ABOUT
Operating as a Luxury Bed and Breakfast since 2013, and completely renovated in 2020. Moulin Royale is set to re-define the definition of the traditional Bed and Breakfast. Official hotel Partners with Frette, Chopard and Esteban. Each providing luxury elements to the awaken your senses. Set amongst acres of manicured gardens, natural forest and built beside a flowing stream that pushes its way through the estate, Moulin Royale delivers the true feeling of a Luxury Country Estate for you to call home. Situated in the heart of Foret de Compiegne and to an array of wildlife, including the magnificent Red Deer. Awaken each day to the sounds of the country.First recorded in History books in 1381, the original Mill, now the Hunting Lodge, operated as a Textile Mill, built by the Priest of Saint Pierre en Chastres. Originally the estate had a total of four streams running directly through the grounds that rotated the large stone wheels. Remnants of these are still located within the gardens today. Our little Ru Vandy stream was once 4 meters long and was the main canal where boats used to travel along to deliver wood to the Mill and surrounding villages.
In the 1830’s the Mill was specializing in the colouring of canvas and cottons, the Mill soon came to the attention of the Royale household as a supplier. Eugenie De Montijo, The Empress of France and wife of Napoleon III, took such an interest in the work that the Mill was producing that she further restored the Mill in the late 1840’s to expand colouring and textile production for the Royal Palace’s located in Compiegne and Fontainebleau. The colour Empress Blue was given her namesake to reflect her passion for colour, and her obsession towards experimenting with Chiffons, Lace and Silks from Lyon.
The Empress became renowned as a fashion icon of her time, working with couturiers designing Royal fashions of the Court. Today the Empress is credited as the creator of the Eugenie Hat and also the Spanish Bolero Jacket. The Eugenie hat became a fashion favourite in the 1930’s by the likes of Greta Gabo and today’s version, the modern millinery fascinator, remains a Royal favourite must have. Her passion with fitted gowns with heavily embroidered tops, heavy laces and silk overlays, saw the Empress often followed by the paparazzi of the day. Her overlay crop jackets with embellished designs became very popular across Europe, and no where more than her home Country of Spain where the jacket further evolved into the Spanish Bolero.
With the end of the French Empire, the Mill fell into disrepair and eventually was abandoned. In the 1960’s the Mill was purchased by a Russian philanthropist who removed the large central wheels of the Mill, redirected the streams to their locations of today, and installed 4 levels into the now Master Residence of the estate.
