Saint-Cloud: How France Accidentally Destroyed Their Own Palace

The Château de Saint-Cloud, on the western edge of Paris, has got everything you'd want from a French royal château: beautiful gardens, fountains, statues, and unbeatable views across the city. Everything except, erm, the Château itself. So what on earth happened to it? I went to Saint-Cloud to investigate...

BIG THANKS TO
Fran Vitti / Marie Antoinette
Tim Barton / Otto Von Bismarck

IMAGE CREDITS

[TheTimTraveller]

Next time I'll find a mask that doesn't slip off my nose when I talk... 🤦‍♂️

[AleksandarBosakov]

"I probably shouldn't joke about that one." That didn't age well.

[illyasvielemiya]

"Let's join all the German states and form a big German and call it Germany, "

Does it mean smaller German States called Gerfew?

[GriffenDoesIt]

I like how you included disability access information in your "if you want to visit" section. It seems small, and I'm not even disabled, but I think it's very thoughtful <3

[visagrunt]

Super picky technical point. The Pavillon de Breteuil is not international territory. It is still very much part of France. But like Embassies, Consulates and the Headquarters of UNESCO, the land and buildings are provided with functional privileges and immunities. Still French territory--France just does not apply her laws there.

[-Eckhart]

Cloud (actually Chlodoald) was a Merovingian prince who resigned his rights to an inheritance in favour of investiture as a monk. He founded a monastery at the place now named after him and died there greatly revered about 560 AD.

[kassistwisted]

Tim, I adore you. You are really a treasure. With everything that's going on in the world (I'm an American living in Europe), you bring a bit of history and your keen dose of levity to your videos. It's like traveling without traveling, and now I have a long list of places to visit when lockdown is over. You make me smile. And as a historian (clothing, not buildings and railways), you give my brain something to chew on too. No matter how hard it gets, please know that you're helping people a lot just by putting videos up. Thank you.

[NorthernChev]

“When Nationalism takes the place of reason...”. Thank you, Tim. It’s comforting to know that those of us suffering under that right now are not alone in our disappointment of its circumstances.

[FranNyan]

There was a huge smile on my face when you mentioned the miniature railway. That is exactly the sort of quality content that I want to see in all these videos, spot on, thumbs up, thank you <3

[daviddavis]

“Probably should joke about that one”
Bro you had a prophetic vision on that one 😅
He didn’t exactly “shell” the capitol, but I say it’s close enough

[shiteguides]

Wearing the mask must have made the audio syncing and editing so easy! Pandemics are truly the golden age for travel guides.

[thorns]

They should reconstruct the model railroad on that plot of grass.

[TheGoukaruma]

5:25 "english style roast camel". You know there are bad times for the French when they eat like the English.

[techobsessed]

"Imagine by the end of January next year, the Queen has destroyed Buckingham Palace, or Angela Merkel has burned the Reichstag, or Donald Trump is shelling the White Hou... actually I probably shouldn't joke about that one."

And here we are, two weeks before the end of January 2021...

[Mkdexxa]

Thank goodness there's trains in this video, and a miniature one

[Chale]

5:28 *Cat á la Rat.* By far the best dish ever! 😂😂😂

[madmonkee]

"I probably shouldn't joke about that one." No, indeed, it's too close to happening.

[Nimmo]

I wasn't expecting to hear a piano version of the old 1990s Masterchef theme, but there it is.

[PaulMcElligott]

Tim: “I probably shouldn’t joke about that.”

Every American checks the date of this video then watches the rest of his content to see what else he successfully predicted. 😳

[andrewmasters]

Napolean III is a local celebrity in Farnborough (the Hampshire one). It's good to see a local lad getting recognition on the Youtube.