Some of the ways the rich can amuse and refresh themselves today include spas in the Maldives with glass floors offering views of brightly coloured fish during treatment, private retreats in the mountains of St Lucia costing thousands per night, and fabulous overnight trains through Rajasthan. But the last word in luxury is still to be found in the heartlands of European civilisation – France – and it almost always involves the creative, bordering on unbelievable co-option of heritage, only possible through the most fabulous contacts, patience and expense.
So after a year of trying, I finally found myself sleeping on the grounds of the chateau of Versailles, in the former residence of the family of Jacques Necker, Louis XVI’s banker, and specifically in the former apartments of his daughter, Madame de Stael, the most famous woman in 19th century Europe.
The chateau, Le Grand Contrôle, has been restored by the Airelles Group and now offers an immersive experience of 1788 quite unlike anything else in the world. For a start, the hotel grounds give onto the orangerie, with the famous steps leading up to the palace; our rooms looked out on them. It was a view almost too incredible to be believed.
The hotel is quirkier than most, with an almost kitsch quality that is intended, one assumes, to appeal to Americans and East Asians
To fully evaluate the ambitious Grand Contrôle and its exquisite restoration, I felt it was my duty to visit with a historian of France – Dr Tom Stammers, a professor at the University of Durham, who has written extensively about the French Revolution and the objects associated with it. He knows his ormolu from his wood gilding, his fauteuil de bureau (desk chair) from his Fauteuils à coiffeur (hairdressing chair) and, unlike me, cares more about the pitch of a Louis XV cupboard than about fine wines. So we had our bases covered.
The Grand Contrôle was built in 1681 by Jules Hardoin-Mansart, Louis XIV’s favourite architect, and its interiors were stripped down during French Revolution. In the 20th century, it was used by the army. A massive restoration – five years’ work – preceded the opening of the hotel in 2021. Everything is peachy-hued and immaculate. Airelles told us that they used inventories from 1788 to furnish and redecorate the building and rooms. The original pieces are gone, but careful scouring of antiques dealers and auctions have resulted in rooms stuffed with wonderful 18th-century antique furniture with gorgeous toile de jouy walls. Dr Stammers was in heaven – and that was before we were led to our enormous ‘apartements’ dotted with trays of macarons, views of the orangerie and palace, and a sitting room complete with a beautiful 18th-century parquet wood games table.
The hotel is quirkier than most in this price point, with an almost kitsch quality that is intended, one assumes, to appeal to Americans and East Asians – it is slightly reminiscent of Disney for the superrich. Staff are dressed as though they’re from 1788, with breeches, boots and waistcoats. Dinner is served in the style of Louis XVI’s court, with gongs sounded between courses by serving wenches and a menu and tableware lifted straight out of the archival records of the Versailles kitchen – somewhat eccentric, but beguilingly on-point. And the recipes created by by Louis’s chef Vatelles were tasty, with standout elements including a creamy chicken and a fabulous citron noir (black lemon). Dinner begins and ends with eggs – just as in royal days.
There is a bookable ‘experience’ which takes about two hours in which you can be made up and dressed as a courtier of pre-revolutionary Versailles. You can be taken for a private performance in the Versailles opera, or opt for a Marie Antoinette-themed day, including costume fitting and horse riding.
You can find wonderful opulence and well-preserved heritage in many places. But it is only here that you can have a private tour of an empty Versailles at night and, by morning, before it opens, of Marie Antoinette’s retreat, Le Petit Trianon. Parading alone at dusk through the Hall of Mirrors is an experience that is worth a very high price indeed; Dr Stammers, having been to Versailles with the crowds many times, nearly collapsed with glee and wonder: ‘To have the “gallerie de glass” to yourself is an experience only Beyoncé could dream of’. Our guide pulled back the curtain so we could look right at where Louis stood on the balcony before his people and where Marie Antoinette faced down her revolutionary crowds.
For Dr Stammers, it was the private experience of the Petit Trianon that stunned. The intimacy – the key thing about Marie Antoinette’s playful hideaway – was there for us and us alone to appreciate. Even in its heyday, the Petit Trianon was very hard to access, picked precisely for this reason. Even the king needed a token to be allowed in. Inside, we saw the famous mirrored shutter that kept prying eyes out – much to the suspicion and chagrin of the public.
We saw private 19th-century rooms that belonged to Louis Phillipe, the ‘citizen king’ who ruled from 1830 to 1848 Marie Louise, Napoleon’s second wife, and the Duchesse d’Orleans. One room was marked No 67, a reminder that the building was briefly used as an auberge. Perhaps the most daring flourish from the past instituted at Le Grand Contrôle of the present is the levee, the public daily wakening and toilet of the king, which saw 200 people pile in to watch him open his eyes in the morning.
We didn’t have 200 viewers watching, but we did have the astonishing experience of a duo of perfectly clad, booted men rasping with a special instrument before entering, flinging open the curtains, handing us a small glass of sweet almond milk and running a bath – with rose petals in it. Things didn’t end well for the final lot of pre-revolutionary Bourbons, but at least I can testify that it was jolly nice while it lasted.
Le Grand Contrôle, from €2000 per night.
Zoe travelled to France as a guest of Eurostar, £78 each way, taking just over two hours between London and Paris.
Comments