The Thyssen-Bornemisza trial which begins today has been billed by one overseas newspaper as the trial of the century.

What is sure is that it will be a long, protracted case that will cost millions of dollars and take up to a year to reach any kind of conclusion.

The saga involves a trust which is the holding entity of the sprawling Thyssen Bornemisza conglomerate with interests in ships, glass, plastics, car parts, trading companies, agricultural machinery and information systems.

In the civil case the family patriarch Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza is accusing his son Georg of prejudicing the interests of his four other children. He is attempting to win back control of the trust which he set up in 1983 through Bermuda law firm Conyers Dill and Pearman.

The baron was entitled to annuity payments from the trust. He is alleging he was misled over the terms of the trust and is seeking to set aside the trust on the grounds of undue influence, the abuse of confidence and misrepresentation.

The court case, which has already been delayed several times and has been hailed by The European newspaper as "the trial of the century'', is expected to involve dozens of lawyers and support staff, witnesses, members of the European media, reams of paper and hundreds of hours of court time.

The Thyssen pre-trial hearings involved about 17 lawyers in court with more supporting behind the scenes.

The baron is being represented by law firm Appleby Spurling & Kempe and his son by Cox Hallett & Wilkinson. The trustees of Continuity Trust, who are also defendants in the case, are represented by Conyers & Dill and Pearman.

Three of the UK's top salaried lawyers, who each earn more than $1 million a year are involved in the case.

They are Alan Boyle, representing Heini jnr and Robert Ham and Michael Crystal, representing Heini snr.

Mr. Crystal has said it will take up to six weeks for him just to make his opening presentation. Another week has been set aside for Georg's lead lawyer Mr. Boyle to make his opening argument for the defence and lawyer Nicholas Patten has been scheduled to take another week for his opening for the corporate defendants. The corporate defendants are Thybo Trustee Ltd., Tornabuoni Ltd. and Favorita Holdings Ltd.

For the past year all the disputes preliminary to the actual case have been fought in private hearings in a judge's chambers.

The case, which is being heard by Puisine Judge Denis Mitchell, will be held in the newly refurbished Booth Memorial Hall, where the Bermuda Fire & Marine Insurance Company case is also being heard.

Both BF&M and the Thyssen-Bornemisza were forced to spend $270,000 on the building to create two courtrooms so their cases could be heard more promptly.

Estimates of the cost of the court case run into millions of dollars, but no figure can be put on the cost because no one can say for sure how long the case will run for.