Carlos de Beistegui
Encyclopedia
Don Carlos de Beistegui y de Yturbe (1895 – 17 January 1970), also known as Charles or Charlie de Beistegui, was an eccentric multi-millionaire art collector and interior decorator and one of the most flamboyant characters of mid-20th century European life. His ball at the Palazzo Labia
in Venice
in 1951 is still described as “the party of the century”. He was often referred to as "The Count of Monte Cristo".
He is not to be confused with his namesake uncle (1863-1953), whose collection of notable 18th- and 19th-century paintings was donated to the Louvre
.
and Spanish
. He was born the heir to a huge Mexican fortune, to parents of Basque origin, and a mother (Dolores de Yturbe), both of whose ancestors had migrated to Mexico in the 18th century. The family made its fortune there in silver, agriculture, and real estate but left Mexico after the execution of Emperor Maximilian in 1867. Beistegui was, however, born in France
, to Mexican parents, and travelled under a Spanish diplomatic passport. He was brought up in France, Spain
and England
, and only ever visited Mexico twice, briefly. His family members held diplomatic posts representing Mexico in the U.K., France, Spain, and Russia. He studied at Eton
, where he wrote a volume of poetry he illustrated with his own drawings. He was about to attend Cambridge
when World War I
broke out. He then joined his parents in their mansion on the esplanade of Les Invalides
in Paris
.
In the early 1930s, he had a penthouse built on the Champs-Élysées
, designed by Le Corbusier
. It included an electronically operated hedge that parted to reveal a view of the Arc de Triomphe
, and a roof terrace designed by Salvador Dalí
.
In 1939 he acquired the Château de Groussay
, at Montfort-l'Amaury
(Yvelines
), and spent the next 30 years improving its interiors and grounds and expanding the structure by adding extra wings. These included a 150-seat theatre, inspired by the Margravine Opera House
in Bayreuth, one of the most beautiful extant theatres in Europe. He hired Emilio Terry
to undertake the interior design. He had huge copies of the world's great paintings installed, but often claimed they were the originals (for example he claimed that Hans Holbein
's portrait of Henry VIII
owned by the British Royal Family was a fake, and his was the original.) He commissioned Spanish weavers to create tapestries in the style of Goya
. He had giant Chinese jars which looked authentic but were actually made of tin or plaster. But he had an enormous number of genuine pieces, such as an ebony and bronze Louis XVI desk once owned by Paderewski
. The furnishings were described as the greatest private interiors concocted in the 20th century. The house was admired by decorators such as David Nightingale Hicks
and Mark Hampton, who called it the most beautiful house in the world. One of the rooms so impressed Cecil Beaton
that he used it as the model for Henry Higgins' library in My Fair Lady
. The Château de Groussay was the scene of some of the grandest weekend parties of the 20th century. The gardens have been classifed by the French government as one of the Remarkable Gardens of France.
Beistegui was not troubled by the Germans during their occupation of France, because he had a Spanish diplomatic passport, and was treated as a citizen of a neutral country.
He did occasionally undertake commissions for others - salons in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Madrid
, a suite of rooms at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel
in New York
, and the library at the British Embassy in Paris (with the designers Georges Geffroy
and Emilio Terry
) - but he used his artistic talents almost entirely for his own pleasure. Cecil Beaton wrote in his diary: "Beistegui is utterly ruthless. Such qualities as sympathy, pity or even gratitude are sadly lacking. He has become the most self-engrossed and pleasure-seeking person I have met."
In 1948, Beistegui acquired the Palazzo Labia
, just off the Grand Canal in Venice
, and began an intensive restoration. He purchased furnishings that had been acquired from the palazzo's less fortunate neighbours, including frescoes by Raphael
, Annibale Carracci
, and Guido Reni
. These works of art, coupled with newly acquired tapestries and antiques, restored the palazzo to its former splendour. So avid a collector was Don Carlos that his taste became known as "le goût Beistegui" (the Beistegui style). It was said that, in order to avoid the clatter of dishwashing at parties, he frequently ordered his soiled gold tableware thrown into the canal at the end of each course.
