Compiegne is ideal for a day trip from Paris. Just north of the French capital in Picardy, its star attraction is the Chateau, the Palace of Compiegne. The two-storey building of mellow yellow stone, complete with classical columns, is built around a series of cobbled courtyards. It’s large and imposing, and seems a little strange in the middle of this small attractive town.
It was Louis XIV in the 17th century who turned the Palace into the playground of the Kings of France. They and their considerable circle of aristocratic friends, valets, servants, horses and carriages flocked here to hunt in the nearby forest before sitting down to grand feasts and balls that had them dancing into the early hours of the morning.
From 1856 Napoleon III and his wife Empress Eugenie spent a considerable amount of their year here, organizing a “Series”, events attended by the scientists and musicians, men of letters and artists of the day.
The first meeting between the future ill-fated Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette of Austria took place here in 1770. Then came the Revolution in 1789; the King and Marie-Antoinette lost their heads and the Palace was taken over as a military school then became a college. In 1806 it caught the eye of Napoleon who had the building restored. Compiegne Palace continued to delight and satisfy the over-the-top tastes of the rulers of the Second Empire throughout the 19th century.
During World War I, between 1917 and 1918, it served as the headquarters of Petain. The Palace largely escaped destruction in World War II which took a considerable toll on the town.
