Was the Queen at Sacy?

In 2012, we were astonished to read that Her Maj had paid the château a three-night private visit in 1967. How did our forebears of the time, radical socialist MP Armand and Hermine Dupuis, know her? Which room did she sleep in? What did they give her to eat? Which of the dishes did they use? Did Prince Philip come too? What on earth did they chat about? The mind boggled.

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It was ironic considering how keen I was to send her an invitation to my 6th birthday party in London a few years later, insisting to my parents, 'Why not? We know where she lives!' It turned out there was already a family connection! 

But further research revealed the deflating truth in an old New York newspaper cutting: the French journalist had confused our house with a rather grander château with magnificent stables over 200 miles away in Normandy, Château de Sassy, owned by Duke D'Audiffret-Pasquier. 

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Five years later in 2017, we got another surprise to do with our name, this one not so amusing. A house in Marne named Villa Maria was converted to a swanky hotel and renamed Château de Sacy by its wealthy new owners, despite the centuries-old existence of our own and the confusion it would cause. We don't aim to compete with its Champagne bar, spa and room service but it would be better if our château, the original, got a look-in on the first page of Google. We don't think the Queen would have popped in there either.