On 3 September 1951 Beistegui held a masked costume ball
, which he called Le Bal oriental, at the Palazzo Labia. It was one of the last truly spectacular events in the famous ballroom, and it was one of the largest and most lavish social events of the 20th century. The invitations went out six months beforehand. The guest list included the Aga Khan III
, Barbara Hutton
, Gene Tierney
, Countess Jacqueline de Ribes
, Jacques Fath
, Duff
and Lady Diana Cooper
, Orson Welles
, Daisy Fellowes
, Paul-Louis Weiller, Gala Dalí
, Baron de Chabrol, Desmond Guinness
, Alexis von Rosenberg, Baron de Redé, Prince and Princess Chavchavadze
, Arturo Lopez-Willshaw, Patricia Lopez-Willshaw, Fulco di Verdura
, Deborah Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire
, Princess Natalia Pavlovna Paley
, Nelson Seabra, Aimee de Heeren, Princess Ghislaine de Polignac, Princess del Drago, Princess Gabrielle Arenberg
, Hélène Rochas, Princess Caetani
, Princess Colonna, Prince Mathieu de Brancovan and many others. Christian Dior
and Salvador Dalí
designed each other's costumes. Winston Churchill
and the Duke
and Duchess of Windsor were invited but did not attend. Many who would have liked to have been invited were not. The host wore scarlet robes and a long curling wig, and his normal height (5 ft. 6 in.) was raised a full 16 inches by platform soles. Cecil Beaton
's photographs of the ball display an almost surreal society, reminiscent of the Venetian life immediately before the fall of the republic at the end of the 18th century. The "party of the century" launched the career of Pierre Cardin
, who designed about 30 of the costumes. Nina Ricci
was another designer who was involved.
Despite this colossal extravagance and the enormously high-profile guest list he was able to attract, Beistegui did not generally warm to people, nor they to him. He remained personally aloof and shadowy, and was often accused of treating his friends and mistresses very poorly. He never married, and although he was said to have had many mistresses, his sexuality was often the subject of speculation. A certain duchess was said to have been his illegitimate daughter.
After surviving a series of strokes around 1960, he sold the Palazza Labia to RAI
. Don Carlos died in 1970, but without a will. His estate went to his brother, who did not want the Château de Groussay and gave it to his son Juan (Johnny) de Beistegui. When the collection, which included many of the Palazzo Labia's former contents, was auctioned by Sotheby's
(its first auction on French soil) in 1999, it proved to be France's largest and most highly priced auction sale, realising $26.5 million. The sale was described as "a major event in the history and sociology of the decorative arts".
A documentary Don Carlos de Beistegui was made in 1989.
Palazzo Labia
Palazzo Labia is a baroque palace in Venice, Italy. Built in the 17th-18th century, it is one of the last great palazzi of Venice. Little known outside of Italy, it is most notable for the remarkable frescoed ballroom painted between by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, with decorative works in trompe...
in Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
in 1951 is still described as “the party of the century”. He was often referred to as "The Count of Monte Cristo".
He is not to be confused with his namesake uncle (1863-1953), whose collection of notable 18th- and 19th-century paintings was donated to the Louvre
Louvre
The Musée du Louvre – in English, the Louvre Museum or simply the Louvre – is one of the world's largest museums, the most visited art museum in the world and a historic monument. A central landmark of Paris, it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the 1st arrondissement...
.
Biography
Beistegui's origins are MexicanMexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
and Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
. He was born the heir to a huge Mexican fortune, to parents of Basque origin, and a mother (Dolores de Yturbe), both of whose ancestors had migrated to Mexico in the 18th century. The family made its fortune there in silver, agriculture, and real estate but left Mexico after the execution of Emperor Maximilian in 1867. Beistegui was, however, born in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, to Mexican parents, and travelled under a Spanish diplomatic passport. He was brought up in France, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
and England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, and only ever visited Mexico twice, briefly. His family members held diplomatic posts representing Mexico in the U.K., France, Spain, and Russia. He studied at Eton
Eton College
Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....
