Visiting Jonchet Castle

Romilly-sur-Aigre, Romilly-sur-Aigre in the Eure-et-Loir Eure-et-Loir of France, is located southwest of Paris. It is a small town with fewer than 500 inhabitants that has maintained its old-world charm.

In the early 1970s, Hubert de Givenchy, who held the title of Earl of France, acquired Jonchet Castle, a 16th-century France Renaissance- style castle in the area.

To create the castle garden, Givenchy approached Rachel Lambert Mellon, the eldest daughter-in-law of the Mellon family, who had designed the Rose Garden for the White House. This marked the beginning of a decades-long friendship between the two.

Despite its name, Jonchet Castle's design is closer to that of the Versailles Palace. Its primary purpose was residential and administrative, rather than a medieval fortress for warfare.

Since resigning as creative director of the LVMH Group and retiring from the fashion design world, Givenchy has been living a retired life at Jonchet Castle.

Focusing on collecting 17th and 18th-century bronze and marble sculptures,

Of course, Givenchy wasn't the only one living here; her husband, Philippe Venet, also a fashion designer, was also there.

This man co-founded the Givenchy brand with Hubert de Givenchy and served as its head tailor until he went solo in 1962.

However, their relationship did not end because of this, but continues to this day.

It takes about two hours to drive from Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport to reach this small town.

The area Jonchet Castle more than just the main buildings; it also includes a labyrinthine boxwood hedge, a rose garden designed by Rachel Lambert, a greenhouse, an artificial lake, a private Church, a moat, an indoor swimming pool, a dog cemetery, and a small forest.

So, in addition to Givenchy and his life partner living here, there were also quite a few servants living here, taking care of the castle's environment.

Incidentally, Hubert de Givenchy's father was the Marquis Givenchy of the France Taffin family, a title bestowed upon him in 1713 during the reign of the Sun Pharma King Louis XIV.

The title was inherited by Givenchy's elder brother, while his younger son only inherited the title of Earl, a secondary title.

Because they had made a prior appointment, Henry and his party entered the Jonchet Castle without any hindrance and arrived smoothly at the main building's gate. The 69-year- Givenchy himself stood at the gate to greet them, much to Henry's surprise.

After parking the car, Henry opened the door first, let the two ladies out, and then went to greet his unexpectedly enthusiastic friend with a French cheek kiss.

Bouncing, Givenchy.

Kuku, Henry. Long time no see.

Henry presented him with chocolates he had bought at La Maison du Chocolat, as well as his book, "Love from a Different Culture," which had been published some time ago—of course, only in English.

Although the chocolate was a high-end product, it was still only of commercial quality. Givenchy handed it to the servant behind him, but he picked up the book carefully and examined it closely. "This is the book Audrey recommended to you?"

"Yes. Fortunately, the book had Audrey Hepburn's endorsement on the cover, so it barely broke even. Sales were mediocre."

Why do I have this feeling that you were too lazy to market this book, which led to this result?

"Haha, haha." Henry laughed awkwardly. This retired fashion mogul still had a sharp eye. He turned and introduced the two people he'd brought. "These two are Charlize Theron and her agent, JJ Harris."

Turning back, he introduced them in the same manner, "Gentlemen, this is Count Hubert de Givenchy."

Since it was their first meeting, they were naturally bouncing around. However, they only exchanged a very ordinary handshake, rather than the usual greeting of a man kissing a woman's hand.

Givenchy didn't forget to introduce his partner. "This is Philippe Vignette, my husband."

"Nice to meet you." "A pleasure to meet you." "Good day."

The group entered the house.

Being invited to a France person's home is actually quite a rare privilege. After all, home is a very private place, unlike work or social settings.

If you're not close enough, it's almost impossible to get a visit to someone's home. This is unlike United States who frequently host parties at home and enjoy inviting a bunch of friends over.

However, for socialites like Givenchy and Mellon, whose "homes" are large enough, there will naturally be an area for receiving guests.

Upon arriving at Givenchy's home, everyone naturally had to see the rose garden designed by Mrs. Rachel Lambert, as well as Givenchy's private collection.

All I can say is that in the home of such a fashion icon, let's not use any fancy terms; in simple terms, it's incredibly comfortable everywhere.

It's visually pleasing, experientially comfortable, and the overall comfort of being there goes without saying. This isn't a feeling you get from simply piling up expensive items together.

Just like an excellent work of art, critics can spout a whole set of theories to prove how excellent it is. But for the average person, it's enough to simply say from the bottom of their heart, "It's beautiful."

Because they had come all the way from the United States, Henry and his companions were invited to stay for dinner, a rather informal French home-style meal.

Beef stew in red wine, garlic squash, Provençal stew, French savory pie, and of course, the classic baguette.

Actually, baguettes aren't really suitable for dinner. However, it seems that news of Henry's Givenchy's ears, so this was essentially a way to make Henry, who hadn't had enough of his main meal, continue to stuff himself with more.

When visiting someone else's home, Henry remained quite restrained, eating at a leisurely pace and naturally chatting about his experiences that day during the meal.

Works by masters such as Bernini, Puget, Girardon, Coysevox, Falconet, Pajou, Houdon are not uncommon in Givenchy's castles.

However, the majority of these are works by anonymous artists. They are not the work of any particular master, and sometimes the sculptures even exhibit some incongruous and bizarre aspects.

However, these anonymous works all have one thing in common: they are funny. When Henry was touring the castle, he burst out laughing when he saw a sculpture of Cupid, the god of love.

The laughter seemed to tickle Givenchy's itch, making him stop and chat with Henry about the interesting aspects of the Cupid statue.

Even though he's supposed to be Cupid, the little Angel's expression is one of deep sorrow and resentment. The hearts on the arrows—whether intentional on the part of the sculptor or simply a result of the stone's aging—are covered in cracks. Cupid is supposed to bring couples together, but this little guy seems to be there to break up relationships, or perhaps to find a mismatched pair to marry. How can one not burst out laughing?