Prince de Galles Paris: The Hotel Born From a Royal Rivalry

THE STORY BEHIND THE HOTEL · PARIS, EPISODE EIGHT

On Avenue George V, two hotels stand close enough to appear like members of the same royal household. One bears the name of a king. The other carries the title of his son, the Prince of Wales. That proximity was not planned as a family portrait. It began with a failed agreement, a divided plot of Paris, and two hoteliers determined to build prestige on opposite sides of the same story.

Prince de Galles is often described through its Art Deco glamour. Yet its more revealing story lies beneath the polish: a hotel built over the former quarries of Chaillot, named for a prince who would later surrender a throne, shaped by guests who understood performance and power, and rescued from architectural anonymity by a restoration that chose memory over fashion.

This is not a hotel review and no stay was provided. It is the documented story of how an intimate Parisian house became one of Avenue George V’s most distinctive addresses.

Two men, one parcel of Paris

At the end of the 1920s, the City of Paris sold land above the former quarries of Chaillot. The stone taken from this area had helped build the Arc de Triomphe, so the new hotel district was literally rising over the material history of monumental Paris.

Architectural histories recount that businessmen François Dupré and André Millon initially considered a luxury hotel project together but failed to agree. The parcel was divided. Dupré developed the neighbouring Hôtel George V, named for the British sovereign. Millon, already connected to the Grand Hôtel and Le Meurice, created his own house and called it Prince de Galles, the title held by George V’s son, the future Edward VIII.

The two buildings therefore became an accidental royal diptych: father and son rendered in stone, hospitality and rivalry.

A hotel made for the modern aristocrat

André Millon commissioned architect André-Louis Arfvidson, whose work moved between official architecture, apartment buildings and artists’ studios. Construction unfolded at the end of the Roaring Twenties, and the hotel opened in 1929, at the height of the Art Deco movement.

Its façade was elegant but controlled: pale stone, arched openings, iron balconies and a disciplined vertical rhythm. Inside, geometric ornament, marble, dark wood, gilded metal and thousands of mosaic tesserae created a language of luxury that was modern without abandoning ceremony.

The central patio became the building’s emotional core. Its red and gold mosaics turned an internal courtyard into a luminous stage, while also protecting the hotel from the noise and display of Avenue George V. Millon wanted the atmosphere of a private residence rather than a vast ceremonial palace, a distinction that still defines the property.

A prince whose title outlived his reign

The name was a bet on celebrity and royalty. Edward, Prince of Wales, was among the most photographed men of his generation. In 1936 he became King Edward VIII, then abdicated before his coronation in order to marry Wallis Simpson.

The hotel did not change its name. It remained attached to the title from the dazzling years before the constitutional crisis, preserving a version of Edward as the travelling, fashionable prince. The building thus carries an unusual historical irony: it commemorates not the crown he briefly held, but the role he left behind.

IF THESE WALLS COULD TALK: The king, the son and the divided ground

The most revealing story begins before the first guest arrived. Imagine the late 1920s plot above the Chaillot quarries, still capable of becoming one grand hotel. Two businessmen disagree. The land is cut in two. One property rises as the George V; the other answers with the title once held by that king and now carried by his son.

It is tempting to read the names as a joke written into the Paris street plan, but they also reveal how luxury hotels were positioned in the interwar years. A name could compress monarchy, international recognition and social aspiration into three words. Travellers did not simply reserve a room; they entered a story whose hierarchy was understood before the car reached the door.

Nearly a century later, the two hotels still face the same avenue. The original business disagreement has become urban theatre, and the Prince de Galles remains the quieter, more intimate counterpoint to its royal neighbour.

Guests who understood power and performance

The hotel’s official history documents Winston Churchill and Marlene Dietrich among its guests, alongside members of royal families. Both names belong here for reasons deeper than fame. Churchill understood the political weight of Paris and the theatre of public life. Dietrich understood the power of self-invention, tailoring and controlled mystery, qualities entirely at home in an Art Deco setting.

Later accounts also connect Elvis Presley with weekends at the hotel while he was serving with the United States Army in Germany. The detail is plausible and widely reported, including by Le Figaro, but the hotel’s present official page names Churchill and Dietrich explicitly. For that reason, they remain the core documented guest story here.

The difficult art of becoming oneself again

Historic hotels rarely age in a straight line. Their problem is not simply worn carpet or old plumbing. It is identity. By the early twenty-first century, Prince de Galles needed more than refurbishment; it needed to decide whether Art Deco was its living language or only a label.