, where he wrote a volume of poetry he illustrated with his own drawings. He was about to attend Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
when World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
broke out. He then joined his parents in their mansion on the esplanade of Les Invalides
Les Invalides
Les Invalides , officially known as L'Hôtel national des Invalides , is a complex of buildings in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, France, containing museums and monuments, all relating to the military history of France, as well as a hospital and a retirement home for war veterans, the building's...
in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
.
In the early 1930s, he had a penthouse built on the Champs-Élysées
Champs-Élysées
The Avenue des Champs-Élysées is a prestigious avenue in Paris, France. With its cinemas, cafés, luxury specialty shops and clipped horse-chestnut trees, the Avenue des Champs-Élysées is one of the most famous streets and one of the most expensive strip of real estate in the world. The name is...
, designed by Le Corbusier
Le Corbusier
Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, better known as Le Corbusier , was a Swiss-born French architect, designer, urbanist, writer and painter, famous for being one of the pioneers of what now is called modern architecture. He was born in Switzerland and became a French citizen in 1930...
. It included an electronically operated hedge that parted to reveal a view of the Arc de Triomphe
Arc de Triomphe
-The design:The astylar design is by Jean Chalgrin , in the Neoclassical version of ancient Roman architecture . Major academic sculptors of France are represented in the sculpture of the Arc de Triomphe: Jean-Pierre Cortot; François Rude; Antoine Étex; James Pradier and Philippe Joseph Henri Lemaire...
, and a roof terrace designed by Salvador Dalí
Salvador Dalí
Salvador Domènec Felip Jacint Dalí i Domènech, Marquis de Púbol , commonly known as Salvador Dalí , was a prominent Spanish Catalan surrealist painter born in Figueres,Spain....
.
In 1939 he acquired the Château de Groussay
Chateau de Groussay
The Château de Groussay is located in the town of Montfort-l'Amaury, in the Department of Yvelines, in France. The Château was built in 1815 by the duchesse de Charest, a daughter of Louise Elisabeth de Croÿ-Havré, marquise de Tourzel, the governess of the royal enfants de France of Louis XVI...
, at Montfort-l'Amaury
Montfort-l'Amaury
Montfort-l'Amaury is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. It is located in the south-western suburbs of Paris N of Rambouillet....
(Yvelines
Yvelines
Yvelines is a French department in the region of Île-de-France.-History:Yvelines was created from the western part of the defunct department of Seine-et-Oise on 1 January 1968 in accordance with a law passed on 10 January 1964 and a décret d'application from 26 February 1965.It gained the...
), and spent the next 30 years improving its interiors and grounds and expanding the structure by adding extra wings. These included a 150-seat theatre, inspired by the Margravine Opera House
Markgräfliches Opernhaus
The Margravial Opera House or Margrave's Opera House is a Baroque opera house in the town of Bayreuth in Germany. It is one of Europe's few surviving theatres of the period and has been extensively restored. It was built between 1744 and 1748 by Joseph Saint-Pierre; the interior was designed by...
in Bayreuth, one of the most beautiful extant theatres in Europe. He hired Emilio Terry
Emilio Terry
Jose Emilio Terry y Dorticos , known as Emilio Terry was a Cuban artist, interior designer, artist and landscape artist, best known for his career in France...
to undertake the interior design. He had huge copies of the world's great paintings installed, but often claimed they were the originals (for example he claimed that Hans Holbein
Hans Holbein the Younger
Hans Holbein the Younger was a German artist and printmaker who worked in a Northern Renaissance style. He is best known as one of the greatest portraitists of the 16th century. He also produced religious art, satire and Reformation propaganda, and made a significant contribution to the history...
's portrait of Henry VIII
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
owned by the British Royal Family was a fake, and his was the original.) He commissioned Spanish weavers to create tapestries in the style of Goya
Francisco Goya
Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker regarded both as the last of the Old Masters and the first of the moderns. Goya was a court painter to the Spanish Crown, and through his works was both a commentator on and chronicler of his era...
. He had giant Chinese jars which looked authentic but were actually made of tin or plaster. But he had an enormous number of genuine pieces, such as an ebony and bronze Louis XVI desk once owned by Paderewski
Ignacy Jan Paderewski
Ignacy Jan Paderewski GBE was a Polish pianist, composer, diplomat, politician, and the second Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland.-Biography:...
