Inside the Duke and Duchess of Windsor's French Home, "Villa Windsor," in Bois de Boulogne
When Edward VIII abdicated the throne, he sacrificed any hopes of moving into the British monarch's grand primary residence, Buckingham Palace. But that doesn't mean he and his bride, Wallis Simpson, had to live in squalor.
The pair, now known as the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, soon settled into a 14-room manse in the Parisian park Bois de Boulogne, which they rented for a small sum from the city. The duke and duchess knew it by its address, 4 Route du Champ d’Éntraînement; a later resident, Egyptian billionaire Mohamed al-Fayed, would rename it the "Villa Windsor."
The edifice was originally designed as a summer home for Paris's famed urban planner, Georges-Eugéne Haussmann, back in the mid-1800s. It would become an event venue, and a home for Charles de Gaulle, before coming under the Windsors' purview in 1952.
The Duchess soon put her own stamp on the building with the help of Stéphane Boudin, a legendary interior designer who would go on to help Jackie Kennedy with some rooms in the White House. He'd also assist with the renovation of the Duke and Duchess's home in the Parisian suburbs, Le Moulin de la Tuilerie.
At Villa Windsor, Boudin created a swirl of French and English aristocratic styles. Eighteenth-century panelling and "Wallis blue" paint framed treasures like a Venetian Rococo console table and Japanese screen, purported to be a gift from Emperor Hirohito. Simpson, who once noted that "the possession of beautiful things is thrilling to me," was pleased. She also added her own touches, including copious sketches, photographs, and portraits of her many pugs; pug-themed trinkets also abounded.
When Vogue photographer Horst P. Horst went to shoot the home in 1963, he seemed impressed most of all by its pristine condition. "It is hard to believe that there can ever have been an interior more surpassingly clean," Horst said, per Architectural Digest, "where crystal was more genuinely scintillating and porcelain more luminous, or where wood and leather, polished to the consistency of precious stone, could more truthfully be said to shine."
It was in this environment that the Windsors hosted their famous dinner parties. The likes of Marlene Dietrich, Aristotle Onassis, Elizabeth Taylor, and the Aga Khan. Once, Villa Windsor's future resident Al Fayed was invited. He later told the New York Times in 1986 that he remembered "the way they danced and their sense of fun."
Later on, Al Fayed would sign a 50-year lease of the property, with the intent of restoring the home to its former splendor. (After the Duke died, the Duchess resided in Villa Windsor alone for 13 years, and it had fell into disrepair.) "It’s like a mausoleum," Al Fayed told People in 1990, after completing a $12 million renovation. "It sometimes gives you the creeps—both of them having died here. But it’s still a happy place, a great fantasy which I love to live in."
And an accurate fantasy at that. "This is how it used to be," the couple's former footman, Sidney Johnson, told the Times in 1989. "Except there are no dogs around."
Unfortunately, Villa Windsor is not open to the public, and is still under Al Fayed's 50-year lease. The park in which it is situated, Bois de Boulogne, is open to tourists.
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