Royals at famous hotels
 

I am in search for stories about Royals at famous hotels, such as the King of Spain in exile at the Grand Hotel in Rome, Edward, Prince of Wales, visiting the Hotel Bristol in Vienna, etc. I would share these stories with the hotels involved.
Thank you
Andreas Augustin
President
The Most Famous Hotels in the World

The Baron Hotel, Aleppo, Syria
 

Founded in 1911 by the family Mazloumian (origins: Armenian) with 33 rooms. It turned out immediatly as romping place for cosmopolitans from all kind of countries, in particular British citizens, Germans and Austrians, who rattled about as archeologists as well as spies in this strategically important part of the world.

During the turbulent war years - being Armenian the Mazloumians had to live in exile - their hotel served for a certain period of time as headquater to Mustafa Kemal Pascha, the later Kemal Atatürk (the one who defeated the British legions in Gallipoli BTW and thereby forced Winston Churchill to resign).

After WWI the hotel Baron returned to its former prestigious clientele; among others: Charles Lindbergh, David Rockefeller and Theodor Roosevelt, the later King of Irak Feisal, who was in 1919 for a short period of time King of Syria, and Charles de Gaulle.

Early 1930s the Swedish Royal family stayed in the Baron. On their way to India they had to stop in Aleppo because of an case of illness for three weeks.

The downturn of the Baron started in the 1950s unfortunatly because of the political situation.:bang:

Queen Victoria used to take over an entire hotel for her trips to the south of France. I'll have to find out which one and get back to you.

Brush up your Catrine Clay :biggrin:

King, Kaiser, Tsar ... page 39 bottom

"Even Queen Victoria liked to slip away to the French Riviera from time to time, calling herself the Countess of Lancester. Her favourite haunt was the Excelsior-Regina Hotel, perched high on the cliffs above Nice, which she took over in its entirety for the duration for her stay, bringing her own best-loved pieces of furniture with her as well as a quantity of servants and Royal Household staff." :flowers:

Well that brings a whole new meaning to "home away from home" doesn't it?!
I dont have any stories about it, but when in Sydney for their 2005 tour, Mary & Frederik stayed at the Shangri-La, sorry I'm limited help in your search Andreas.

Again, I have no stories, but there are plenty of royals who have stayed at Huka Lodge:

Link

There are also a whole host of celebrities who have stayed there (just click the link). I had no idea that most of them had even been to NZ!

Princess Grace and prince Rainier of Monaco went to Plaza Atheneé Hotel in Paris many times.

I believe Queen Sofia of Spain stayed at Plaza Hotel in Buenos Aires. I cannot remember well but I think I read it in some local magazine.

The Queen stays in Fairmont hotels whilst she is in Canada
During her last tour she spent a private weekend in the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge

I believe Queen Elizabeth stayed at the Williamsburg Inn when she was in Virginia in 2007

According to my knowledge, King Herald of Norway, Queen Sonja of Norway, The Duke and Duchess of Kent, The Duke of Edinburgh,The Prince of Wales and Princess Benedikte of Denmark stayed at The Taj Mumbai when they visited Mumbai (formerly known as Bombay) India.

some of the hotels that william and kate have chosen:

william and kate have privileged the shangri-la hotels during their tour to south asia, like the Shangri-La Tanjung Aru Beach Resort in Kota Kinabalu. they also stayed in the raffles hotel in singapore.
during their honeymoon, they stayed at the Desroches Island Resort, in north island, at the seychelles.
their first year anniversary on the other hand was at the very low key Westleton Crown's swan room.
kate and her family chose the goring hotel for the night before the royal wedding.
the queen chose the mandarin hotel in london for the royal wedding reception to foreign dignataries.

King George and Queen Elizabeth were at the Fairmont Royal York in Toronto in 1939, which is where my dad goes annually to a Marine dinner the third Friday night in January. In 1996 he bailed out the morning of the dinner (January 19th that year), because my mom was in labour two and a half months prematurely with my youngest brother, who was born the next afternoon at 2:52 (though the birth announcement says 2:42) by C-section, weighing 3 lbs. 9 oz. Every January 20th we tell him that story, and he never gets tired of it! This birthday he will be 17.

Didn't an emperor and empress of Japan stay at the hauntingly famous Stanley hotel in Estes park, Colorado. There is also a ghost of a princess there I just don't know who.

Indeed, the Queen stayed at the Williamsburg Inn during her visit in 2007. We were there about a month afterwards and one of the staff told us about the "walkabout" she did with the staff in the lobby.
There's a wonderful photo of her in front of the Waldorf=Astoria in NY during the 1950s and the book "Castles of the North" documents visits to Canadian hotels

Currently showing on BBC is a documentary series called 'Inside Claridges'. In Episode One you see the hotel preparing for a party of Middle Eastern Royal women who take over the entire third floor. In a later episode the Emperor of Japan stays there.

Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal and his wife Princess Ameera bint Aidan bin Nayef Al Taweel were seen in a documentary about the Savoy Hotel which he owns/owned.

^^^In the Claridge's documentary you mentioned, it also said that Queen Sofia stayed in the royal suite. Also, the BRF frequently stay (and have lunches/dinners/parties) at the Goring Hotel, in London.

this article reports that haakon and MM stayed in the Steigenberger Park hotel in dusseldorf en route to their honeymoon in NY after their wedding:

LOS PRNCIPES DE NORUEGA VOLARON A NUEVA YORK TRAS PASAR UNA NOCHE EN DUSSELDORF

I always went skiing in Lech when I was a kid. Some royals went/still go there too.
The Dutch stay at Gasthof Post, Diana went to the Arlberg Hotel, Rania went to Almhof,
In nearby Zürs, Caroline goes to Sporthotel Lorünser and Grace and Rainier sometimes went to Zürserhof


When Princess Caroline went to New York this summer, I read she was staying at the Mark Hotel.