow up to dedicate her life to the welfare of an island backwater? "Today it's so difficult to get away from the rat race, and there is such serenity in the Maldives. It is a very healing and calming place with the most intense beauty," she says. "There are no beggars, no crime and it is so clean and private."
It is no coincidence, she says, that the Maldives are best known as a scuba-diving destination. "The fish just ambush you, and sharks are two-a penny." She recalls a letter she received from the German dive master on Bandos before her first fateful visit. "In broken English he wrote 'I look forward the teaching you to dive, and on the third dive. I take my clients to the sharks!' What a scream," she laughs. "I wrote back and thanked him for his offer, saying I would rather not accept, but that I very much looked forward to him taking my husband to the sharks - that was before I divorced him," she giggles.
Today there are few Maldive dive sites unknown to de Laroque, but one incident eight years ago stands out in her memory. "Perhaps it was because I was wearing pink. Anyway, I could see this huge stingray coming towards me, and it washed right over me, smothering me from my fins to my face - it felt incredibly soft, like chamois leather. Then another one came along and did the same thing. They would not leave me alone, and then I felt a clamp om my arm, and it was a turtle!" she exclaims. "I ended up with a bruise like nobody's business."
Today there are few Maldive dive sites unknown to de Laroque, but one incident eight years ago stands out in her memory. "Perhaps it was because I was wearing pink. Anyway, I could see this huge stingray coming towards me, and it washed right over me, smothering me from my fins to my face - it felt incredibly soft, like chamois leather. Then another one came along and did the same thing. They would not leave me alone, and then I felt a clamp om my arm, and it was a turtle!" she exclaims. "I ended up with a bruise like nobody's business."
For all her experience, de Laroque insists it is not the islands themselves that have drawn her back time and again, but the people. "I have met all nationalities but these people are just extraordinary, perhaps because they have never been colonised. They are proud, family-minded and completely independent, and they simply took over my life."
In the last 20 years the number of resorts in the Maldives has swelled from 11 to 74, and there are 14 more in the pipeline.
"Tourism has been nothing but a blessing - all the outer islands are now connected by phone, they have health clinics and average life expectancy has risen from 51 to 71." De Laroque does, however, have one fear for the future. "The signs of global warming are ominous. None of the islands is more than 2m above sea level, and the seas are rising. In most places it is alright to lose a bit here or there, but in the Maldives you are talking about losing a whole nation."
Lately de Laroque has been collating her thoughts for a book about her life, The Maldives Lady: Her Story, due to be published during 1999. On reflection, she concludes that her unyielding fascination with the islands is more than accidental. Following a consultation with a psychic, she believes her spirit is guided by one Sultana Khadeeja Rehendi Kabaidhi Kilege, a 14th-century female ruler of the Maldives. "The psychic told me that I was dangling at the end of a line and that, however much I struggled I would never get off it. He said I would be happier if I stopped fighting and just accepted my lot, so that's what I did," she smiles. "And guess what? I decided that when I died I would have my ashes dispersed on a tiny island called Mini Masgali. Only later I have found out that the name Mini Masgali means 'isle of bones' - isn't that spooky?
In the last 20 years the number of resorts in the Maldives has swelled from 11 to 74, and there are 14 more in the pipeline.
"Tourism has been nothing but a blessing - all the outer islands are now connected by phone, they have health clinics and average life expectancy has risen from 51 to 71." De Laroque does, however, have one fear for the future. "The signs of global warming are ominous. None of the islands is more than 2m above sea level, and the seas are rising. In most places it is alright to lose a bit here or there, but in the Maldives you are talking about losing a whole nation."
Lately de Laroque has been collating her thoughts for a book about her life, The Maldives Lady: Her Story, due to be published during 1999. On reflection, she concludes that her unyielding fascination with the islands is more than accidental. Following a consultation with a psychic, she believes her spirit is guided by one Sultana Khadeeja Rehendi Kabaidhi Kilege, a 14th-century female ruler of the Maldives. "The psychic told me that I was dangling at the end of a line and that, however much I struggled I would never get off it. He said I would be happier if I stopped fighting and just accepted my lot, so that's what I did," she smiles. "And guess what? I decided that when I died I would have my ashes dispersed on a tiny island called Mini Masgali. Only later I have found out that the name Mini Masgali means 'isle of bones' - isn't that spooky?
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