The scene at the upscale Grove Hotel in Watford, England on Thursday was business as usual: wealthy patrons, including British soccer players and their decked-out trophy wives, strolled in the walled garden, manicured tennis courts and croquet lawns blooming with greenery. Folks stopped to say hello, chatting by the outdoor swimming pool.
But one thing stood in stark contrast to the idyllic normalcy of Grove's everyday: extensive security personnel kept watch at the entrance, using metal detectors to search arriving guests.
The hubbub was in light of an assembly of more than 100 of the world's most powerful, richest people, who gathered there for the Bilderberg Group meeting-a completely private conference where no media or members of the public are allowed. No minutes are taken, no agenda is detailed, no votes are cast, and certainly, no statements go publicized.
This is the stuff of illuminati dreams-a gathering that has gained legendary rank amongst conspiracy theorists and anti-capitalists.
Those in attendance of the Bilderberg meeting included Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde and former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, the Associated Press reported.
British Prime Minister David Cameron is expected to attend on Friday.
Nothing said within the walls of the Bilderberg meeting left the room. Security scaled the perimeter of the meeting room, ensuring that no media or public citizens somehow get into the conference.
The Bilderberg Group was first created in 1954 to bolster economic and military mutual efforts between Europe and the U.S. during the Cold War. The assembly is held annually at different locations scattered around Europe and North America, with but one prerequisite for the venue: it must be secluded.
The meeting was, and still is, meant for the most big league politicians, enterprisers and business people. The event got its name from the location of the first assembly- the Bilderberg Hotel in Oosterbeek, Holland.
Since that premiere conference, the pillar of secrecy has been maintained, for the most part. But in an attempt to open up a bit more about the meeting, Bilderberg Group established a website detailing who will be in attendance and topics of discussion, which include the economy, U.S. foreign policy, "cyber warfare and the proliferation of asymmetric threats...and major trends in medical research."
Despite Bilderberg having opened the door a mere crack, protesters and conspiracy theorists largely still regard the meeting as one cloaked in secrecy, where the world's richest and most elite come to plot away.
"When 130 of the leaders from all across the West get together, and many of these are billionaires, they are people who are immensely wealthy and immensely powerful," Michael Meacher, a legislator from England's Labour Party, told AP. "And when they all get together, it's not just to have a chat about the latest problem, it is to concert plans for the future of capitalism in the West. That is on a very different scale."
Protesters assembled on the grounds of the Grove Hotel on Thursday to express their disdain with the secretive nature of the meeting.
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