. The furnishings were described as the greatest private interiors concocted in the 20th century. The house was admired by decorators such as David Nightingale Hicks
David Nightingale Hicks
David Nightingale Hicks was a British interior decorator and designer, famous for his employment of bold, shockingly vibrant colours, for mixing antique and modern furnishings and contemporary art for his famous clientele....
and Mark Hampton, who called it the most beautiful house in the world. One of the rooms so impressed Cecil Beaton
Cecil Beaton
Sir Cecil Walter Hardy Beaton, CBE was an English fashion and portrait photographer, diarist, painter, interior designer and an Academy Award-winning stage and costume designer for films and the theatre...
that he used it as the model for Henry Higgins' library in My Fair Lady
My Fair Lady
My Fair Lady is a musical based upon George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion and with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe...
. The Château de Groussay was the scene of some of the grandest weekend parties of the 20th century. The gardens have been classifed by the French government as one of the Remarkable Gardens of France.
Beistegui was not troubled by the Germans during their occupation of France, because he had a Spanish diplomatic passport, and was treated as a citizen of a neutral country.
He did occasionally undertake commissions for others - salons in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
, a suite of rooms at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel
Waldorf-Astoria Hotel
The Waldorf-Astoria is a luxury hotel in New York. It has been housed in two historic landmark buildings in New York City. The first, designed by architect Henry J. Hardenbergh, was on the Fifth Avenue site of the Empire State Building. The present building at 301 Park Avenue in Manhattan is a...
in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, and the library at the British Embassy in Paris (with the designers Georges Geffroy
Georges Geffroy
Georges Geffroy was a post-war French interior designer.-Biography:"an eighteenth-century gentleman, a figure from another era, one of a breed of decorators that is extinct today,” remembers couturier Hubert de Givenchy,...
and Emilio Terry
Emilio Terry
Jose Emilio Terry y Dorticos , known as Emilio Terry was a Cuban artist, interior designer, artist and landscape artist, best known for his career in France...
) - but he used his artistic talents almost entirely for his own pleasure. Cecil Beaton wrote in his diary: "Beistegui is utterly ruthless. Such qualities as sympathy, pity or even gratitude are sadly lacking. He has become the most self-engrossed and pleasure-seeking person I have met."
In 1948, Beistegui acquired the Palazzo Labia
Palazzo Labia
Palazzo Labia is a baroque palace in Venice, Italy. Built in the 17th-18th century, it is one of the last great palazzi of Venice. Little known outside of Italy, it is most notable for the remarkable frescoed ballroom painted between by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, with decorative works in trompe...
, just off the Grand Canal in Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
, and began an intensive restoration. He purchased furnishings that had been acquired from the palazzo's less fortunate neighbours, including frescoes by Raphael
Raphael
Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino , better known simply as Raphael, was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form and ease of composition and for its visual achievement of the Neoplatonic ideal of human grandeur...
, Annibale Carracci
Annibale Carracci
Annibale Carracci was an Italian Baroque painter.-Early career:Annibale Carracci was born in Bologna, and in all likelihood first apprenticed within his family...
, and Guido Reni
Guido Reni
Guido Reni was an Italian painter of high-Baroque style.-Biography:Born in Bologna into a family of musicians, Guido Reni was the son of Daniele Reni and Ginevra de’ Pozzi. As a child of nine, he was apprenticed under the Bolognese studio of Denis Calvaert. Soon after, he was joined in that...
. These works of art, coupled with newly acquired tapestries and antiques, restored the palazzo to its former splendour. So avid a collector was Don Carlos that his taste became known as "le goût Beistegui" (the Beistegui style). It was said that, in order to avoid the clatter of dishwashing at parties, he frequently ordered his soiled gold tableware thrown into the canal at the end of each course.
On 3 September 1951 Beistegui held a masked costume ball
Masquerade ball
A masquerade ball is an event which the participants attend in costume wearing a mask. - History :...
