The series suggests it was Al-Fayed’s idea to restore the once stately three-story limestone residence at 4 rue du Champ d’Entraînement after the former Duchess of Windsor Wallis Simpson died in 1986. (The ex-king died in 1972.) But it was Paris’s then mayor, Jacques Chirac, who suggested the businessman assume a tenancy with a nominal lease, similar to the Windsors’—in exchange for rehabbing the dilapidated 19th-century villa. Al-Fayed was not only receptive to the idea, but he also proposed keeping and refurbishing the furnishings and art objects—including a disintegrating banner from Edward VIII’s brief reign, the Chippendale mahogany table at which he signed his abdication letter, his ceremonial sword, and his polo trophies—which were all set to be auctioned off. (The 18th-century French furniture, bibelots, and china the couple bequeathed upon their deaths to French museums, including Versailles, were not included.)
Three years and $14.4 million later, Al-Fayed brought the mansion and surrounding two acres of gardens, originally conceived as a summer residence for the famed French urban planner Georges-Eugène Haussmann, back to their former glory. He called the private residence “Villa Windsor” and designated the first two floors a museum that he said would only be open to “historians, members of the British royal family, personalities, friends, and important guests of the Ritz.” The third floor’s remodeled seven rooms were reserved for his family.
The interiors of the residence that AD described as a blend of “old-fashioned pomp and postwar posh,” as if “Buckingham Palace met Versailles with a Café Society chaser” were designed for the Windsors by Stéphane Boudin of Maison Jansen, once the premier Parisian decorating firm. Accessed through a wrought-iron gate, the columned entry’s front door bore a bronze royal crest. (The Crown’s third season used West Wycombe Estate as a stand-in for the exterior; in the latest installment, Halton House plays the part.)
A two-story Italianate hall—with a trompe l’oeil blue-sky ceiling, and walls mimicking marble—featured tapestries and a Japanese screen said to be a gift from emperor Hirohito. The gallery led to the home’s public areas, all filled with reminders of the Windsors’ favorite pet pugs—in photographs, on porcelain, and on cushions. A pale blue sitting room had 18th-century paneling from an old chateau, gold upholstered seating, and the restored Chippendale table (which Al-Fayed offered to the British government) in front of French doors overlooking a garden.