The day that Elon Musk was ‘murdered’ in an English castle
© Charles Ward: A 30 year old Elon Musk lying on the floor, having been ‘murdered’
Back 2001, I received a call from the manager of Castle Ashby, a beautiful stately home in Northamptonshire. I knew the Castle well, having photographed a number of large weddings and events there over the years.
The photographic assignment was quite simple: I would be photographing a 30th birthday party for a number of wealthy Americans and it would end with a ‘murder mystery’ twist later that evening. I was briefed that the birthday boy was called Elon Musk (it didd’t mean anything to me back in those days) and he would be the one to be ‘murdered’ at the end of the party. I should not miss this photo opportunity!
It appears that Mr Musk has flown in from California with around 40 friends, family and work colleagues and had booked the Castle and grounds for week of celebrations. The birthday party was organised by a company called ‘As You Like It Productions’ and we met in the castle drawing rooms for them to meet the guests and issue the evening’s itinerary. I took the opportunity to photograph Elon with his glamorous mother Maye and his first wife Justine. Everyone seemed quite charming, friendly and keen to enjoy the evening’s activities. The date was Friday 15th of June 2001, around 13 days before Elon’s actual birthday on the 28th of June.
I left Elon and his guests sipping Duval-Leroy Champagne and went to take pictures of the state dining room before their arrival. From my elevated view on the balcony, I could see 4 tables, set for 10 people and an area arranged for a live band and a dance floor.
I returned to the drawing room to take more group photographs, ensuring that Elon, Maye and Janine were included in as many as possible. As I passed a table of presents, I noticed that one of them was wrapped in ‘Action Man’ paper. Clearly, Elon was someone who enjoyed a spot of adventure! I can’t be sure, but I think I recognised Elon’s father Errol, with his second wife. I am sure I also photographed his sister Tosca and brother Kimbal (hopefully, someone will confirm this)
The staff of ‘As you Like it Productions’ had been busy chatting to the guests and preparing them for the the ‘murder’ event after dinner and soon it was time for everyone to leave the reception and make their way into the grand dining room. I never photograph guests eating, so I took a break and waited for the speeches to begin.
I can’t remember much about the speeches, (we photographers are concentrating through the viewfinder and deciding which aperture and shutter speed to use), but Elon’s wife seemed to be keeping everyone entertained with plenty of anecdotes from Elon’s early life. The cake arrived to much applause and I noticed it was in the shape of a laptop computer, with the word’s ‘Happy 30th Birthday Elon’ written on the screen and surrounded by 30 lit candles. Clearly, this was another photo opportunity, so ensured that I captured the hand-over and a picture of Elon blowing out the candles. Having done so, I do remember thinking that Elon must be involved with computers to some degree!
NB: Elon Musk co-founded X.com, which later merged with Confinity, a company that developed a digital wallet called PayPal, in 2000. The merged company, initially named X.com, eventually focused on online payments and rebranded as PayPal. While Musk served as CEO for a brief period, he was later replaced by Peter Thiel. In 2002, PayPal was acquired by eBay for $1.5 billion, marking a significant milestone for the company and providing Musk with substantial capital for future ventures.
With the speeches and cake cutting completed, it was time for presents to be given to Elon and I could see him unwrapping them enthusiastically, holding them high in the air, while shouting his approval. This made for good photograpsh and I could see that Elon was quite a character.
It was now time for the event organisers to introduce everyone to the murder mystery evening and distribute pens and paper for everyone to try and work out ‘who dunnit? Many of the guests had been allocated a role to play and stood up to deliver their lines to much hilarity in the room. Suddenly, a waitress appeared at the top of the stairs and began shouting in distress, with her blood covered dress on full display. From then on, the murders seemed to be happening all around the room, until even Elon was ‘knifed’ with a rubber blade and lay on the floor, laughing and holding his stomach. Thankfully, I was just in the right spot to capture this event and I checked the image on the back of my digital camera (this was very early days for digital photography)
The band struck up and everyone gathered to finish the evening with a dance. I ensured that I took a picture of Elon dancing with his wife Janine and later with his mother Maye and a few other guest enjoying themselves and my evening was done. Back at the studio, I processed the digital photographs and added them to a CD, before posting it to an address in California with my invoice.
In normal circumstances, that would have been the end of an enjoyable, but fairly ordinary photoshoot and just one of many that I have covered over the past 40 years. Except this was no ordinary event and Elon Musk ent on to become the richest man in the world. My invoice was a very the reasonable sum of £495 and to this day remains unpaid. Perhaps, it is time to sell the rights to my archive of photographs? If you are interested, do email me!
Elon Musk Archive - please email me for a password
