Edward VIII’s Villa Windsor Will Open to the Public for the First Time Ever
Did you know that a former British king was hidden away at the edge of the Bois de Boulogne in western Paris? The French villa where Edward VIII lived for decades with his American wife, Wallis Simpson, is set to open to the public for the first time ever to coincide with the Paris Olympics this summer, according to the Mansart Foundation.
The edifice, built in 1929 by architect Roger Bouvard, was originally conceived as a summer home for Paris’s famed urban planner Georges-Eugéne Haussmann. It would go on to become the residence of General Charles de Gaulle in his pre-presidential days, before falling into the hands of the Windsors in 1952.
A little backstory: Edward VIII reigned in 1936 for just under a year, before abdicating the throne due to his engagement to Simpson, an American socialite who was in the process of divorcing her second husband. At the time, the Church of England prohibited divorcées to remarry. This led to the crowning of George VI—and later, the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. The Duke and Duchess of Windsor, however, were content to live in this 14-room mansion until their deaths in 1972 and 1986, respectively.
The then-dilapidated mansion was next leased by the city of Paris to Mohamed Al-Fayed. You might have seen a fictitious interpretation of the villa (the exquisite Halton House was a stand-in for the estate) in The Crown’s season 5, when Egyptian businessman Mohamed Al-Fayed sets his mind to restoring the villa, noting that “no matter the cost, it will be my gift to the British royal family.”
“Al-Fayed originally intended it as a home for his son Dodi and had planned an engagement lunch there for Dodi and [Princess] Diana,” Albéric de Montgolfier, president of Fondation Mansart, told CNN. However the couple died in a car crash the day before the lunch was scheduled.
Four years after the tragic event, the city of Paris leased it to de Montgolfier’s Mansart Foundation, which announced last year that the run-down neoclassical structure will be given a multimillion-dollar renovation and will open as a museum and event space this summer. While an exact date has not yet been shared, the renovations reportedly include a permanent exhibition about the history of the building, a café, and a restaurant. Admission will be free and open to the public.
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