[2] Originally named Château Le Bois, the villa is a French Neoclassical-style building of fourteen rooms and is surrounded by a large tree-filled garden.

While the villa served as their main residence, the Windsors also owned a country house (Moulin de la Tuilerie), where they spent most weekends and summer holidays.

Before World War II and for a period thereafter, the Duke and Duchess had lived in a rented villa (Château de la Croë) at the Cap d'Antibes on the French Riviera.

Following the deaths of Al-Fayed's son Dodi and Diana, Princess of Wales, the auction was postponed, but it eventually took place in February 1998 at Sotheby's New York with more than 40,000 items for sale, divided into 3,200 lots.

[7] Members of the British royal family were believed to have purchased all, bar a tiny handful of the items in the sale, though officially they remained anonymous.

[10] Following a call for expressions of interest in 2021, and a selection process between a few candidates, the Paris Council decided to entrust the property to the Mansart Foundation [fr].