LIFE BY LEXUS 40
THE RITZ, PARIS The meeting place of artists and writers, fashion designers and royalty, the Ritz was opened in 1898 by Swiss hotelier César Ritz. It’s long exuded an air of mystery and slightly decadent darkness, hinting at controversy and drama. It’s said that the Duke of Windsor, Edward VIII and his lover, Wallis Simpson, needed to be pried out of the bathtub by two valets, prompting the replacement of oversized baths, while the Marquise Casati was believed to keep two cheetahs in her suite, along with a drugged python she wore around her neck. During the German occupation of Paris in World War II, the
Ritz was the only hotel in the city where Nazi officers shared occupancy with French civilians. It become a mini-Switzerland and all weapons were locked away. Coco Chanel lived at the Ritz for 35 years until her death
in 1971 and her room is now known the Coco Chanel Suite. It’s believed she found inspiration for her famous Chanel No 5 bottle looking out one of the hotel windows. It was also rumoured that during the war years, she had a romantic liaison with Baron Hans Gunther von Dincklage, a German officer and spy, who came to her room for secret trysts. And it was at the Ritz that Princess Diana and her boyfriend
Dodi Al-Fayed, son of the hotel’s current owner, Mohamed Al- Fayed, spent their last evening before their fatal car cash in the Ponte d’Alma tunnel. Despite its scandalous overtones, though, the Ritz is also a place of dreams and passion. As actress Sophia Loren once claimed: “It’s the most romantic hotel in the world because a woman really feels that a man loves her if he takes her there.” The hotel was closed in 2012, opening four years later after
extensive renovations carried out at the behest of Al-Fayed. The aim was restore it to the standards of luxury and innovation that made it famous. As novelist Ernest Hemingway once said: “When I dream of the afterlife in heaven, the action always takes place in the Ritz. When in Paris, the only reason not to stay there is if you can’t afford it.” Did you know? When the occupying Wehrmacht troops finally fled Paris, Hemingway dashed to the Ritz’s bar – his favourite watering hole – gun in hand. Spotting the hotel manager, Claude Auzello, Hemingway asked: “Where are the Germans? I’ve come to liberate the Ritz!” “Monsieur,” replied Auzello, “they’ve already left. And I cannot let you enter with a weapon.” Hemingway reportedly put his gun away and celebrated by running up a tab for 51 dry martinis.
www.ritzparis.com
© Vincent Leroux
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