The hotel closed in February 2011. For twenty-seven months, a major transformation unfolded. Reports at the reopening valued the work at about $100 million. Pierre-Yves Rochon redesigned the rooms, suites and lobby, while Bruno Borrione worked on the restaurant, bar and patio.

Rochon’s decision was crucial. Instead of imposing a generic contemporary hotel, he returned to the 1930s. Macassar ebony, black Saint Laurent marble, wrought iron, gold accents and patterns informed by period textiles allowed the new interiors to converse with the original mosaics. The result was not an archaeological reconstruction. It was a modern interpretation disciplined by the building’s own character.

The restored hotel reopened in 2013 and received France’s official five-star classification.

A culinary high, then an abrupt turn

Transformation did not end with architecture. Under chef Stéphanie Le Quellec, La Scène earned a first Michelin star and then a second in the 2019 guide. Only weeks after that distinction, the hotel chose a different restaurant concept and Le Quellec left. She later recreated La Scène independently on Avenue Matignon, where the Michelin Guide again awarded her two stars.

The episode is a reminder that hotel restaurants are not museums. Even at the moment of highest recognition, business strategy can redraw the dining room. Today the hotel’s food identity belongs to Akira Back, 19.20 by Norbert Tarayre and the mosaic-lined Patio.

The hotel today

Prince de Galles currently has 116 rooms and 43 suites. Its scale is important: 159 keys make it substantial, but smaller and more contained than a grand convention palace. The Art Deco identity continues through mosaic, marble, Macassar tones and the inward-looking calm of the patio.

The signature suites turn that vocabulary in different directions. Suite Or covers 97 square metres in gold and black. Suite Saphir extends across 100 square metres and includes two furnished terraces overlooking Avenue George V. The duplex Suite Lalique, created with the French crystal house and designer Patrick Hellmann, occupies the upper floors with black-and-gold rooms, a private lift and views toward the Eiffel Tower and Sacré-Cœur. Marriott’s current pages contain conflicting figures for the suite’s interior area, listing 165 and 180 square metres; what is clear is its duplex plan and extensive terraces.

Akira Back opened in 2022 as the chef’s first restaurant in Europe, combining modern Japanese cooking with Korean and international influences. Restaurant and Bar 19.20 draws on 1920s Paris, while the Patio places contemporary dining inside the hotel’s most historic decorative setting. A Wellness Suite developed with CALMA PARIS and a 24-hour fitness room complete the current offer.

Why travellers still choose it

Location explains part of the appeal. The hotel stands at 33 Avenue George V in the Golden Triangle, between the Champs-Élysées, Avenue Montaigne, the Seine and the Arc de Triomphe. Fashion houses, museums and major business addresses are within a short radius.

But geography alone does not distinguish one luxury hotel from another. Prince de Galles attracts travellers who prefer discretion to spectacle and a coherent design story to a collection of expensive objects. Its patio turns inward. Its façade does not shout. Its strongest details reward attention rather than demand it.

Above all, the hotel still feels tied to a precise Parisian moment: the city of 1929, when monarchy could be branding, mosaic could be modern, and a divided building plot could produce two competing versions of royal hospitality.

Practical information

Address: 33 Avenue George V, 75008 Paris.
District: 8th arrondissement, in the Golden Triangle near the Champs-Élysées and Avenue Montaigne.
Nearest Métro: George V, Line 1; Alma-Marceau, Line 9, is also within walking distance.
Official hotel website: Prince de Galles, a Luxury Collection Hotel.

Watch: Inside the Art Deco patio

This report by verified publisher LUXE.TV explores Prince de Galles and its mosaic-lined Patio des Merveilles. The video is embedded from the publisher’s YouTube channel and is not downloaded or rehosted.

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Editorial independence and verification

Prince de Galles was selected for this series for its architectural and historical significance. This article was produced independently and does not imply a partnership, sponsorship, complimentary stay or commercial endorsement. Official Marriott pages were used for current hotel information and named guests; architectural reporting, Michelin records, Paris tourism sources and open-license archives were used for historical verification.

Selected sources

• Prince de Galles, official current overview
• Official suites information
• Architectural Digest on the 2013 restoration
• Paris Promeneurs on the divided plot and architecture
• Michelin Guide on Stéphanie Le Quellec and La Scène
• Paris je t’aime, official city tourism listing

Continue the Paris season with Le Bristol Paris and Hôtel Plaza Athénée.

Osama Samaha
Editor-in-Chief, OUISTARS Travel