He was known as an avid promoter of capitalism and free market economics and for an extravagant lifestyle, spending on parties, travel, and his collection of homes, yachts, aircraft, art, motorcycles, and Fabergé eggs.

[9] Malcolm Forbes' lavish lifestyle was exemplified by his private Capitalist Tool Boeing 727 trijet, ever-larger Highlander yachts, and his French Chateau (Château de Balleroy in Normandy) as well as his opulent birthday parties.

[citation needed] He chose the Mendoub Palace (which he had acquired from the Moroccan government in 1970) in the northwestern city of Tangier, Morocco, to host his 70th birthday party.

Spending an estimated $2.5 million, he chartered a Boeing 747, a Douglas DC-8 and a Concorde to fly in eight hundred of the world's rich and famous from New York and London.

The guests included his friend Elizabeth Taylor (who acted as a co-host), Gianni Agnelli, Robert Maxwell, Barbara Walters, Henry Kissinger, six U.S. state governors, and the CEOs of scores of multinational corporations likely to advertise in his magazine.

The party entertainment was on a grand scale, including 600 drummers, acrobats and dancers and a fantasia—a cavalry charge ending with the firing of muskets into the air—by 300 Berber horsemen.

[11] While living abroad, his father returned to Buchan, Aberdeenshire, every two years, staying in the Cruden Bay Hotel, "to entertain people of Whitehill to a picnic".

The writer asked, "Is our society so overwhelmingly repressive that even individuals as all-powerful as the late Malcolm Forbes feel they absolutely cannot come out of the closet?

"[14] Even in death, the media was reluctant to disclose his sexuality; when The New York Times reported on the controversy, they did not name Forbes in their coverage, referring only to news about a "famous, deceased millionaire".