Page 322 - Livre Beau Rivage Palace

Fig. 4

– the tenor José Carreras, a handful of tennis players, the journalist had drawn a big heart. Charles Vanel writes in a shaky hand of his Beau-Rivage remains to my eyes representative of that powerful time when are as scant as they are rare, and the occasional word that accompanies
and former White House press secretary Pierre Salinger, His Imperial regret at leaving ‘cet hôtel enchanteur’ (‘this enchanting hotel’). Other Europe was Europe and was the world.’ A world that was the world: in the a signature is always kind, but discloses nothing more. Richard Nixon
Highness the grandson of Hirohito and Elton John and Tina Turner. visitors included a habitué of the shores of Lake Geneva, Alain Delon, 1980s, this image could only be imbued with melancholy. The Beau- liked the view from his window. We have to make do with that
A conference on development in the Middle East brought about and a divinity come down from the Hollywood Olympus: Gregory Rivage Palace, as described in these words, becomes the place that and the odd photograph – which does not generally disclose any
twenty diplomats. The year began with the visit of Bernard-Henri Peck. And a French actor with a keen sense of humour, Philippe concentrates and preserves all the charms of a defunct society and a pertinent information.
Lévy and Arielle Dombasle: he announced that the hotel would have Léotard: ‘Bon! D’accord, je n’irai plus à Capoue! Les vrais délices désormais dying culture: all that is most specific, most personal and at the same However, one man still has a vivid memory of the Beau-Rivage
the honour of appearing in a forthcoming book of his, she sang of the sont ici. Je viendrai m’y vautrer tant que je pourrai…’ (‘Fine! Ok, I won’t time most universal, as Europe has seen itself, and as others have seen Palace of the 1950s and 60s. André Visson, an American journalist
royal suite and the moonlight. Finally, Georges Simenon, who had go to Capua any more! This is where the real delights are. I shall it. An ancient civilisation, still present in an ideal microcosm. Here, too, of Russian origins, lived there for six months of the year with his
been living in Lausanne for decades, spent several months at Beau- come and wallow in them as often as I can […]’). Stars of another we find the idea of utopia, but of an inverted utopia: snatched from wife and son Philippe. The latter, first as a child and then as a young
Rivage towards the end of his life. On Christmas Day 1988, he signed type gathered in October 1987: super chef Frédy Girardet, a close the past rather than projected into the future, rooted in a world that man, moved in the circle of his parents’ friends and acquaintances and
a dedication ‘au Beau-Rivage où tout est mis en œuvre pour que chacun se neighbour, invited some fifteen renowned chefs. Among the signatures has forgotten it, if not exiled it to the realm of abstraction. came to know the wider circle of the guests of Beau-Rivage whom
sente chez lui’ (‘to the Beau-Rivage where everything possible is done in the guestbook, are those of Lasserre, Bocuse, Robuchon and Pierroz. The guestbook of the late 1970s and early 1980s yields up he met in the restaurant or in the bar, or whose foibles were related
so that everyone feels at home’). The most prestigious of the French institutions were regular visitors: more names of actors and artists: Mel Ferrer in 1985, John Travolta to him by the hotel staff. His memoirs paint a picture of a luxury
In autumn 1988, a number of worlds coincided at Beau- the Académie Française with Maurice Rheims, Michel Droit and in 1984, Serge Gainsbourg in 1982, Liza Minnelli in 1978. After hotel bursting with life, frequented by the world’s most elegant people,
Rivage. In November, Princess Anne of England and Prince Albert Alain Decaux; the Comédie Française with Georges Descrières; the that, nothing. The number of signatures falls drastically, and it would diplomats, actors, eccentrics and parvenus – and yet the guestbook for
of Monaco took part in a meeting of agfis (General Association Collège de France with the orientalist Jacques Berque. A groundswell seem that, from the end of the 1950s to the mid-1980s, the Beau- those years gives no hint of their existence.
of International Sports Federations). Jacques Delors, president of of a more popular nature emerges, with Maurice Mességué, king of Rivage Palace management only had eyes for the aristocracy and Firstly there were the royal families of Spain and Italy, a series
the European Commission, was there the same day. In August, the herbal medicine, Jacques Martin, the illustrious author of the Alix the powerful. They recorded a series of high-profile visits. Some of princely families either related by marriage or friends, kings in
guestbook was signed by Her Imperial Highness the granddaughter and Lefranc comic albums, and the television presenter Dorothée. habitués from top political circles, Maurice Schumann and Edward exile, who regularly crossed paths at the Beau-Rivage Palace. King
