Picture Saint-Cloud palace standing proudly. Not on Rue de Saint-Cloud itself, but in Saint-Cloud. This palace has a rich history connected to the street’s namesake.
The Palace of Saint-Cloud was a French royal residence. It overlooked the Seine River. It was about three miles west of Paris. The palace was important in Napoleonic history. Both Napoleon I and his nephew, Napoleon III, used it. The Palace of Saint-Cloud was also the summer home of the Bourbon kings in the 19th century. King Louis-Philippe also stayed there.
In the 1570s Catherine de Medici bought a country house. She gave it to Jérôme de Gondi. Gondi was a member of a banking family. He turned the house into a larger château. He added fountains and grottos to the gardens. Henry III was assassinated at the château in 1589.
Louis XIV bought the Château of Saint-Cloud in 1658. He gave it to his younger brother Philippe I Duke of Orléans. Philippe rebuilt the palace and decorated it. Saint-Cloud remained with the Orléans family until 1785. Louis XVI then purchased it for his wife, Marie Antoinette.
Marie Antoinette wanted healthier air for her children outside of Paris. She refurbished the palace. The French Revolution broke out in 1789. The royal family was placed under house arrest. Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were executed in 1793. The Palace of Saint-Cloud became French national property.
In 1799 Saint-Cloud was the site of Napoleon’s coup. His brother Lucien falsely said there was a Jacobin conspiracy. He said it would be safer to meet at Saint-Cloud. Napoleon stormed into the meetings with grenadiers. He became the First Consul of France.
Napoleon repaired the château to use as a residence. He liked Saint-Cloud because he had more freedom. There were fewer people than at the Tuileries Palace. Napoleon received the decree proclaiming him Emperor of the French there in 1804. He turned the Salon de Vénus into his throne room. One of Napoleon’s marriage ceremonies to Marie Louise occurred in the Apollo Gallery.
Napoleon’s staff had mixed feelings about Saint-Cloud. His valet, Louis Étienne Saint-Denis, found it confining. Captain Jean-Roch Coignet thought duty there was irksome. However they had good food and wine.
One day Napoleon drove a carriage with young horses. Josephine and her daughter Hortense were also in the carriage. He lost control and was thrown from his seat. He suffered a sprain and scratches.
Napoleon kept gazelles in the park. He brought them from Egypt. He liked to feed them snuff. Marie Louise once had an incident with a gazelle that made Napoleon furious.
Allied armies occupied France in 1814. Napoleon abdicated and went to Elba. British politician Edward Herbert visited Saint-Cloud. He admired the palace’s magnificence.
In 1815 Napoleon returned briefly before his final defeat. A military convention was signed at Saint-Cloud. It surrendered Paris to Prussian and British armies.
Louis XVIII became king of France. Charles X succeeded him and embellished Saint-Cloud. Caroline Cushing toured the palace. She described its rooms and furnishings in detail.
Louis-Philippe became king in 1830. He renovated and furnished the palace. An American diplomat described a dinner at Saint-Cloud in 1840.
Napoleon III and his wife Eugénie used the palace as a summer residence. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert stayed there in 1855. In 1859 the world’s first model railway was built in the park for Napoleon III’s son.
In 1870 Napoleon III declared war on Prussia. German forces occupied Saint-Cloud. They shelled Paris from the grounds. French fire hit the palace. It burned down on October 13 1870.
The remains of the palace were pulled down in 1891. Today only the gardens of the Parc de Saint-Cloud remain. Sinéad O’Connor’s “Nothing Compares 2 U” music video was filmed there.
So remember, as you walk along the Rue de Saint-Cloud, you’re connected to a place of royal history. A place of imperial ambition and ultimately, a place of tragic destruction.