The Château de Marchais is an historic
château
A château (, ; plural: châteaux) is a manor house, or palace, or residence of the lord of the manor, or a fine country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally, and still most frequently, in French-speaking re ...
in
Marchais, Aisne
Marchais () is a commune in the Aisne department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. It takes its name from the Latin 'mercasius' or marshland.
The 16th century Chateau de Marchais is a private residence of the Princes of Monaco, since bei ...
, near
Laon
Laon () is a city in the Aisne Departments of France, department in Hauts-de-France in northern France.
History
Early history
The Ancient Diocese of Laon, which rises a hundred metres above the otherwise flat Picardy plain, has always held s ...
in northern France.
History
The château was built in the 16th century.
It was purchased in 1553 by
Charles, Cardinal of Lorraine, a member of the
House of Guise.
From 1836 to 1854, the château belonged to Senator
Achille Joseph Delamare.
It has been in the possession of the
Monégasque princely family since 1854.
married
Lady Mary Victoria Hamilton at the château in 1869.
died there in 1889.
In 1927,
Léon-Honoré Labande, the archivist of the
Prince's Palace of Monaco
The Prince's Palace of Monaco (; ) is the official residence of the Monarchy of Monaco, Sovereign Prince of Monaco. Built in 1191 as a Republic of Genoa, Genoese fortress, during its long and often dramatic history it has been bombarded and bes ...
, authored ''Le château et la baronnie de Marchais''. During the
Battle of France
The Battle of France (; 10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign (), the French Campaign (, ) and the Fall of France, during the Second World War was the Nazi Germany, German invasion of the Low Countries (Belgium, Luxembour ...
,
Louis II, Prince of Monaco
Louis II (Louis Honoré Charles Antoine Grimaldi; 12 July 1870 – 9 May 1949) was Prince of Monaco from 26 June 1922 to 9 May 1949.
Early years
Born in Baden-Baden, Louis II was the only child of Albert I, Prince of Monaco (1848–1922), and L ...
, remained in possession of the chateau until forced to leave by the advance of German troops on May 17, 1940.
The property contains two farms; its acreage is six times the size of the principality of Monaco. In the mid-1980s,
Prince Rainier III of Monaco acquired a herd of camels, an African buffalo and two
guanaco
The guanaco ( ; ''Lama guanicoe'') is a camelid native to South America, closely related to the llama. Guanacos are one of two wild South American camelids; the other species is the vicuña, which lives at higher elevations.
Etymology
The gua ...
s from a bankrupt zoo, and placed them at the château.
Further reading
*
References
Châteaux in Aisne
House of Grimaldi
Houses completed in the 16th century
16th-century establishments in France
{{France-castle-stub