of Hirohito, preceding her brother by a year, and by the great Zen Lausanne already attracted sports personalities, with the racing drivers Kennedy in 1985, Edgar Faure in 1984, Richard Nixon in 1980, but Umberto ii of Italy, Prince Victor Emmanuel, Prince Ruspoli, the
master Koun Yamada. In April, seven signatures indicate a visit from Emerson Fittipaldi, Clay Regazzoni and Michele Alboreto, and also a number of ministers, princes or presidents in office: Hussein king and queen of Spain, the future Queen Fabiola, the Count of
all the members of Supertramp. In January, the writer Dominique the tennis players Yannick Noah and Henri Leconte. The ioc drew of Jordan, a regular, Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands, a regular, Barcelona, Prince Louis Napoléon, Prince Rainier and Princess
Lapierre summarised what his stay at the luxury hotel meant for him: political figures. The 1986 session brought together Prince Bertil of Lebanon’s Amine Gemayel, another regular, Prince Philip, Duke Grace of Monaco, Mohammed Shah Aga Khan, and King Farouk
‘After two thrilling years of research in the shanty towns of calcutta, Sweden, Prince Harald of Norway and Jacques Chirac of France. of Edinburgh, Mexican President Gustavo Diaz Ordaz, a Japanese were regular guests. The 1950s saw the arrival of a very powerful
to find yourself suddenly in the Paderewski suite of the Beau- Rivage The list of Beau-Rivage’s honoured guests extends to a number of foreign affairs minister, a nato secretary general, German chancellor family, but one with an unusual style considered by some as barbarian:
is to make the journey from the earth to the moon, from a kind of ambassadors, ministers and heads of state, including King Hussein of Helmut Schmidt, and royalty from Scandinavia, Greece, Saudi Arabia, in September 1957, King Saud (Saud bin Abdul Aziz), coming from
hell to a kind of paradise’. (translated from the French) Jordan accompanied by his wife Queen Noor. Lichtenstein, Luxembourg, Jordan, Ethiopia, Thailand and Japan. In Baden-Baden, spent six days at the luxury hotel with his entourage
What do Gianni Versace, Christiane Desroches-Noblecourt and In 1987, the Tunisian historian and Islam scholar Hichem Djaït, 1971, the Emperor of Japan Hirohito, his wife and his entourage of 32 people; at the end of the decade, King Faisal of Saudi Arabia, his
Jean Yanne have in common? They all stayed within the same walls professor at a number of European and American universities, offered posed for the photographer alongside the cream of the Swiss and wife, his nine children and their staff became regular guests – Philippe
in December 1987. The years 1986 and 1987 saw a record number the guestbook an exceptionally well-developed dedication that Vaudois authorities (fig. 3). Visson made friends with the children, including Saud, today foreign
of distinguished visitors pass through. Music: Pierre Perret, Bernard explains what Beau-Rivage means or has meant in the past. He says it: What they were doing, why they were there, we do not know. minister, and Turki, head of Saudi Arabia’s intelligence agency until
Lavilliers, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Jean-Claude Casadesus, Fats Domino, ‘perfectly represents Swiss hospitality and, to my Arab eyes, a time of European Only the regular occurrence of the ioc sessions gives us an indication. 2001. The members of these dynasties insist on a certain level of
Régine Crespin, Oscar Peterson, Diana Ross and her husband, Arne greatness. With its marvellously retro style, it is Old Europe that rises up before We also know that in March 1963 the talks between the American discretion. Their names rarely appear in the guestbook.
Naess jr. Cinema: Françoise Fabian and her husband Marcel Bozzuffi, my eyes, that is to say the epitome of a great civilisation, in its dedication to Secretary of State Dean Rusk and the German foreign affairs minister Personalities from all spheres of life wandered the corridors of
photographed on the terrace of their room, leafed through the prestige. And I adore civilisations, especially when they aspire to personalise that led up to the Geneva Conference on Disarmament took place at the Beau-Rivage Palace: survivors of the interwar period, such as
guestbook open at the page where the Naesses, a few months earlier beings and their identity, while still aiming at some sort of universality. The the Beau-Rivage Palace. For the rest, we have nothing. Commentaries Richard Coudenhove-Kalergi and Coco Chanel – who practically

Their Majesties Emperor Hirohito and Empress Nagako of Japan leaving the hotel
on 11 October 1971. Also present are Mr G. A. Chevallaz, Mayor of Lausanne,
Mr Bonnard, Councillor of State and Mr Payot, Chancellor of the Canton of Vaud, all
accompanied by their wives, and Mr Walter Schnyder, manager of the Beau-Rivage
Palace, with Mrs Schnyder.
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