Page 320 - Livre Beau Rivage Palace

sea, sometimes brings you to the shore’). Florence Arthaud (1995) bible and the Koran, and the patriarch Alexis II of Moscow. That
also punning on the hotel’s name comments: ‘Beau rivage, beau temps, of high society and politics, by the Duke of Kent (2002), Princess
belle mer, belles régates/À l’année prochaine’ (‘Wonderful shore, wonderful Mahidol Chulabhorn of Thailand (2001), Hikmet Cetin, president
weather, wonderful sea, wonderful regattas/See you next year’). of the Turkish parliament (1998), Jacques Toubon, French minister of
Pierre Fehlmann (1995) is effusive: ‘Une idée/Des régates formidables/ culture (1994), Beatrix, Queen of the Netherlands, with her husband
Une Réussite’ (‘Fantastic idea/Regattas/A Success’). The hotel also Claus (1993), Amin Gemayel (1993), Raymond Barre, former French
welcomed people from the worlds of tennis (Steffi Graf, 1999), cycling premier (1992), Margaret Thatcher, former British prime minister
(Tony Rominger, 1995), football (Roy Hodgson, 1994), basketball (1992), His Majesty King Leka I of Albania (1991), Their Majesties
(Dominique Wilkins, 1994), auto-racing (Ayrton Senna, 1991), Juan Carlos and Sophie, King and Queen of Spain. Politics are quite
motorcycling (Wayne Rainey, 1990) and skiing (Pirmin Zurbriggen, well represented: the Beau-Rivage Palace continues to attract its share
1990). Jean Graton, author of the cartoon strip Michel Vaillant writes of crowned heads, presidents and ministers.
‘À mes amis du Beau-Rivage, la Pole Position de l’Hôtellerie Suisse’ (‘To In his dedication, Yves Coppens has the last word on the
my friends of the Beau-Rivage, the Pole Position of Swiss Hotels’), modern-day Beau-Rivage Palace: ‘The oldest house known to man
proving himself worthy of the world of sport. The self-portrait that is 1,800,000 years old; it is round and overlooks a little river, over
accompanies his dedication evokes the heyday of motor racing. there in deepest Africa. I am not surprised that it has taken humanity
In January 1998, chess dominated the scene for several days: the 2 million years to achieve the refinement of the Beau-Rivage, which
Indian champion Viswanathan Anand and the Russian champion overlooks a large lake over here in the heart of Europe.’ [translated
Anatoli Karpov accompanied Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, former chess from the French] The pinnacle of civilisation? A luxury hotel, any
champion, president of the World Chess Federation and president luxury hotel is today condemned to being a symbol of refinement,
of the Republic of Kalmykia, and no lesser person than the former sophistication and the ultimate in civilisation. This can be a wonderful
Russian president. Three months earlier, the 1997 ioc session attracted thing, because, after all, it is difficult to imagine more agreeable living
a select public: tennis star Gabriela Sabatini, the Italian deputy prime conditions, either in terms of comfort or of aesthetic environment.
minister Walter Veltroni, Princess Lilian of Sweden, the Argentinean But it can also be unsettling, because it means that a place of this
president Carlos Menem and the South African president Thabo kind has also become a thing apart, a conservatoire, a parenthesis in the
Mbeki; what’s more, the South African delegation was accompanied flow of history that is taking place elsewhere. A place where no one
and supported by Nelson Mandela himself. If you want to bring lives, where no one settles. And it is true that, except for a few rare
together political figures, organise a sporting event. It should be exceptions, visits are much shorter today than they once were. Basically,
pointed out that the agenda for this ioc session included the selection this place has become an emblem – that of a delightful institution
of the site for the 2004 Olympic Games. which we like to remember and are attached to, and where we like
In the 1990s and at the start of the 2000s, the Beau-Rivage to make short pilgrimages, just long enough to remember how good
Palace was also visited by some exceptional guests from a variety luxury hotel life really was.
of spheres. That of science was represented by the crew of the From the guestbooks it seems that the late 1980s were a heyday
Endeavour, including the French-Swiss astronaut Claude Nicollier, with throngs of actors, writers and political figures. From the spring
the physicist Louis Leprince-Ringuet of the Académie Française, to the autumn of 1989, the people who passed through included the
the palaeontologist Yves Coppens, and Bill Peyton. The world of jazz singer Dee Dee Bridgewater, S. E. Roh Tae-Woo, President of
spirituality was represented by André Chouraqui, translator of the the Republic of Korea, Queen Sophie of Spain – definitely a regular

Cover of Lausanne-Ouchy, Gazette des Etrangers/Visitors’ List [c.1930].

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