Château de Randan

According to reports, the future King of the French purportedly pushed for this purchase and the subsequent renovations to secure a retreat away from Paris in times of peril, preferring an exile in Auvergne over a new emigration, although he was still forced to leave for England in March 1848, where he passed away two years later at Claremont.

Married to her first cousin, Philippe d'Orléans, the first Count of Paris, she set out to restore the estate to its former glory, introducing modern conveniences and enhancements such as electricity in 1909 and running water in 1912.

In 1915, after setting up a military hospital annex to the one in Vichy, the first Countess of Paris and her daughter, the Queen of Portugal, Amélie of Orléans, acted as nurses, caring for wounded soldiers.

The regional writer Henri Pourrat depicted this Bourbonnais castle and "its tapestries of black and pink bricks (...) the esplanade with noble shades (...) Its immense kitchens were famous, so well arranged that the aromas could not mingle to alter the flavor of the sauces."

The most exquisite pieces of furniture salvaged from the blaze were transported to Spain by the "Duchess of Montpensier"; the remaining items, including numerous hunting trophies of Ferdinand d'Orléans and dioramas crafted by the renowned English taxidermist Rowland Ward, were stored in the vast outbuildings of the castle.

This movement, created and later abolished by the Vichy regime, inspired by scouting and the military, aimed to "guide adolescents lost in the exodus and disadvantaged young boys," led by Henry Dhavernas and then Guillaume de Tournemire.

Indeed, she bequeathed her possessions to José María de Huarte, a Spanish aristocrat who served as her butler and secret second husband, possibly to avoid hefty inheritance taxes upon her death.

Henri d'Orléans, the "second Count of Paris," intervened with Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, President of the Auvergne Regional Council, to prevent Randan from being emptied and dismantled.

On October 30, 2000, at the Hôtel Drouot in Paris, a sale of "Historical Memorabilia from the Estate of Mgr Henri d'Orléans, Count of Paris" took place; on November 29 of the same year, the Millon et associés auction house sold one hundred and twenty pieces from the Randan Castle service "with a green mitt background" (Sèvres, 1838-1842, flower and fruit motifs by the painter Sinsson: probably Jacques-Nicolas or Pierre Sinsson), derived from the service of Louis-Philippe at Fontainebleau, comprising 1,352 pieces for sixty place settings, which was ordered by the king for his sister.

The chapel, in neoclassical style, retains all of its interior decoration, including parquet floors, stained glass windows, stucco work, and trompe-l'œil ceiling panels dating back to 1831.