Live like an 18th-century 0.1 percenter at this new hotel
Le Grand Contrôle, a lavish new retreat within the grounds of the historic Château de Versailles, offers you the opportunity to impersonate a French aristocrat.
View of the Château de Versailles’ Orangery. The Grand Contrôle is the first hotel on the château’s grounds. @Renée Kemps
My wife and I arrive with suitcases packed with clothes, trying to look as rich as possible. At newly opened hotel the Grand Contrôle, the first on the grounds of the Château de Versailles, we are greeted by staff members dressed as 18th-century servants. We have been granted temporary membership of today’s 0.1 per cent to relive the lives of the 18th-century 0.1 per cent. Call it Marie Antoinette with plumbing.
We were ready for a bit of luxury after a typical day in pandemic-era Paris: work, scurry home for the 6pm curfew, finish dinner before 7pm, then bed at 10.30pm because what else were you going to do? Now we have gone from sensory deprivation to extreme overstimulation in the original luxury destination, Versailles.