, which he called Le Bal oriental, at the Palazzo Labia. It was one of the last truly spectacular events in the famous ballroom, and it was one of the largest and most lavish social events of the 20th century. The invitations went out six months beforehand. The guest list included the Aga Khan III
Aga Khan III
Sir Sultan Muhammed Shah, Aga Khan III, GCSI, GCMG, GCIE, GCVO, PC was the 48th Imam of the Shia Ismaili Muslims. He was one of the founders and the first president of the All-India Muslim League, and served as President of the League of Nations from 1937-38. He was nominated to represent India to...
, Barbara Hutton
Barbara Hutton
Barbara Woolworth Hutton was an American socialite dubbed by the media as the "Poor Little Rich Girl" because of her troubled life...
, Gene Tierney
Gene Tierney
Gene Eliza Tierney was an American film and stage actress. Acclaimed as one of the great beauties of her day, she is best remembered for her performance in the title role of Laura and her Academy Award-nominated performance for Best Actress in Leave Her to Heaven .Other notable roles include...
, Countess Jacqueline de Ribes
Jacqueline de Ribes
Comtesse Jacqueline de Ribes is a French socialite and fashion designer. She is also a member of the International Best Dressed List since 1962.-Early life:...
, Jacques Fath
Jacques Fath
Jacques Fath was a French fashion designer who was considered one of the three dominant influences on postwar haute couture, the others being Christian Dior and Pierre Balmain.-Career:The son of André Fath, an Alsatian-Flemish insurance agent, Fath came from a creative family...
, Duff
Duff Cooper
Alfred Duff Cooper, 1st Viscount Norwich GCMG, DSO, PC , known as Duff Cooper, was a British Conservative Party politician, diplomat and author. He wrote six books, including an autobiography, Old Men Forget, and a biography of Talleyrand...
and Lady Diana Cooper
Lady Diana Cooper
Lady Diana Cooper, Viscountess Norwich was an English socialite and actress.-Birth and youth:Born Lady Diana Olivia Winifred Maud Manners, she was officially the youngest daughter of the 8th Duke of Rutland and his wife, the former Violet Lindsay, but Lady Diana's real father was widely supposed...
, Orson Welles
Orson Welles
George Orson Welles , best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio...
, Daisy Fellowes
Daisy Fellowes
The Hon. Daisy Fellowes The Hon. Daisy Fellowes The Hon. Daisy Fellowes (née Marguerite Séverine Philippine Decazes de Glücksberg, (April 29, 1890 – December 13, 1962), was a celebrated 20th-century society figure, acclaimed beauty, minor novelist and poet, Paris Editor of American Harper's Bazaar,...
, Paul-Louis Weiller, Gala Dalí
Gala Dalí
Gala Dalí , usually known simply as Gala, was the wife of first Paul Éluard, then Salvador Dalí, and an inspiration for them and many other writers and artists.- Early years :...
, Baron de Chabrol, Desmond Guinness
Desmond Guinness
Hon. Desmond Guinness is an Irish author on Georgian art and architecture and a conservationist.He was the second son of the author and brewer Bryan Guinness, 2nd Baron Moyne and Diana Mitford...
, Alexis von Rosenberg, Baron de Redé, Prince and Princess Chavchavadze
Chavchavadze
Chavchavadze is a Georgian noble family, formerly a princely one .The family is first attested in the 15th century, during the reign of Alexander I of Georgia. By the time of Leon of Kakheti they appear in the province of Kakheti , where they produced two lines: one in Telavi and Tsinandali;...
, Arturo Lopez-Willshaw, Patricia Lopez-Willshaw, Fulco di Verdura
Fulco di Verdura
Fulco di Verdura , or Fulco Santo Stefano della Cerda, Duke of Verdura, and Marquis of Murata la Cerda, was an influential Italian jeweller...
, Deborah Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire
Deborah Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire
Deborah Vivien Cavendish, Dowager Duchess of Devonshire DCVO , née The Hon. Deborah Freeman-Mitford is the youngest and last surviving of the six noted Mitford sisters whose political affiliations and marriages were a prominent feature of English culture in the 1930s and 1940s...
