Un Jardin Pour Eugénie : La Dernière Impératrice Au Cap Martin

Exiled to England since the fall of the Second Empire, in 1891 Empress Eugenie ordered the construction of a residence on Cap Martin, which she occupied until her death in 1920. In this remote, wild and arid region of southern France, which had become a popular holiday destination for wealthy winter visitors, the first ornamental gardens sprang up around magnificent villas, inspired by well-established English society and know-how from Germany. The ancient garden was reinvented and a touch of the exotic added to the harmony of these new spaces.

The garden of the Villa Cyrnos served as the backdrop for the former Empress's new social life, as close to her domestic as to the princely, scientific and artistic personalities visiting the Riviera. Her most illustrious guests included Queen Victoria, Empress Sissi, Prince Albert I of Monaco, Rodin, Rosa Bonheur and Cocteau. Cameras were able to immortalise these illustrious gatherings on glass plates.

The result of lengthy research by the author of this book, these photographs rival the Archives de la Planète set up by the patron Albert Kahn, whose rarity and exceptional quality have left posterity with an authentic image and an anachronistic impression of our contemporary world before 1914. The wealth of documents preserved in the archives of the Princely Palace of Monaco completes the iconographic value of this ground-breaking history book.