Type Chateau Completed 16th century | Country France Town or city Marchais, Aisne | |
Owner Albert II, Prince of Monaco Similar Hamilton Palace, North Sea, Saint Nicholas Cathedral, Monaco City, Prince's Palace of Monaco | ||
Ch teau de marchais
The Château de Marchais is a historic chateau in Marchais, Aisne, near Laon in northern France.
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History
The chateau was built in the 16th century. It was purchased in 1553 by Charles, Cardinal of Lorraine, a member of the House of Guise. From 1836 to 1854, the chateau belonged to Senator Achille Joseph Delamare.
It has been in the possession of the Monégasque princely family since 1854. Prince Albert I of Monaco married Lady Mary Victoria Hamilton at the chateau in 1869. Prince Charles III of Monaco died at the chateau in 1889.
In 1927, Léon-Honoré Labande, the archivist of the Prince's Palace of Monaco, authored Le château et la baronnie de Marchais. At the outset of World War II, Louis II, Prince of Monaco was in the chateau until May 17, 1939.
The property contains two farms; its acreage is six times the size of the principality of Monaco. In the mid-1980s, Prince Rainier III of Monaco acquired a herd of camels, an African buffalo and two guanacos from a bankrupt zoo, and placed them at the chateau.