, Princess Natalia Pavlovna Paley
Natalia Pavlovna Paley
Princess Natalia Pavlovna Paley was a member of the Romanov family. A daughter of Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich of Russia, she was a first cousin of the last Russian emperor, Nicholas II. After the Russian revolution she emigrated first to France and later to the United States...
, Nelson Seabra, Aimee de Heeren, Princess Ghislaine de Polignac, Princess del Drago, Princess Gabrielle Arenberg
Arenberg
Arenberg, also spelled as Aremberg or Ahremberg, is a historic county, principality and finally duchy located in modern Germany. The Dukes of Arenberg remain a prominent Belgian aristocratic family.- History :...
, Hélène Rochas, Princess Caetani
Caetani
Caetani, or Gaetani, is the name of an Italian noble family princely family which played a great part in the history of Pisa and of Rome, principally via their close links to the papacy.-Origins:...
, Princess Colonna, Prince Mathieu de Brancovan and many others. Christian Dior
Christian Dior
Christian Dior , was a French fashion designer, best known as the founder of one of the world's top fashion houses, also called Christian Dior.-Life:...
and Salvador Dalí
Salvador Dalí
Salvador Domènec Felip Jacint Dalí i Domènech, Marquis de Púbol , commonly known as Salvador Dalí , was a prominent Spanish Catalan surrealist painter born in Figueres,Spain....
designed each other's costumes. Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
and the Duke
Edward VIII of the United Kingdom
Edward VIII was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth, and Emperor of India, from 20 January to 11 December 1936.Before his accession to the throne, Edward was Prince of Wales and Duke of Cornwall and Rothesay...
and Duchess of Windsor were invited but did not attend. Many who would have liked to have been invited were not. The host wore scarlet robes and a long curling wig, and his normal height (5 ft. 6 in.) was raised a full 16 inches by platform soles. Cecil Beaton
Cecil Beaton
Sir Cecil Walter Hardy Beaton, CBE was an English fashion and portrait photographer, diarist, painter, interior designer and an Academy Award-winning stage and costume designer for films and the theatre...
's photographs of the ball display an almost surreal society, reminiscent of the Venetian life immediately before the fall of the republic at the end of the 18th century. The "party of the century" launched the career of Pierre Cardin
Pierre Cardin
Pierre Cardin Cardin was known for his avant-garde style and his Space Age designs. He prefers geometric shapes and motifs, often ignoring the female form. He advanced into unisex fashions, sometimes experimental, and not always practical...
, who designed about 30 of the costumes. Nina Ricci
Nina Ricci (designer)
Maria Nina Ricci was a French fashion designer of Italian origin.-Life and work:Maria Nielli was born in Turin, Italy in 1883, she moved to Florence, Italy with her family at age 5 and then to France in 1895 at age 12. She was nicknamed Nina. At the age of 13, she began an apprenticeship at a...
was another designer who was involved.
Despite this colossal extravagance and the enormously high-profile guest list he was able to attract, Beistegui did not generally warm to people, nor they to him. He remained personally aloof and shadowy, and was often accused of treating his friends and mistresses very poorly. He never married, and although he was said to have had many mistresses, his sexuality was often the subject of speculation. A certain duchess was said to have been his illegitimate daughter.
After surviving a series of strokes around 1960, he sold the Palazza Labia to RAI
RAI
RAI — Radiotelevisione italiana S.p.A. known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane, is the Italian state owned public service broadcaster controlled by the Ministry of Economic Development. Rai is the biggest television company in Italy...
. Don Carlos died in 1970, but without a will. His estate went to his brother, who did not want the Château de Groussay and gave it to his son Juan (Johnny) de Beistegui. When the collection, which included many of the Palazzo Labia's former contents, was auctioned by Sotheby's
Sotheby's
Sotheby's is the world's fourth oldest auction house in continuous operation.-History:The oldest auction house in operation is the Stockholms Auktionsverk founded in 1674, the second oldest is Göteborgs Auktionsverk founded in 1681 and third oldest being founded in 1731, all Swedish...
(its first auction on French soil) in 1999, it proved to be France's largest and most highly priced auction sale, realising $26.5 million. The sale was described as "a major event in the history and sociology of the decorative arts".
A documentary Don Carlos de Beistegui was made in 1989.