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On
Sunday afternoon, everyone reviving from the
Grand Bal at the Orangerie at Versailles, the group traveled
by cars and buses
about forty-five minutes west of Paris to a Fete Champetre, called
for 6 PM at the residence of M. et Mme. Jean de Yturbe,
the Chateau d’Anet. The chateau, which began construction
in 1547 and completed five years later was built by Henri II of France for
his mistress Diane de Poitiers.
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The
gatehouse of Chateau
d’Anet |
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Diane,
who was eighteen years older than the king, was a beautiful
woman who maintained her beauty well into
her fifties. She
was so trusted by the king that she wrote many of his official
letters
for him and even signed them jointly with one name: HenriDiane.
Considered the brains behind the throne, she was even put
in charge of the
royal children’s education. Henri adored
her so that she was entrusted with the Crown Jewels of France,
and given the chateau at Chenonceaux as well.
None of this appealed to his wife, the Queen, née Catherine
de Medici. Although she could do nothing about it,
when the king died unexpectedly after a jousting accident,
she exacted her
revenge. Diane, deprived of visiting the king on his deathbed
(despite his calling out for her) was not allowed to attend
his funeral and banished from Chenonceaux. She went to live
at Chateau
d’Anet. Worst things have happened to banished mistresses.
The gatehouse, the triumphal arch, is crowned with a stag and
four hounds, with a bronze nymph (said to be Diane) on the tympan,
by Benvenuto Cellini.
Diane spent the rest of her days at the famous chateau with its
private chapel said to be the greatest Renaissance chapel
in France. She died there in 1566 at the age of 66, where she
was
entombed in a special chapel built for her. During the 17th
and 18th Century, the chateau passed into the hands of the Dukes
of Vendome, the Duchess du Maine and Duke
de Penthievre,
some
members of the royal family, children of Madame de
Maintenon and legitimized by Bourbon kings. It had many famous visitors
including Mary, Queen of Scots and Louis
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Interiors
of what some consider the greatest Renaissance private
chapel in France
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In the late
18th Century it was occupied by the Prince and Princess
de Lamballe. The princess was a close friend of Marie-Antoinette.
In 1792, the princess took an ill-advised and fatal trip to Paris
to visit her friend and was captured and imprisoned by the terrorists.
On her way to the guillotine (in what is now the Place de la Concorde)
she was pulled by the mob from her cart, hacked to death, with
her head stuck on a pike to be paraded before the window of the
queen.
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A
portrait of Diane
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During the Revolution,
like so many chateau in France, d’Anet was mostly
destroyed by the plundering mobs. In 1823, Louis-Philippe, the
restored king, sold the chateau. In 1860, almost a ruin, it was sold again to
a wealthy industrialist Ferdinand Moreau who eventually restored
a third of it which is now the remaining chateau. M. Yturbe, its present owner,
is the great-grandson of Moreau.
The house, built by Philibert de L’Orme, is considered
his masterpiece. Tall, wide windows fill it with light. A good part of it is
open to visitors between April and October from 2 to 6:30 PM.
The American Friends of Versailles' guests were all guests of the Yturbes on
this day. Also visiting and staying there were Prince and Princess Michael
of Kent. Princess Michael, as readers of NYSD have read here, has completed
her biography of the triangular marriage and affair of Henri, Catherine and Diane, The
Serpent and the Moon, to be published by Simon & Schuster in September.
It was another beautiful day when we arrived at the chateau. It
was a sightseeing trip but private so that one felt free to look and touch although
the history permeating the place gave everything a reverential and even awesome
quality. The French who are affluent live with a grand style that is not apparent
anywhere (at least to these eyes) in America. It is not just a question of size
but a style that is distinctly old world, rich in history, and in texture.
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Sandy
de
Yturbe
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At the top of
the staircase, through a large reception room is Diane’s
bedroom with an oak headboard carved with the emblems of Diane de Poitiers, the
three intertwined crescents, with a figure of Diane as Juno attended by a peacock.
There is a tapestry on the wall which is signed “Duchesse de Valentinois” which
shows that it is the work of Diane herself. There are two pictures on the wall – Diana
asleep and Diana hunting. It was said that when the king rendezvoused with Diane
at Anet, they retired to this room and remained there for eight days.
After the tour and the champagne and wine on the terrace everyone moved across
the lawn to the big white tent set up by the lake for a three-course buffet followed
by a cabaret act of Alex Donner (same cabaret he performs at
the Café Carlyle), and after the sun finally went down, fireworks. Another
extraordinary day on the program for the American Friends of Versailles. |
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Francine
LeFrak
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Daisy
and Paul Soros
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Barbara
Main
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Mr.
and Mrs.
Josh Berman
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L.
to r.: Pierre-Andre Lablaude and Jean
de Yturbe; The grand staircase and the foyer. |
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L.
to r.: The chapel seen through a window in
the house; The main reception room. |
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L.
to r.: The
sitting room; The library.
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L.
to r.: The chateau seen through a window from
the third story. The red brick building on the right
is the tomb of Diane de Poitiers; Joan Tobin arrives
to
share
the view.
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Parker
Ladd and Kay Krehbiel
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Liz
Stiffel
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Christian
Duvernois and Arnold Scaasi
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L.
to r.: The dressing room; The bed Diane
shared with Henri II.
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L.
to r.: A look in the attic; The scene back down
in the dining room.
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L.
to r.: The
tympan by Benvenuto Cellini of Diane
and the stag; The tomb of Diane de Poitiers. |
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Howdy
Holmes with his grandmother and mother
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Elizabeth
Segerstrom
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Maria
Manetti Farrow, Christian Odasso, Catharine Hamilton,
and Becca Thrash
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Flowers
all around at Chateau d’Anet
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L.
to r.: Charles-Louis and Helene, the Comte and Comtesse
de Mortemart; The host Jean
de Yturbe with the celebrated Les Trompes de France. |
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The
guests making their way to dinner
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L.
to r.: Jean Bond Rafferty and Kiaran Rafferty;
Eric de Villeneuve; Juan Edwardo Aranguiz.
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Elizabeth
Stribling and Dorothy Cherry
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DPC
and R. Couri Hay
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Donna
de Varona, Patty Hearst, and Kimberly Rockefeller
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The
lake in the park
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The
dinner tent
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Anne-Marie
and Edouard de Ganay with Sharon Hoge
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Exiting
the chateau at 10:45 PM.
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