The article suggests he had a Napoleonic complex. In the great movie of Napolean's Last Stand, it seems he lived quite the life on "his" island..... his only true friend a local girl who contrived to seduce him and vex her father into sending her off to school in civilization on terms which could truly satisfy.
whatchya gonna do with all that money if not get shoes with thicker soles, better wines and clothes.
And besides, it was not his own idea to get bigger, it was his girls'.
The movie is "Eagle in a Cage". It is a virtual revelation on international intrigue generated by the City of London.